Jess 1110 Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 According to Bloomberg and backed up from a number of other sources, Fox is reportedly exploring the possibility of a 24 hour national sports network to challenge ESPN. The proposed new network, tentatively titled "Fox Sports 1", is reportedly being led by Fox Sports chairman and influential News Corp figure David Hill. No definite decision has been made as to whether Fox Sports 1 will go ahead, but Fox is interested in making it happen and is believed to have contacted several sports leagues and cable operators. This, of course, would be a major development in the sports broadcasting industry. In addition to its significant broadcast sports coverage, Fox also owns a number of sports focused channels. These include its 20 regional sports networks, Speed, Fuel, Fox Soccer Channel, and Big Ten Network. In addition, News Corp has an affiliation with Sky Sports in the UK. All of these channels hold rights to major sports leagues or franchises that can presumably be transferred over to a national sports channel. In addition, Fox holds rights to Pac-10 college football, and starting in 2018, the FIFA World Cup. The current plans call for one of Fox's existing sports properties to be converted into Fox Sports 1. The Bloomberg report indicates that Fuel would be the network that would be flipped, but other sources have indicated that Speed Channel would give way to the new network. Given that Speed is available in far more homes than Fuel, it would make sense. The strategy recalls the decision made by NBC/Comcast to convert Versus into NBC Sports Network, and CBS' similar reformatting of its College Sports network into CBS Sports Network. Again, Fox has not decided whether to pull the trigger on these plans, but discussions are active. Personally, if a national Fox Sports DOES launch, it would instantly be the biggest challenger yet to ESPN. News Corp and Fox have proven many times over that they are willing to spend money to build up a considerable presence in nearly every field it enters. Fox has considered this idea for years, and if they are committed to the new network (as opposed to half-hearted attempts, for example an attempt to make FSN a national network), it could make a serious impact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevieboy247 42 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Well if Fox Sports does come up with an ESPN rival, then I wonder if that could result in the sale of their regional sports networks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jase 823 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Well if Fox Sports does come up with an ESPN rival, then I wonder if that could result in the sale of their regional sports networks? There isn't a need to get rid of them (FSN). Fuel will likely become 'Fox Sports 1', so issue #1 seems to be resolved. Issue #2 would be convincing the cable companies to move Fuel ('Fox Sports 1') to a channel that's close to ESPN in order to increase it's availability/viewership. The channel has to be on a lower (basic) tier in order to survive/be successful. Getting the rights to the PGA, NBA, etc... for example will likely develop in the coming years and is not something they need to have right away (but would be happy to have nevertheless). They also have a pretty good foundation (Fox Sports on FOX, FoxSports.com, etc...) to work from and there really isn't a better time to get this up and running than now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viper550 268 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 "Fox Sports 1" Well someone's getting ideas from Rogers Sportsnet I see Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 This is an interesting development for FOX. Major League Baseball's contract with the major networks (ESPN, FOX, TBS) end at the conclusion of this season (or World Series). I could definitely see FOX Sports trying to wrestle away some midweek baseball games, and dare I say Sunday Night Baseball away from ESPN. The FOX Sports regional networks aren't going anywhere, that is where FOX has the slight advantage over ESPN-Local sports. Heck, FOX Sports just invested a pretty penny to launch its newest regional sports network for the San Diego Padres- FOX Sports San Diego, and the Los Angeles Dodgers television deal with FOX Sports is set to expire at the end of 2013. Long story short, FOX will fight hard, and throw several billion dollars at the Dodgers for a new tv rights contract, and it is highly doubtful they would spin off a network/channel that will carry a big investment. I will say this though, despite the lack of programming- quality or not, FOX Sports regional networks are cash cows for the network since they can use local sports teams telecasts as leverage against the cable companies. So its not inconceivable to believe that in some big markets, FOX Sports can get anywhere between $2-5 dollars per subscriber. Don't know the specifics for every market, but I have been reading around on this topic. I'll leave it at this: a few days ago, I read that the Red Sox/NESN and Yankees/Yes Network can fetch up to $5 per subscriber, so if New York and Boston can get that, imagine what the Dodgers and the Los Angeles market can fetch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caliwxdude 252 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 This is an interesting development for FOX. Major League Baseball's contract with the major networks (ESPN, FOX, TBS) end at the conclusion of this season (or World Series). I could definitely see FOX Sports trying to wrestle away some midweek baseball games, and dare I say Sunday Night Baseball away from ESPN. The FOX Sports regional networks aren't going anywhere, that is where FOX has the slight advantage over ESPN-Local sports. Heck, FOX Sports just invested a pretty penny to launch its newest regional sports network for