Fox confirmed many's suspicion and announced it will be launching a nationwide sports network in August this year. I don't know about you but I am fairly ecstatic about this move. Moar sports = better!!!!! They already announced collaboration between Regis Philbin and Mike Tyson for content on the network, which is...lukewarm at best right now. I actually am a pretty big fan of both, as I think Regis is great and Tyson is a lot smarter than he actually acts and sounds. But it is unfortunate because I don't think they'd be competing with ESPN anytime soon.
This does not bode well for consumers, however, for the time being. The larger question that we should be asking ourselves is: what does this mean for our cable bills? Fox says it will be losing money for the foreseeable future, but it is a good strategy long term. Who will they be making money from? Well you guessed it...us! The cable companies sure ain't paying that dough to carry additional sports! Sports rights are very, very expensive (as evidenced by the recent deals ESPN made.)
Some people are thinking that this is a blessing in disguise, that it will drive the urgency of de-bundling (moving to an a la carte model). I beg to differ: the cable companies are still making wayyyyyyyyyy too much money for their own goods at the moment to even entertain that thought in my humble opinion. We are maybe still a few years away at the moment. Maybe people are cutting cords or what not, but it certainly is still in the very small minority.
Just as a consumer note: I could care less about this channel to be quite honest. I get my football fix from RedZone / Sunday Ticket, NBA fix from League Pass, baseball during the playoffs when the games are on basic cable, and March Madness when all the big games are on CBS anyways. I really don't see much value add at this point as a consumer. (And I am a big sports fan).
What do you think? Do you see yourself watching this?
Any competition will be a good thing from a content perspective. I'm sick of getting NBA thrown in my face every time I watch sportscenter because ESPN is pushing their own book
yeah this is absolutely ridiculous. i'm a huge hockey fan and stephen a. smith completely disrespected the sport with his rant to barry melrose the other day about the heat being more impressive than the blackhawks (which is BS, but that's for another thread)
honestly though shouldn't they be pushing more of a mobile/internet platform? i have done zero research into this idea but my gut feeling is that a generation or two from now and cable might not even exist
They will be building that platform, I believe. But that's not their focus right now exactly :( I still hold the belief that the cable companies have too much power and money to go away in the short term. A generation or two later? No idea :)
You couldn't care less :). Sorry, I'm a huge nerd and couldn't resist.
Fox already has some sports networks, but not like what you're describing. I don't know if you get FCS (Fox College Sports) but they have three of them, Atlantic, Pacific, and Central. Personally, I love them because I get to watch smaller teams play that don't get national coverage, but I digress. This does suggest that they already have some sports rights in hand, which could make this a better bet for Fox.
I'm definitely with you: more sports = better!
hahahahah no worries!
So this is Fox's product to compete against ESPN. Their regional networks can't garner nearly the affiliate fees that ESPN does and they're hoping Fox Sports 1 will be able to make them more competitive. Fox does have sports rights already and I think that's what they are starting with initially: college hoops and college football will be its main draw, alongside Nascar, soccer, and MLB in a year or so.
As a sports fan I'm pretty happy about this. As an economist even more so.
As much as I enjoy watching ESPN, I get sick of their relatively repetitive cycles and the same old shows (not to mention their "analysts", I'm looking at you Skip Bayless). I doubt Fox Sports will put a palpable dent in ESPN's armor but what this will encourage is more innovative thinking in sports broadcasting. What I'm hoping to see is Fox try to establish an advantage over ESPN via deals away from conventional cable/dish providers. They have the opportunity to do so with the advent of alternative TV content providers like Apple TV, Google TV, YouTube channels, etc.
If they can do this, enjoy relative success, it could force ESPN's hand into doing so as well which is a huge win for consumers. Sports are ridiculously expensive because the market is dominated by a few providers, hopefully the competition can drive down prices and also give consumers better options.
Exciting stuff!
Yup this is definitely the end game, even though I doubt Fox is sacrificing its own profits for the consumers :)
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