Yeah, you really have no idea what you are talking about. The UCL is premium content, something FS1 has little of. It is far from being filler. Advertising is secondary to cable networks. Subscription fees are far more important. Currently, their fees are really low, they did that to ensure that it would be in 80 million whatever homes from the get go. If they want to get to where they can ask for more fees from the cable/sat providers, they need to keep and add premium content, not reduce it.
Weekday afternoon programming that airs when most viewers are still at work/school is not the premium content that will drive up subscription fees. It is filler and Fox couldn't care less if it's a cheaply-produced studio show or a live sporting event as long as they get decent ratings and keep the advertisers happy. Given the underwhelming ratings of the Europa League and the early stages of the Champions League, it is not unreasonable to think that soccer will occasionally be bumped by Mike's radio show. Eventually, as Fox acquires more and more rights to other major sports and FS1 becomes a more established network, all soccer programming apart from the World Cup will end up on FS2 and soccer fans will be held hostage in carriage negotiations for FS2 between Fox and cable companies.
If FOX has a commitment to UEFA to show the occasional game, it seems to me that they could show the Russian home games on FS2 and still be able to show Mike's radio show in both slots. They'd also have the regional channels, right? Why not use them for the knockout rounds? They could show Mike live on FS1 and join the show in progress on FS2. Russian home games live on FS2 and FS+. The 2:45 kickoffs have Deportes, Plus, Net and FS2. And yeah, there's always the chance his show gets bumped.
I think as long as DirecTV maintains the supplemental coverage of the UCL and the EL, or alternatively Fox replicates the Extra Time concept for all pay-tv systems, Francesca on FS1 wouldn't be as bothersome.
From @TVSportsRTGS twitter here is Francesa's ratings from his first four days on FS1/FS2. I know it is only the first week but I don't think we need to worry about live CL/Europa/FA Cup Games being pre-empted for Francesa. TVSportsRatings@TVSportsRTGS 31k viewers for Francesa on FS1 Tuesday (30k on Monday). 7k viewers on FS2 Tuesday (20k on Monday) TVSportsRatings@TVSportsRTGS 32k viewers for Francesa on FS1 Wednesday. 10k on FS2. TVSportsRatings@TVSportsRTGS Francesa down to 24k viewers on FS1 Thursday and 2k on FS2.
Or Thursday 4/3 since he is being bumped for Europa League too. The show returns to FS1/FS2 on Friday.
The highest rated Mike Francesa Show show finished as the 74th most watched program on FS1 this week. Premier League programming had 7 of the top 10 shows on NBCSN this week. http://sonofthebronx.blogspot.com/2014/04/nbc-sports-network-nbcsn-fox-sports-1.html
Mike is apparently pretty upset that his show is being preempted by soccer and NASCAR. Earth to Mike your show will always be a weekend review/preview on Friday/Monday 20 out of 52 weeks of the year due to FOX's soccer commitments on Tuesday through Thursday. Can you imagine the stack he will blow during in September when CL group games start while the NFL is going on and he is being preempted? The best part is that this is a huge topic that he can be trolled over by the crank callers to his show. It is kinda fitting that the biggest sports radio guy in the biggest market that actively dislikes soccer is being driven crazy because soccer is screwing with his show. http://deadspin.com/mike-francesa-is-not-happy-with-his-fox-sports-partners-1570418475
My guess is that his bosses at FOX told him that he won't be preempted that much between now & the start of Champions League play in August/September. My guess is that Mike vented today because this is it for soccer outside of the Europa League Final for a few months. This will blow over till he blows up again in the Fall when a caller calls him out on the show being preempted.
and his retirement "celebration" lasted way longer than his actual retirement: http://beta.nydailynews.com/sports/more-sports/mike-francesa-time-return-wfan-article-1.3951336