“Hot Pass” debuted with the 2007 Daytona 500 and featured the use of up to 10 channels on DirecTV devoted to expanded coverage each week of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series races, including views from driver in-car cameras, radio communications and telemetry as well the live nationwide race broadcast.
Fans could pick from a selection of drivers each week and DirecTV would produce coverage of the race specifically devoted to each driver and their team.
Members of the “Hot Pass” production group were informed of the company’s decision during a teleconference call on Tuesday evening.
“NASCAR and DirecTV decided to evolve Hot Pass into a new product that will be available to all DirecTV customers, free of charge, in 2009,” DirecTV said in a statement. “We are working through the details now and will unveil the new service in the next few weeks.” NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston confirmed changes to DirecTV’s broadcast platform for NASCAR.
“The produced package as it exists today will change,” NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said. “There will be no more large production pieces but we are confident DirecTV will have NASCAR content next season.”
Poston told the newspaper the new coverage options from DirecTV could potentially be more accessible to NASCAR fans when compared with “Hot Pass.”
“I think the subscription package is going to change for the better for more fans, ultimately,” he said.
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