Murdoch and Fox going to try to compete with ESPN

I would love this to succeed because it would mean tons of jobs for people in this business, but I just don't see it happening... I think they'll spend a lot of money to get it started and then 2-3 years from now (if they're lucky) the bulk of them will be looking for work...

 

Why would it lead to tons more jobs? The networks already exist and FOX has plenty of on-air talent and crew.

 

Also ... maybe this is just my reaction, but the people who have moved from newspapers to the local sports network are just flat-out invisible when it comes to writing. I wonder how long those websites are going to keep at it before they just go all TV and online video.

 

If they truly want to compete with ESPN they need to beef up their staff considerably. If they just want to exist alongside ESPN, maybe they can be fine with their current staffs.

We saw what happened to CBS Sports when it tried to beef up its staff.

 

We heard before, this in the mid-90s. My memories are a bit hazy, but here's a brief synopsis of what happened next:

- Your old, formerly subscription-based sports networks (PASS, HTS, SportsChannel) were dissolved into the Fox family
- A nightly, SportsCenter-like news show finally provided the dream team of Olbermann, K-Fraiz, and Van Earl Wright
- When it came time for actual games , they were hidden under a barrage of on-screen graphics.
- Olbermann leveraged his new FOX fame into Quizno's ads.
- Said SportsCenter-like show bombs after Olbermann alienates everyone. He gets replaced by "Best Damn."
- Chris Rose sucks, so does this show.
- Leanne Tweeden
- Lisa Guerrero

 

Rupe also seems to be betting on the continued growth of UFC, as per Kevin Iole:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mma--hoping-to-challenge-espn--fox-betting-big-on-ufc-022957228.html

 

FoxSports the Magazine.

 

Mizzou, I don't know how to copy/paste, but what did you mean here:

"We saw what happened to CBS Sports when it tried to beef up its staff."

You talking the CBS Sports channel, or the (my) website? And what DID we see happen? I swear I'm not being snarky or angry. I'm being curious.

 

Is copy/paste a professional blind spot, or do you mean on this site?

 

Yes, if you replace all references to ESPN and sports programming on this thread to "CNN" and "news programming."

 

Or to network TV in general. I remember when they came out with "Women in Prison" Tracy Ullman & "Herman's Head" & everyone was saying the could never compete with the big networks. Then they "overpaid" for the NFC & everything (slowly) changed.

 

The obvious difference between cable sports networks and cable news networks is that news is free, but live sports is not. You have to pay to put it on the air. There is also no built-in audience in sports that equates to the ideological audience Fox has created in news. I have 18 (not counting their HD equivalents) cable sports channels on my TV right now. I don't see how one more can somehow become a new giant. There's not enough food supply for it to grow to that size.