Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
As Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox launched the Fox Sports 1 network, it had not signed any deals with some of the largest cable and satellite operators and has no plans to air the popular international soccer leagues, writes Liana B Baker and Ronald Grover.
Instead, it is taking on Disney sports juggernaut ESPN with a line-up that features NASCAR, college football and basketball, mixed martial arts and a new sports show starring Regis Philbin.
Fox executives told analysts at an investors’ meeting recently that they see an opening for an ESPN competitor in a sports market they say continues to grow. Fox has a history of taking on entrenched incumbents, as they did when they launched Fox News in 1996 and went on to topple CNN.
Their sports channel is unlikely to win a quick victory over ESPN, which has a huge head-start and a long list of popular sports rights, but Murdoch has also shown he’s willing to be patient and absorb losses to take on incumbents.
“The decision has been made very high up that this is something Fox wants, and a few losses won’t stop them,” said consultant Ed Desser, a former NBA Television executive who advises on sports rights deals. “Few companies have the connections, the leverage and the deep pockets to take on this kind of a challenge.”
More importantly, advertisers covet the male viewer that Fox Sports 1 intends to target. Media buyers say the popularity of live sporting events leaves plenty of room for a new round-the-clock sports channel.
Fox already has a profitable base of 22 regional sports channels it can tap for its new network. Slated live programming includes college football and basketball games, European soccer, horse racing, ultimate fighting-championship bouts, and select car racing.
Next year it is scheduled to add Major League Baseball, and it snagged the US Open golf tournament from NBC and ESPN, starting in 2015.
To set itself apart, Fox executives will embrace the same cheeky style as Fox’s NFL telecast and its other sports shows. Former morning talk-show host Regis Philbin will host Crowd Goes Wild, a live sports-entertainment talk show with panelists, at 5pm comedic commentators Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole, hosts of the Canadian sports-clip programme SportsCentre, will host a nightly show Fox Sports Live.
Fox has to contend with a powerful ESPN lineup that includes the multi-year rights to many highly watched programmes, including the NFL’s Monday Night Football, college football’s national championship, pro basketball games and the Wimbledon tennis tournament.
