Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. will start a national cable sports network in August, joining a field dominated by Walt Disney Co. (DIS)’s ESPN.
Fox Sports 1 will be available to more than 90 million pay- TV homes, New York-based News Corp. said today in a statement.
The channel’s start coincides with the beginning of the college
football season. Fox and other major networks have turned to live
programming like sports to bolster ratings and draw in viewers, who can
easily record other programs to watch later. That’s created a crowd of
competitors that also includes NBC Sports and CBS Sports.
“We’re not trying to beat ESPN,” News Corp. (NWSA)
Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said at an investor conference
today. “That wouldn’t make sense. Sports is a big huge arena. We’ve
proven over the years we can do some interesting and exciting things.”
For News Corp., the challenge will be assembling a lineup of sports
events that will draw viewers, and to convince pay-TV systems and
advertisers they should pony up for the new network.
The network will sustain losses as Fox tries to increase the
subscriber fee, Carey said. Speed, which Fox Sports 1 will replace,
collects 31 cents a month per subscriber on average from pay-TV systems,
according to SNL Kagan. The researcher estimates Fox will seek $1. ESPN
received $5.13 in 2012.
*** [8/16/13]
Can Fox Sports 1 compete with ESPN? Here's a chart comparing the sports covered by ESPN/ABC vs. Fox Sports vs. NBC vs. CBS vs. TBS/TNT.
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