FOX Sports Media Group made
it official today, unveiling plans to launch a new, national, multi-sport network
called FOX Sports 1. The announcement was made by FSMG Co-Presidents and COOs
Randy Freer and Eric Shanks. Set to debut on Saturday, Aug. 17 as FOX Sports
kicks-off its 20th anniversary year, FS1 is available in over 90 million homes,
making this the biggest sports cable network launch in history, and one of the
largest network launches ever. At the outset, FS1 boasts nearly 5,000 hours of
live event, news and original programming annually.
“Our ‘secret,’ admittedly a very poorly kept
one, is now revealed,” said Shanks. “Fans are ready for an alternative to the
establishment, and our goal for FS1 is to provide the best in-game experience
possible, complemented by informative news, entertaining studio shows and
provocative original programming.”
A healthy schedule of
live events forms the backbone of FOX Sports 1’s programming from Day 1, with
college basketball, college football, NASCAR, soccer and UFC all on tap between
launch and year’s end. In fact, the schedule on Aug. 17 features live events
morning, noon and night including a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race from
Michigan and “UFC on FS1 1” in prime time. In 2014, FSMG’s new rights agreement
with MLB takes effect, bringing regular and postseason games to FS1.
“As a company we haven’t
been afraid to innovate and take well-calculated risks,” added Freer. “We’ve
devoted significant resources over the last few years to acquire and/or extend
multi-platform rights with a wide variety of leagues and governing bodies well
into the next decade, enough to give us a rich schedule right out of the box.”
More people consume and
care about sports than ever before, so to satisfy that voracious demand FSMG
deems the time is now to launch FS1. For example, when FOX Sports launched in
1994, late Sunday afternoon NFL on FOX games ranked as the 26th highest-rated
program on television. Today, FOX’s national doubleheader games rank No. 1 for
three years running.
FOX Sports 1 programming highlights will include:
COLLEGE BASKETBALL – Dozens of exclusive
prime time games on Monday and Thursday nights, plus Saturday and Sunday
coverage of the Big 12, Pac-12 and Conference USA.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL – Led by Notre Dame at
Stanford, the Big Ten Championship Game and Pac-12 Championship Game (2014) on
FOX, dozens of exclusive, live games from the Pac-12, Big 12 and Conference USA
games on Thursday nights and Saturdays; triple- and quadruple-headers on
Saturdays; Saturday pre- and postgame coverage.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL– Beginning in 2014,
select League Championship Series and Division Series games; regular-season
games over 26 Saturdays; live game-in-progress look-in show.
NASCAR– Select NASCAR Sprint
Cup Series races as soon as 2015; NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races;
NASCAR Sprint All-Star race; all SpeedWeeks events leading up to the Daytona
500 including Daytona 500 Qualifying, Sprint Unlimited at Daytona (2014,
2017-22) and the Budweiser Duel, now in prime time; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
and NCWTS Practice and Qualifying sessions; NASCAR RaceDay, providing pre- and
post-race coverage; NASCAR Victory Lane, a weekly wrap-up show; and Race Hub, a
daily mid-day studio show with the latest from drivers, owners and garages.
SOCCER–
Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday afternoon coverage of the world’s most prolific club
soccer competitions, the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, and
CONCACAF Champions League featuring many of the world’s greatest and most
successful clubs; the world’s oldest soccer competition, the FA Cup; CONCACAF
Gold Cup; CONCACAF Qualifiers, FIFA Women’s World Cup coverage in 2015 and
2019; FIFA Men’s World Cup coverage in 2018 and 2022; delayed matches in prime
time; weekly magazine and highlights shows.
UFC– Featured on Wednesday
nights; live FIGHT NIGHTS through 2014, the first is scheduled for launch
night, Saturday, Aug. 17; FOX event preliminary cards; UFC Tonight, the weekly
authority for UFC news and information; 14 Saturday pay-per-view preliminary
cards; hundreds of hours of library programs and events.
In addition to live
events and studio programs, FS1 introduces FOX SPORTS LIVE, a 24/7 news
franchise providing around-the-clock coverage through regularly scheduled
programs, hourly updates and an information-rich ticker that provides a network
agnostic sports event television schedule. Thousands of hours of news
programming are expected annually from newly minted sets including a nightly
program at 11:00 PM ET or immediately following events. A morning newscast is
expected to launch in January 2014 in conjunction with FSMG’s expansive
coverage of Super Bowl XLVIII.
“Building credibility
and trust with our audience is paramount, so naturally we’ll provide the
staples, like news, scores and highlights, but we’ll do it in a FOX Sports
way,” offered Shanks. “Just as FOX NFL SUNDAY reinvented the pregame show, FOX
SPORTS LIVE breaks new ground in the way sports news is presented. We already
have the home-team advantage of significant audiences watching local games on
our 22 regional sports networks as a platform to launch our new national news.”
Complementing FS1’s live
events and news coverage at launch are several original programs, highlighted
by RUSH HOUR, hosted by Regis Philbin, airing live weekdays (5:00-6:00 PM ET).
