[Montréal United]

I wonder how FSW US is doing financially.

FSW Canada releases its number last week for 2002 to the telecommunication board

Number of subscribers: 341,904 homes
Loss before taxes & interests: -6,300,000$ CAN (around -4,000,000$ US)

That's a loss of 18$ per subscriber for a year. Since it's the only reason I switched to satellite TV, let's say I'm a little worried about the future. Either it could fold or cut back on the quality of programming which would be terrible.

I hope the US version does a whole lot better. Is there any way to know?

[chayes]

I don't think this spells doom in any way.

You have to remember, FSW Canada is just one part of Fox Sports which is just one part of NewsCorp.

Taking a $4 million loss on FSW Canada just offsets a $4 million profit on some other sector, decreasing the amount of corporate tax a conglomerate like NewsCorp must pay.

They made enough off of Joe Millionaire that they can take a few hits.

[rangers00]

FWIW, NewsCorp does not own FSW Canada. It's owned by Global (thus the show "Global SportsLink" on FSW Canada, later renamed "Fox Sports World Report" that FSW licensed for its USA viewers).

Global only licenses the brand name "Fox Sports World" from News Corp. Thus if FSW Canada bleeds red ink and Global can't bear the losses, there can be two consequences:

- the channel will disappear, or
- News Corp will purchase and own it; however, there may be lots of CRTC hurdles

However, there is definitely a market for European soccer in Canada. Before FSW Canada, most of the EPL games on FSW were broadcasted on CTV Sportsnet (that was the predecessor of Rogers Sportsnet). They also had the UEFA Cup. It's the launch of FSW Canada that depleted SportsNet all its European inventory except the two EPL games on Saturday.

[billmead]

What's the history of CTV/Rogers losing the games...Did they just not renew or did the games move to FSW-canada some other way?


Bill

[rangers00]

Originally posted by billmead
What's the history of CTV/Rogers losing the games...Did they just not renew or did the games move to FSW-canada some other way?


Bill

My guess is that FSW retains most of the games for FSW Canada. Afterall, FSW (News Corp) and FSW Canada are partners.

Sportsnet is able to retain the plum, i.e. the two EPL matches on Saturday, either due to a long-term contract or paying a premium.

The is one bad thing about Sportsnet owning exclusive rights of EPL on Saturday. Occasionally, there is a 3rd EPL match being broadcasted in the U.S. on Saturday. Sportsnet doesn't show that match, while owning exclusive rights, it also prevents FSW Canada from showing that match. This past Saturday, it was Everton vs Southampton. FSW in the U.S. showed the match at 15:00 EST delayed, while the game is not available in Canada. The entire Canada missed the chance to watch your lone Canadian star in arguably his best performance in his EPL career: 2 goals in the last 7 minutes to snatch victory from defeat.