I'm not sure where this goes, but I heard a most interesting ad for FSW and MLS on WIP in Philly last week. The went something like this "Remember last summer when the US national team shocked the world and proved it was a soccer playing nation. Well the stars of the US WC team are back in the MLS this year on FSW. LD DMB and BMB are back to show what they can do. Weekly broadcasts on saturday followed by a highlights show featuring John Harkes. Call your local cable or satellite provider for FSW" Its interesting for a couple of reasons. 1) I've never heard an MLS add on any radio station 2) It was on WIP, the Eagles broadcasting network 3) Comcast doesn't offer FSW in Philly The first thing I thought was FSW has already done more than ESPN ever has to promote the MLS. The second was, FSW must be trying get Comcast to offer it again. The third was maybe MLS is serious about philly expansion.
I heard one of those radio ads last week in DC during Howard Stern in the AM. I don't know if it was a national ad during Stern or a local ad though. If it was national during Stern, that's a pretty expensive ad buy.
I doubt it was stern buy, but it is an indication of the impact the FSW deal is having on marketing the league.
Due to travel during the week for work, I get to listen to many different Sports Radio stations along the Mid-Atlantic corridor and the following stations have all played that same FSW radio spot.. WIP 610 - Philadelphia ESPN Radio 920 - Philly AM 1350 - York, Pa WJFK 1300 - Baltimore WNST 1570 - Baltimore Sportstalk 980 - Washington D.C. AM 1120 - Norfolk, Va Good job FSW...
The one station I haven't heard it on is 1460 the Ticket in Harrisburg, and that is a Foxsports radio station, owned by Clear Channel.
What makes you guys think this is FSW spending this cash and not MLS/SUM? My guess is that this is partly, if not all, MLS/SUM's money to promote. Andy
Thanx for coming in and the info. Any chance you'll be running those ads in SoCal? Maybe on the Mighty 1090 here in San Diego (which can be heard throughout LA...hint, hint)?
The same commercial has run during Stern's show on WYSP in Philly too. The thing that gets me about Comcast in the Philly area is that while they do not offer FSW, they broadcast The Best Damn Sport Show on Comcast Sports Network...but nothing else save the rare EPL game. It would seem that it would be in FSW's best interest not to sell BDSS independently and force cable providers to add the whole channel. I can't believe Comcast has that much leverage over FSW.
DaMunk, Thanks for the note, just to clarify, Best Damn Sports Show is a Fox Sports Net program, not Fox Sports World. We do realize though, that there are many people out there frustrated by their inability to get FSW through their cable subscriber, be it Comcast or anyone else. It's a complicated issue, with a lot of different interests involved, but we at FSW are committed to doing whatever we can to increase distribution, radio advertising being one aspect of that. Feel free to PM me to discuss further.
Thanx for the info! Could you give us some information on how the contract with MLS is constructed? Is it a partnership in where both MLS and FSW share in the responsibility of getting advertisers, or is it more of a pure rights fee where FSW pays MLS a certain amount and then FSW keeps the ad revenue? Andy
Infinity Broadcasting I know for a fact that WIP in Philly is owned and the Howard Stern radio program is distributed by Infinity Broadcasting. They also own a bunch of stations all over the country. Probably got some kind of deal with Infinity going on. And they say a degree in communications is worthless. HA!
Re: Infinity Broadcasting Well, since Inifinity and Clear Channel own, well, 90% of the radio stations in America (Thanks! 1996 Telecomunnications Act) If you make an ad buy with either one, you are going to get tons of placement and distribution.
Adding FSW to Comcast? When the deal between MLS and FSW was first announced, I contacted Comcast (I live in Delaware) to request that FSW be added to their channel line-up. The person at Comcast had told me that I would need to contact the FCC for them to add it. Is this normal, or did this person not know what they were talking about? What is the best way to try to get Comcast to add FSW?
Re: Re: Adding FSW to Comcast? Seems like a win-win for parent Fox. If the cable companies refuse to carry FSW, then the soccer fan will go to Directv if possible.
If I bought a dish, I wouldn't be able to watch the sixers or flyers in the playoffs on Comcast Sportsnet since the dishes don't carry the comcast channels....so back to my original question of how do we get Comcast to carry FSW?