Backers of SPEEDVISION, which will be targeting the affluent 50+ demographic, include wrestler Bill Goldberg (who will also appear on air), racer Rick Hendricks, along with Scanlon and Abbruzzese. It will launch in the Fall with 500 licensed programs and 100 originals produced under commission.
The network will be one of many channels launching Internet-only which have been given the moniker FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television) channels. The demographic of the channel, which was owned by Fox FOXA +1.6% since 1995 and then rebranded as Fox Sports 1 in 2013, was racing fans and auto enthusiasts.
In an interview with the Hollywood reporter, Scanlon said that the genesis of the idea came from the surprising success of Discovery channel Velocity (which was renamed MotorTrend Network in 2018) . “At Velocity we had a $140 million revenue line that was just advertising, there were no subscription fees…” he said. Speedvision, by comparison, generated roughly two thirds of its $300+ million per year in revenue from license fees from cable and satellite operators in 2012.
The no license fee model is unlike most cable channels who charge the cable and satellite operators a monthly license fee per subscriber per month which can go from pennies/sub/month to as high as $10+. Bloomberg, C-Span, Great American Country, Hallmark, Lifetime Real Women and Outdoor Channel, for instance, are under 10 cents/sub per month while ESPN tops the list at more than $10/sub/month.
Disney Channel, ESPN2, FOX News, Fox Sports 1, TBS and USA Network all charge more than $1/sub/month while NFL Network tops $2 and TNT is more than $3. These are industry averages. Large video providers like Comcast CMCSA -1% and DIRECTV get the lowest rate, while smaller ones pay much more. This is the main factor driving consolidation of cable systems over the years.
Note: This story was updated to reflect the correct name of the new FAST Network as SPEEDVISION.
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