the San Diego Padres- FOX Sports San Diego, and the Los Angeles Dodgers television deal with FOX Sports is set to expire at the end of 2013. They can take Sunday Night Baseball. ESPN ruined it when they canned Jon Miller and Joe Morgan, so it might as well become even more irrelevant with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver (ostensibly) at the helm on a new national Fox network. From what I recall, Time Warner will soon be launching a new RSN in Southern California with the intent of going after the Dodgers TV rights once the contract with Fox ends next year. Should be interesting to see if they get into a bidding war with News Corp, as the Dodgers deal with Prime Ticket is of course their flagship product among all the RSNs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 From what I recall, Time Warner will soon be launching a new RSN in Southern California with the intent of going after the Dodgers TV rights once the contract with Fox ends next year. Should be interesting to see if they get into a bidding war with News Corp, as the Dodgers deal with Prime Ticket is of course their flagship product among all the RSNs. It could get very interesting in the next 6 months or so. Time Warner Cable will launch its RSN this fall as the new home of the Los Angeles Lakers and the L.A. Galaxy, so to say that they will be in the Dodgers bidding war is an understatement. So there have been reports in the past few months regarding FOX and Time Warner feuding with one another in regards to the Dodgers tv deal. Which has some kind of effect down south where FOX Sports San Diego is not even on Time Warner Cable in San Diego, and there are some rumblings that the Los Angeles feud is the reason why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1945 Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 B&C states that Fox has officially announce its new sports network as "Fox Sports 1" will be launching on August 17. The network will indeed replace Speed. More info is forthcoming as they will do an upfront presentation within the afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country News 435 Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Regis Philbin has also "Confirmed" his show on the network. As for the network, I'm sure it will be promoted on every FOX-owned broadcaster, Namely FOX, FX, FNC, FBN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Regis Philbin has also "Confirmed" his show on the network. As for the network, I'm sure it will be promoted on every FOX-owned broadcaster, Namely FOX, FX, FNC, FBN. Yup, and he was very hesitant to confirm it but Barbara Walters managed to get him to publicly acknowledge his new gig yesterday on the view. I think that FS1 can really make a name for itself if it taps into its 22 regional networks. Not every baseball fan cares about/identifies with the Yankees . If FS1 can promote the smaller market teams at the very least the same amount as the bigger market teams, then they could tap into a good sized fanbase. Also, isn't it time for FOX Sports to come out with a new graphics package? perhaps, by the launch of FS1? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess 1110 Posted March 6, 2013 Author Share Posted March 6, 2013 Finally, they announced it. With apologies to NBC and CBS, if anything has a shot at The Mothership, it's Fox. Because Murdoch. And because they've had experience building two sports networks (Sky Sports and Fox Sports). And because, slowly but surely, they've expanded their rights. They have NASCAR. They have UFC. They have college football and basketball. They have actual football soccer, most notably the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup. And they will have baseball in 2014. That is a much better starting point than NBC has with the Sports Network. And, honestly, they have a better programming strategy. At launch, they will have an 11pm answer to SportsCenter - Fox Sports Live. This is EXACTLY what you need for an ESPN competitor. You aim for the heart, and the heart of ESPN is SportsCenter. I would KILL to have another national sports newscast, largely because SportsCenter has been so damn bad. Other details I've heard, but I'm not hearing here: If you have a Fox Sports 1, you should have a Fox Sports 2, right? Well, yeah. Fuel is, from what I've heard, going to be converted into Fox Sports 2. This means the end of Fox Soccer. They took a beating in the rights battles over the last few years, and just lost their prime reason to exist - English Premier League games will be on The Networks Of NBC come August. Their remaining rights will be spread across FS1 and FS2. Fox Soccer won't be Fox Sports 3, sadly - the plans I'm hearing are to use that channel's space to launch FX2 - a comedy-focused version of FX, like TBS is to TNT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1945 Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 B&C announcing that FS1 is just 100 days away. And it appears they hired ESPNews anchor Don Bell to host its new flagship show Fox Sports Live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d247 43 Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 They've also picked up another ESPN personality, SportsNation host Charissa Thompson, who will return to Fox after two years aboard the Mothership. It also seems that Fox isn't just sticking to Bristol talent, as they've also picked up Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole, who the Canadian version of SportsCentre on TSN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1945 Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 B&C has posted that former tennis play Andy Roddick will be another co-host of FS1's flagship program Fox Sports Live. Wow! Ain't it getting a big crowded for this one show?