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NASCAR on TNN
NASCAR on TNN was the name of a television program that broadcast NASCAR races on The Nashville Network (now Paramount Network) that aired from March 3, 1991 to November 5, 2000.
TNN started showing races live in 1991, but it had aired taped coverage of a few Winston Cup races in the 1980s on its American Sports Cavalcade program.
TNN had a self-operating and self-promoting sub-division called TNN Motor Sports, and aired races produced by that division from 1991 to 2000. Under the TNN Motor Sports umbrella, NASCAR series races (including those of the then-Winston Cup Series and Busch Grand National Series, as well as the Craftsman Truck Series) were the most prominently featured, but races of smaller circuits such as the International Motor Sports Association IMSA Sports Car Series, ASA, USAC, the NHRA, and ARCA were also showcased, as was motorcycle and speedboat racing.
In 1995, the motorsports operations were moved into the industrial park located at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, where TNN had purchased controlling interest in World Sports Enterprises, a motorsports production company.
Also by 1995, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, who at the time owned the CBS networks and had an existing relationship with TNN through its Group W division, purchased TNN and its sister network CMT outright to form CBS Cable, along with a short-lived startup network entitled Eye On People (now Investigation Discovery). TNN's ties to CBS allowed it to carry CBS Sports' run overs, which happened during a NASCAR Busch Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in 1999. The network however was a center of controversy for not airing the following year's Busch Series race at the same track after the initial broadcast on CBS rained out, instead showing Tom Sawyer.
TNN picked up several of the "second tier" Winston Cup races of the time, whose rights packages were allowed to expire by ESPN. Races at tracks such as Rockingham, Dover, Pocono, Loudon, and Phoenix, were among the events signed.
In general, ESPN abandoned slower, longer, races. 500-mile races at Rockingham, Dover and Pocono were known to last upwards of five hours, requiring a broadcast window as long as six hours to include pre-race and post-race coverage. While the growing ESPN network did not want to dedicate such large windows to what were regarded as second-tier races, TNN's relatively open schedule for Sunday afternoons allowed for the large broadcast windows that these races required. The races at Rockingham and Dover were shortened to 400 miles in 1995 and 1997, respectively, but remained part of the TNN lineup.
TNN began airing NASCAR’s all-star race, then known as The Winston, when it was moved to prime time in 1992. This meant that, at its peak, TNN was home to eight Cup Series broadcasts per season, a quarter of the schedule; this consisted of both races at Rockingham, Dover, and Loudon, Phoenix's lone race, and the June race at Pocono (TBS aired the July race).
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NASCAR on TNN
NASCAR on TNN was the name of a television program that broadcast NASCAR races on The Nashville Network (now Paramount Network) that aired from March 3, 1991 to November 5, 2000.
TNN started showing races live in 1991, but it had aired taped coverage of a few Winston Cup races in the 1980s on its American Sports Cavalcade program.
TNN had a self-operating and self-promoting sub-division called TNN Motor Sports, and aired races produced by that division from 1991 to 2000. Under the TNN Motor Sports umbrella, NASCAR series races (including those of the then-Winston Cup Series and Busch Grand National Series, as well as the Craftsman Truck Series) were the most prominently featured, but races of smaller circuits such as the International Motor Sports Association IMSA Sports Car Series, ASA, USAC, the NHRA, and ARCA were also showcased, as was motorcycle and speedboat racing.
In 1995, the motorsports operations were moved into the industrial park located at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, where TNN had purchased controlling interest in World Sports Enterprises, a motorsports production company.
Also by 1995, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, who at the time owned the CBS networks and had an existing relationship with TNN through its Group W division, purchased TNN and its sister network CMT outright to form CBS Cable, along with a short-lived startup network entitled Eye On People (now Investigation Discovery). TNN's ties to CBS allowed it to carry CBS Sports' run overs, which happened during a NASCAR Busch Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in 1999. The network however was a center of controversy for not airing the following year's Busch Series race at the same track after the initial broadcast on CBS rained out, instead showing Tom Sawyer.
TNN picked up several of the "second tier" Winston Cup races of the time, whose rights packages were allowed to expire by ESPN. Races at tracks such as Rockingham, Dover, Pocono, Loudon, and Phoenix, were among the events signed.
In general, ESPN abandoned slower, longer, races. 500-mile races at Rockingham, Dover and Pocono were known to last upwards of five hours, requiring a broadcast window as long as six hours to include pre-race and post-race coverage. While the growing ESPN network did not want to dedicate such large windows to what were regarded as second-tier races, TNN's relatively open schedule for Sunday afternoons allowed for the large broadcast windows that these races required. The races at Rockingham and Dover were shortened to 400 miles in 1995 and 1997, respectively, but remained part of the TNN lineup.
TNN began airing NASCAR’s all-star race, then known as The Winston, when it was moved to prime time in 1992. This meant that, at its peak, TNN was home to eight Cup Series broadcasts per season, a quarter of the schedule; this consisted of both races at Rockingham, Dover, and Loudon, Phoenix's lone race, and the June race at Pocono (TBS aired the July race).