A major update rocked the NASCAR nation on Wednesday when the organization announced a new broadcast deal, making a massive rejig on the current schedule. Consequently, the whole community was up in arms as fans felt the move was another one towards alienating the sport further by the addition of streaming partners like Amazon Prime & Warner Bros. Discovery into their portfolio alongside Fox & NBC Sports.

Hours after the announcement, Luis Silberwasser, Chairman & CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports gave his take on the new partnership. The former Discovery Network International’s Executive Vice President even mocked NASCAR’s existing partners Fox & NBC Sports with a subtle dig.

Warner Bros. Discovery Sports head takes a sly dig at Fox & NBC Sports following the big announcement by NASCAR

Last day, the Stock Car racing giant announced a new TV deal that would involve two other partners along with the existing ones – Fox & NBC Sports. The revamped model is such that both Fox and NBC will get 14 events to cover and work on their production while the mid-season events will be split between Amazon Prime and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports.

While the organization has put the emphasis both on regular television broadcasts for the older audience and a better more modern steaming service for its growing young fanbase, many fans have expressed their displeasure with the new strategy that involves a whopping 7.7 billion from 2025 till 2031.

Following the massive announcement, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports’ CEO and chairman, Silberwasser shared his take where he took a cheeky dig at the existing partners. When asked if they’ll co-operate with the current broadcast partners in terms of production and coverage, the 59-year-old mentioned a peculiar philosophy.

He said as per a FrontStretch video, “I mean, that’s been always our sort of modus operandi and our philosophy that we really take great pride in our productions and craft and the storytelling and picking the right talent. And you see it in everything we do.” 

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With Fox Sports’ history of turning off the viewers with horrendous commercial breaks mid-race even at crucial moments, the chairman really banged in one right where it hurts when he said, “We’re very distinctive in terms of the way we approach sports and so right now the process begins to imagine what that broadcast is going to be, who the talent is going to be but yeah it’s an important priority for us. Now that the deal is done, we can start.”

“We do intend to do a lot…” – WB higher-up hints at major developments in the new TV deal

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NASCAR is certainly steaming ahead, trying to bridge the gap to get the new fanbase to tune into their unique style of racing even on the get-go with their new strategy of bringing Prime and WB on board. Even though the older chunk of the fanbase is pretty opposed to the idea of handing the responsibilities to the streaming platforms.

However, the sanctioning body seems to have identified a niche that most of the fans didn’t. When asked whether the Warner Bros Discovery team production team would have additional content besides the race events, Silberwasser said, “I think it’s early to say like exactly what we’re going to do and we’re going to get into a process with NASCAR to imagine ideas.” 

He further added, hinting at ideas on a broader scale, saying, “I think that the one thing I would say is we do intent to do a lot of things with the rights, not only in terms of the platforms whether it is TNT or True TV or Max or Bleach or House of Highlights but what type of content do we do to surround the broadcast and the races, that’s the process that starts now, to imagine the possibilities.” 

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