News Corp. To Launch Fox Sports 1
Using the assets of its niche-targeted Speed channel, News Corp. has announced a major new national sports network, Fox Sports 1, which looks long-term to compete with
ESPN.
The news of the launch of the network had been expected for sometime. Fox Sports 1 starts August 17.
Chase Carey, chief operating officer of News Corp., said the network
will launch as a fully distributed service with some 90 million subscribers. It will likely lose money initially, but look to raise subscriber rates.
Fox believes its already strong sports
base on the Fox network will make for a good foundation -- already airing Major League Baseball, NASCAR, soccer, the UFC, college football and college basketball.
In addition, Fox Sports
already owns a number of regional sports networks -- 22 in all -- and executives believe it has a built-in advantage with significant audiences watching those games.
Analysts speculate that
the entry of Fox Sports 1 will contribute to continued multichannel TV distributors -- cable, satellite, and telco -- worries about costly and controversial sports license fees. ESPN already charges
the top price, around $5.50 per subscriber per month. Currently, the Speed channel gets $0.22 a subscriber.
The always-aggressive News Corp. played down the obvious rivalry with the bit
Disney sports cable networks.
“We are not trying to beat ESPN,” Carey said. “Sports is a big, huge arena. We’ve proven we can do some interesting and exciting
things. We can enlarge the category and bring a new dimension to it. The key to success for us is to build an attractive business that resonates with consumers."
Fox Sports 1 will start off
with 4,800 hours of programming, including a news franchise "Fox Sports Live" poised to be a kind of ESPN's "SportsCenter." Next year, the network will begin airing Major League Baseball regular
season games and Pac-12 Football Conference Championship game will air on FS1.
NASCAR begins airing Sprint Cup Series races beginning in 2015.
Recent MediaDailyNews Articles
-
GM Returns To Oscars, Drives 5-Year Deal June 19, 10:19 a.m.
General Motors and the Oscars telecast are back in business.The Detroit carmaker said Wednesday that it ... -
GM Returns To Oscars, Drives 5-Year Deal June 19, 10:16 a.m.
General Motors and the Oscars telecast are back in business.The Detroit carmaker said Wednesday that it ... -
Cannes King: Omnicom Earns Most Medals, Media Agency Of Year June 19, 9:34 a.m.
Omnicom’s OMD Worldwide was the most medaled media network at the Cannes ad festival this year, ... -
Consumers Tag Costco, Movado As Most Promising Brands June 18, 6:09 p.m.
Costco, Cisco and Movado are the three most financially promising pure-play, publicly traded brands in the ... -
'Voice' Sings To Consistent Beat June 18, 5:57 p.m.
One of the biggest shows on broadcast television finished its spring edition pretty close to where ... -
Motorola Hires Digitas For Global Media Account June 18, 5:43 p.m.
Google-owned Motorola has appointed Publicis Groupe’s Digitas to handle global media duties, according to sources. Those ... -
'Jimmy Kimmel,' Myspace Promote Musicians June 18, 2:56 p.m.
Select artists that appear on TV late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live” will get to perform an ... -
W+K Amsterdam's Heineken Ad Wins Cannes Lions Grand Prix, Creative June 18, 11:31 a.m.
A Heineken ad campaign from Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, the brand’s first global campaign effort, has ... -
Millennials Split In Attitude, Teens Less Upbeat, But Resilient June 18, 10:56 a.m.
MTV says younger U.S. millennials are a bit more pessimistic than older millennials.New millennials ages 14 ... -
Scripps Launches TV Everywhere With TWC June 17, 6:01 p.m.
Scripps Networks has a TV Everywhere deal with Time Warner Cable, allowing viewers access to on-demand ...
Be the first to comment on "News Corp. To Launch Fox Sports 1 "
Leave a Comment