ASA Challenge TV debut Tonight, 9/27/06...

[NickHolt]

Tonight is the night! The ASA Late Model Series to debut its television coverage of the 2006 Challenge Division Season!

 

By: ASA Late Model Series

 

Lexington, Michigan (09/27/2006) - The wait is over for the great fans of the ASA Late Model Series Presented by GM Performance Parts. Tonight, Wednesday September 27, 2006 is the first airing of the televised ASALMS Challenge Division at 7pm on I-Drive TV. Visioncast, Inc., in partnership with the ASALMS will host the first nationwide telecast.

 

The ASALMS Challenge Division events in 2006 are being televised on The Men’s Outdoor and Recreation Network, I-Drive TV, and Mav TV networks, all available on Dish Network as well as select cable outlets. Airings for the events will be on a tape delayed basis beginning tonight September 27, 2006. The first ASALMS telecast each week, set for 7pm (EST) will be on Wednesdays, on IDrive TV.

 

The main series telecasts will be on Saturdays beginning on September 30, 2006 at 4:30pm (EST) on the 20-million-home Men’s Outdoor and Recreation Network. IDrive TV, the new Turner network reaching 10 million households nationwide, will also air the ASALMS telecasts an additional time each week at 9pm (EST) also on Saturdays.

 

Plus, additional coverage will come from Mav TV, a fledgling cable/satellite network, which will air the 2006 ASALMS events beginning in the first quarter of 2007 to help set the stage for the 2007 ASALMS season, which will see the ASALMS celebrate its’ fifth anniversary.

 

Visioncast and its subsidiary company, Carolinas Production Group, has been following the ASALMS Challenge Division from the first race of the 2006 season in Nashville, Tennessee on March 18, 2006 and is set to air 11 of this year’s 12 ASALMS events.

 

Rick Benjamin, an award-winning broadcaster whose work appears on NBC, CBS, and a variety of major cable networks, is hosting the ASALMS coverage and is joined by veteran network radio motorsports host Doug Rice in the booth. Derek Pernisiglio as well as long time Midwest motorsports journalist Pete Pistone covers the action on pit road.

 

IDrive and MORE are widely available on cable and chiefly on Dish Network’s home satellite service. Visioncast and ASALMS estimate the telecasts will be available in nearly 31 million households on the three networks. For more information, contact Visioncast, Inc., at; 1 (704) 281-5599.

[NickHolt]

UPDATE on ASA TV Broadcast..

 

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IDrive TV to telecast the ASALMS Challenge Division event from Nashville, TONIGHT at 7pm

By: Visioncast

 

Sept. 28, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Technical Difficulties at IDrive TV Network Push Series Debut Back to TONIGHT Thursday September 28, 2006!

 

Visioncast To Work With Turner To Offer Make-Good Airing For ASA LMS Fans Coast to Coast

 

(Matthews, North Carolina) The broadcast debut of the ASA Late Model Challenge Series, has been rescheduled for TONIGHT Thursday September 28, 2006 at 7pm Eastern on Turner Media's new IDrive TV Network. the original airing was supposed to be last night, Wednesday September 27, 2006 but was delayed due to unforeseen circumstances.

 

Visioncast President Rick Benjamin has been in constant contact with Turner executives when the inaugural program, the Waffle House 200 from the Music City Motorplex in Nashville, Tennessee, failed to be broadcast as contracted in its regular Wednesday time slot.

 

"We had provided the show to the network early as is our normal procedure," Benjamin stated. "We had no indication from Turner Media that there would be any problem. Apparently someone at their Broadcast Operations Center failed to put our show in their system for our premiere last night. We are working with Turner right now to reschedule the broadcast and receive additional consideration for the ASA Late Model Series."

 

The ASA LMS Challenge telecast from Nashville was listed prominently on IDrive's website, and viewers who tuned to Dish Network's Channel 221 expecting to see the Nashville race saw the channel's info line which listed the ASA Late Model telecast.

 

"I want to offer a personal apology to Ron and Sandy Varney, all the teams, drivers, and tracks, and the thousands of ASA Late Model fans coast to coast who've been looking forward to tonight," said Benjamin. "We all have put maximum effort into creating an outstanding television platform for this terrific short-track series. We believe IDrive and MOR will be good networks for the ASA LMS Challenge Series to work with going forward, but this is a major disappointment."

 

Benjamin anticipates that IDrive will reschedule the ASA LMS premiere for another time later this week. "Being on IDrive is a bit of a bonus" said Benjamin.

 

"MOR is Turner's flagship network, in more than 20 million homes. Turner asked if we could provide ASA LMS programming for IDrive, a new network focusing on motoring. ASA will be the first national touring series to be covered on both MOR and IDrive. Since that gives us access to 10 million additional households a week, we agreed."

 

The ASA Late Model Series will broadcast 11 of its Challenge Division events through the end of the year on the Men's Outdoor and Recreation Network, MOR, and IDrive, a newly-launched Turner network focusing on all things automotive.

 

The ASA telecasts are scheduled to air at 7pm Eastern each Wednesday night on IDrive, Channel 221 on Dish Network, and at 4:30PM Eastern every Saturday afternoon on MOR, Channel 218 on Dish Network, beginning this week, September 30.

 

In addition Visioncast secured a re-broadcast of the ASA Late Model Challenge telecasts on IDrive, Saturdays at 9PM Eastern, and the entire run of the 2006 ASA Late Model Challenge Series telecasts will be aired on the new MavTV network in the first quarter of 2007 to set the stage for the coming season.

 

The three scheduled airings each week on the Turner Networks will place the ASA LMS Challenge telecasts in 40 million households and before 72 million potential viewers each week.

 

Veteran motorsports broadcaster Rick Benjamin calls the ASA Late Model Challenge events for television, with long-time network radio broadcaster Doug Rice in the analyst's role. Derek Pernesiglio and Pete Pistone share pit road reporting duties.