Welcome to Must Read, where we single out the best stories from around the automotive universe and beyond. Today we've got reports from SportsBusinessDaily, Foreign Policy, and AutoWeek.
The final days of Speed – SportsBusinessDaily
We actually stopped by the SPEED HQ in March on our way from Washington D.C. to SXSW in Austin and I can confirm there was definitely an uneasy sense of what the future might bring. Fox had invested money in studio space but the existing shows were in shrinking studios. The people there were great and I hope those we met still have jobs.
In November 2008, ESPN bowled over Fox with a four-year, $495 million contract for the BCS — a bid that was $100 million higher than Fox’s. At the time, Fox Sports executives decided that they needed a multisport cable channel — or, more specifically, the affiliate revenue from such a network — to remain competitive with ESPN. Fox Sports had three options. It could launch a new network, it could convert an existing network or it could acquire another network. It wasn’t long before Fox Sports executives focused their sights on Speed. The well-distributed network was in about 73 million homes at the time and received 19 cents per subscriber per month. It had room to grow.
The Moped Army and the good ship Potemkin – AutoWeek
I think this Davey G. article is a review of a Nissan Armada, or maybe that's just an Eisensteinian editing trick.
The Real Risks – Foreign Policy
Well said.
This brings us to the ultimate mistaken assumption — that it is actually possible to win a war on terror. We can suffer defeats, to be sure. These come when we pursue the wrong targets, employ the wrong tactics, and fail to assess risks wisely. Indeed, we can lose such a war if we let terrorists set our policies, drain our resources, and mesmerize us with a shadow game that never ends, one that offers only illusory victories and leaves us distracted from our real needs and priorities, and the many greater threats we face.