Originating in New York City, Regis leads the charge along with a panel of
sports professionals, celebrity guests and die-hard fans in this brand new,
unpredictable, talk show. Following RUSH HOUR live every day is FOX FOOTBALL
DAILY (6:00-7:00 PM ET), an extension of FOX NFL SUNDAY, the most-watched NFL
pregame show for 19 straight years. FOX FOOTBALL DAILY, hosted by NFL on FOX
personalities, including Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Jay Glazer, Gus Johnson,
Erin Andrews and Mike Pereira, provides a daily dose of news, interviews and
commentary from pro and collegiate football worlds. Both shows are expected to
premiere at launch in August. Earlier this year, FSMG unveiled a unique and
groundbreaking documentary franchise titled BEING:, a deep look into today's
greatest athletes, teams and sports icons via unprecedented access. The first
subject to appear this fall on FS1 is BEING: MIKE TYSON, the most feared man
ever to step in a boxing ring. The multi-episode series is now in production.
FSMG’s experimentation
with the “double box” commercial format, intended to keep viewers engaged
throughout breaks, is expected to be an FS1 staple. Custom commissioned
research conducted this year by Innerscope in concert with FOX Sports
advertisers, along with data from IAG and Nielsen, demonstrates how the “double
box” format adds value compared to the traditional full-screen break: IAG
reported a 62% increase in brand recall; younger viewers are more likely to
view “double box” commercials, according to Nielsen minute-by-minute ratings;
Innerscope’s engagement score for “double box” commercials ranked +13% than
average; and viewers see advertiser logos more than three times longer in
“double box” versus standard format.
Launching together with
FOX Sports 1 will be FOX Sports GO – a groundbreaking mobile sports experience
for iPhone, iPad, Android devices, and web. FOX Sports Go will offer more than
1,000 live games and events from across FOX Sports, FOX Sports 1 and FOX
Sports’ 22 regional sports networks, as well as scores, highlights, news,
stats, and analysis. The live games and events will be available to subscribers
of participating cable, satellite, and telco providers at no additional cost.
And the wonderful Fox sports Go app, will of course, not be available to residents outside of the US, nor will sattelite/cable providers outside the US be recognized for apps or other features. RIP Speed TV. The channel my TV spends most of its time tuned to. It was great while it lasted. My prediction, live Camping World Truck series races, and Nascar racing content in general will begin to be pre-empted by baseball, football, and college gymnastics live from Lithuania! And for the other programming offered on Speed, some of which was quite entertaining, some of which were,well, kinda painful to watch, in the words of the Duck Dynasty cast.....THEY GONE!!
ReplyDeleteThis is great for NASCAR fans !!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAny word on what might happen with Nascar K&N Series, WoO, and the other "less popular" racing series that were on SPEED?
ReplyDeleteDon't care for the "reality" programming, but I enjoyed many of the midweek car restoration shows that seem to be going away. Apparently I was in the minority.
ReplyDeleteSpot on Ron...
ReplyDeletenot liking this...only upside may be that FS1 will be offered to me in HD which Speed never was...
ReplyDeletenot liking this..We interrupt today's Daytona qualifying race to bring you an update about 2 guys in shorts kicking each other inside a chain link fenced boxing ring.....
ReplyDeleteI wonder, since FOX runs commercials that last 4 laps for every 6 laps of NASCAR racing, will the same hold true for the stick & ball stuff? 6 plays, commercial, miss 4 plays, back to live broadcast after commercial. I like the inference that FOX has been "experimenting" with the side-by-side commercial blocks; ABC's been using it for racing broadcasts for the last 4 years. Sorry, but as a LONG-time NASCAR fan, not that excited about the network takeover. Still wish for the good old ESPN days of the 80's & 90's.
ReplyDeleteThey will treat NASCAR the same as ESPN does. some rerun college lacrosse will be on and it will preempt NASCAR. maybe NASCAR should lay down the law.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading that mess of a release I get a bit of a "dont be afraid everyone! We will be everything to everyone! " type of feeling. We all know how that goes. And we all have a right to be cynical when it comes to our motorsport programing. Hell that goes for all of our sports programming. My first take is that we will see a fox sports 2 by the end of 14. Schedules may be confusing. We will figure it out. We will be fine. There will be some channel to step in for what we want or we will forget what we wanted. Overall i'm cynical but not concerned. I'm more concerned with retaining my source of income so I can afford cable to be cynical about.
ReplyDelete-B.Fulton
Minneapolis, MN
http://www.gomohu.com/tv-for-free/
ReplyDeleteIn regards to Dave's comment about the "person living under a rock in West Virginia...." - in fact full HD NASCAR broadcasts are available on the Fox network for free using a relatively inexpensive ($40) antenna. MOHU/Greenwave out of Raleigh NC has sold millions of these devices already - so my point is that it is not insignificant to have the largest share of NASCAR TV coverage removed from the only non-cable/satellite/subscription service. My other point on this topic is that Fox was the entity that neutered the original SpeedTV in the first place and replaced what was, IMO, great racing coverage (I loved the various Euro touring car stuff) with the slew of lifestyle shows, most of which were insufferable (I do like Chop Cut Rebuild). Point being that a lot of the negativity regarding the FS1 announcement is really hangover sentiments from the original Fox takeover of SpeedTV - IMO.
Best regards - Steve in Raleigh, NC
Full disclosure - I do not work for MOHU, I bought one of their antennas and it works great, and I also have a satellite subscription that I continually try to justify paying for lol