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qunewsguy 376 Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 Can't wait to see how much it will cost cable subscribers once the demand for this new sports network starts appearing. Don't ESPN and ESPN2 alone cost customers something like $10 on each bill? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country News 435 Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 If you have a Fox Sports 1, you should have a Fox Sports 2, right? Well, yeah. Fuel is, from what I've heard, going to be converted into Fox Sports 2. This means the end of Fox Soccer. They took a beating in the rights battles over the last few years, and just lost their prime reason to exist - English Premier League games will be on The Networks Of NBC come August. Their remaining rights will be spread across FS1 and FS2. Fox Soccer won't be Fox Sports 3, sadly - the plans I'm hearing are to use that channel's space to launch FX2 - a comedy-focused version of FX, like TBS is to TNT. I'm getting word now that FOX News Channel and FOX Business Network will launch 'FOX News 2' and 'FOX Business 2' for their political programs. (That is how stupid the branding choice is.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Action Newsroom 1151 Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 I'm getting word now that FOX News Channel and FOX Business Network will launch 'FOX News 2' and 'FOX Business 2' for their political programs. (That is how stupid the branding choice is.) Lord help us all... Unless Fox News becomes a rolling news network. That would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viper550 268 Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 I'm getting word now that FOX News Channel and FOX Business Network will launch 'FOX News 2' and 'FOX Business 2' for their political programs. (That is how stupid the branding choice is.) The national spin-off of Sportsnet (this Rogers-owned regional sports network that Fox owned a stake in at first) called themselves Sportsnet One too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrtraveler01 737 Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 I'm getting word now that FOX News Channel and FOX Business Network will launch 'FOX News 2' and 'FOX Business 2' for their political programs. (That is how stupid the branding choice is.) Isn't Fox Business basically Fox News 2? They seem to talk more about politics than they actually talk about business (at least compared to CNBC and Bloomberg). I think News Corp is trying to integrate the Fox Sports brand worldwide because they just re-branded Fox Sports in Australia (Which has Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, etc.) and now it has the same logo that we do here in the states. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country News 435 Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Isn't Fox Business basically Fox News 2? They seem to talk more about politics than they actually talk about business (at least compared to CNBC and Bloomberg). They are somewhat separate, seeing that FBN has a better graphics dept. Also, FBN is actually better than CNBC in many aspects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrtraveler01 737 Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 They are somewhat separate, seeing that FBN has a better graphics dept. Also, FBN is actually better than CNBC in many aspects. Eh, I'm more of a Bloomberg person myself if I really need financial news (which is only if something big happens on the stock markets). I still think Fox Business gets too carried away with the politics on what should be a business network. But I will agree that Fox Business does have nice graphics compared to it's competitors. Fox has a good graphics department for their business network as well as Fox Sports but it never seems to carry over to Fox News. Back to the topic on hand, it seems like yesterday was the first day in Fox Sports' big advertising campaign for Fox Sports 1 as the new channel was promoted very heavily during the Coca Cola 600. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country News 435 Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Back to the topic on hand, it seems like yesterday was the first day in Fox Sports' big advertising campaign for Fox Sports 1 as the new channel was promoted very heavily during the Coca Cola 600. Not the best outcome for FOX Sports with the Camera flying incident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrtraveler01 737 Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 Not the best outcome for FOX Sports with the Camera flying incident. No kidding. They're in damage control mode right now it seems. Luckily we still got a few months before the network launches so it didn't hurt it too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronQ 260 Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/kmsp-vice-president-of-news-bill-dallman-joins-fox-sports-1_b92111 KMSP vice president of News Bill Dallman joins FOX Sports 1 as their vice president and director. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundershock MN 169 Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 And, the second worst kept secret is all but official. I appears FuelTv will be quietly rebranded as Fox Sports 2 on August 17th. The LA Times first mentioned the possibility of this back in May. And, now an astute poster on the506 boards linked to the At&t U-Verse progamming notices a few days ago. Low and behold there is this little tidbit in At&t's notice: "Effective August 17th, Speed (channel 652 and 1652 in HD) is being renamed to FOX Sports 1 and Fuel (channel 651) is being renamed to FOX Sports 2." And, for just completeness here are the other Fox Cable Network changes: On June 15th, Fox Movie Channel rebranded to FX Movie Channel (FXM). And, on September 2nd Fox Soccer will be replaced by general entertainment channel, FXX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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