http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-28/news-corp-said-to-plan-u-s-sports-network-to-rival-espn.html
This has been the prediction ever since Fox won the WC rights. It would have been a very awkward fit without a nation-wide sports-dedicated channel to use as a platform.
I had no idea I had Fuel. I guess they'll just re-brand it as the national Fox SportsNet. Off-topic, but when is CBS Sports Network going to become a contender?
That actually makes the most sense, but even then, I think they'll have the same "stuck in the sports tier" problem that NBCSN is dealing with right now. Oh yeah, and the whole "lack of live sports" thing. (Yes, I know, they can probably get some live college sports on there for the time being, thanks to their deals with the Big Ten [sic], Pac-12, and Big XII [sic], but the major pro leagues already have their cable deals sewn up for the time being.) When more carriers carry them, when those carriers put the channel in a basic or extended basic tier, and when they start carrying something other than minor college sports and a rebroadcast of the previous week's SEC football game.
To grow something like this, you do have to look at the ESPN2 model. ESPN2 was very small until ESPN started putting bigger games on the channel. The tip of the iceberg came when Duke/Carolina played a classic basketball game on the channel, then it went big. If NBC put Sunday Night Football on NBC Sports Network, that would change the game as to where the channel is in regards to tiers. The current inventory across the News Corp. channels that could show up on the new channel are college football from conferences previously mentioned, MLB since they get a nice weekend slate, soccer (including Champions' League), UFC, and NASCAR for a few months, which includes the Daytona 500 every year. I doubt the NFL would go there at this point, but TV contracts could change, especially if the NFL keeps giving consideration to offering a Thursday Night package for bid. There would be live programming issues now, but if the channel is a year or two away, they may be able to get some things done as agreements expire.
[QUOTE Off-topic, but when is CBS Sports Network going to become a contender?[/QUOTE] Jim Rome is on it so I hope it wont go anywhere.
Unfortunately, this hasn't worked for the NFL Network. Still are a lot of cable companies that don't offer it--don't want to pay the money the NFL is asking for essentially one game a week.
Comcast and News Corp have a much bigger stick that they can use on cable companies than the NFL does. As you said, the NFL has a single game a week that they can use as leverage, but Comcast and News Corp have all of their other channels as leverage to get their sports channel off of premium packages.
fox sports ufc, ccl, uefacl, nhl playoffs, world cup, euro cup, confederations cup, w.world cup, march madness, boxing, k1 that would be a beast channel.
March Madness is locked up on CBS and Turner Sports for a long time. NHL is locked up on NBC/NBCSN for a long time, and the next couple of Euros are going to be on ESPN, so they'd certainly have to find some alternative stuff.
NHL and NCAA tournament are both in long-term contracts. Month-long international soccer tournaments are no way to build a long-term presence. CCL isn't a huge draw, and UEFA CL matches are held on weekday afternoons.
It never happened. It was a terrible idea from the beginning. The median Fox News viewer is what, 65? I just can't see that demo tuning into political humor. Regardless Fox News has nothing to do with this. I'm sure that if Roger Ailes wanted a piece of the decisions making, he would find a way to get involved. But honestly, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy that cares about sports. He's the kind of guy that literally surrounds himself with security guards in public and drives in a bulletproof vehicle because he thinks he's being targeted by Islamic terrorists. He's the guy who rang the security alarms at Fox News HQ because he thought one of the middle-eastern janitors was a suicide bomber. His agenda is purely political.