Fox Sports 1 vs ESPN

[tv15]

What sports network will do better in the next couple of years

[monkeypower]

I'm pretty sure I know your choice...

[vmd9]

I will watch Fox Sports 1 just because it isn't ESPN.

[infrared41]

This is the equivalent of asking "Alabama vs. Coastal Carolina - who do you think has a better shot at a BCS title in the next couple years?" It's great to see a couple networks trying to give sports fans an alternative to the WWL, but it's going to take at minimum five years to even make a dent in ESPN's audience share. And I'm not sure even that even making a dent in five years is all that realistic. If, and it's a huge if, FOX Sports 1 actually becomes a viable alternative to ESPN, it's going to take a while before they get there.

What FOX has going for them is their current contracts. They have the NFL, MLB, College Football, and NASCAR. That's a much better starting point for live sports than what NBC Sports came to the table with. FOX Sports 1 will have the curiosity factor on their side early. The key is to really deliver while they have everyone's attention. If FOX can put together a good live sports lineup, they have a decent shot at eventually taking away some of ESPN's audience share. I'm rooting for FOX because ESPN could stand to have their feet put to the fire. Hopefully, the competition will result in better programming for everyone.

I know I'll be tuning in.

[Evil G]

I'll be watching FS1. No doubt. Or NBCSN.

[dfwabel]

'infrared41' summed it up pretty well as this is a five to ten year process.

Yesterday FOX acquired the USGA events starting in 2015, they still have some immediate issues prior to August 17. Mainly, DirecTV, DISH, and Time Warner are of the opinion that it is still SPEED Channel. SPEED costs about 23 cents per subscriber per month. However, FOXis trying to increase that to about 80 cents for FS1’s launch.

Another issue is that FS1 is promoting itself as "fun". If you are watching for live events, that in essence is the "fun". Case in point, their college football show last season was dreadful starting with the poor audio and even poorer studio show. While Rob Stone will replace Erin Andrews, that mess last year with her, Eddie George, and Joey Harrington will keep me away until kickoff.

[dfwabel]

I'll be watching FS1. No doubt. Or NBCSN.

Here is how many people watch NBCSN and it is not many.

[Kevin W.]

FS1 will inevitably turn into a carbon copy of ESPN. It'll start out strong but then it will become just as personality- and storyline-obsessed.

[rams80]

FS1 will inevitably turn into a carbon copy of ESPN. It'll start out strong but then it will become just as personality- and storyline-obsessed.

It's already there. FS1 sees ESPN's analysis as too cerebral. You heard that right.

[Sodboy13]

Fox Sports 2 will also be launching next weekend, replacing Fuel. They'll have live late-night AFL games. I'm in for that.

Like any launch, there's a mix of good ideas (Jay and Dan!) and bad (Regis Philbin and a cast of thousands?). It'll take time, but the effort to hit the ground running is impressive, and should provide more of a spark than the gradual OLN/Versus/NBCSN mutation, which still needs to figure out what it wants to be.

Also, there's a CBS Sports Network, which no one watches and no one ever will.

[Kevin W.]

FS1 will inevitably turn into a carbon copy of ESPN. It'll start out strong but then it will become just as personality- and storyline-obsessed.

It's already there. FS1 sees ESPN's analysis as too cerebral. You heard that right.

Damnit. I was hoping it'd take at least a few years.

Also, :censored: them for forcing Gus Johnson as a soccer announcer. :censored:. Them.

[Sodboy13]

Obviously he's really rough now and it's hurts a bit to hear him calling these top-flight matches. But Fox's plan from the get-go was to have him be their lead announcer for World Cup 2018, so this is all part of a multi-year development track. If he's not good by then, we can rightfully assail them for ing up.

[Kevin W.]

I'm not holding my breath. He's shown no improvement whatsoever since starting. He is not a soccer announcer and never will be.

The fact that we'll have to listen to him instead of Ian Darke is a damn shame.

[Funky Bunky]

I'll watch whatever Jay and Dan are on, and if they (they probably won't) have some sort of NHL show, I'll watch that, but not much else. I'll just keep doing what I'm currently doing - get my news from twitter/internet, watch hockey games (and select NHLN programming), and watch the occasional PTI or Baseball tonight.

[RyanMcD29]

The way I see it

Good Things!

-Jay and Dan should be enough to replace any viewing of Sportscenter I ever had (these days I usually don't watch SC anymore and go straight to the league networks)

-Impressive lineup of live sports right off the bat

Bad Things

Everything else

This is Fox Sports we're talking about, and it already looks like it has the potential to somehow be worse than ESPN. Every other non-live sports programming decision that's not "let's bring the TSN Sportscentre crew to the States" looks awful, their promotion somehow manage to bring up nothing but teams I hate with the exception of showing Endy Chavez's 2006 NLCS catch for 2 seconds, and you know damn well Fox isn't sticking with their original intent of having more substance than ESPN given their track record.

Don't get me wrong, I think this will be the best shot to an alternative to ESPN yet. But it's probably going to join ESPN in the race to the lowest common denominator quite quickly, if they don't already pass them. The actual live sports, though, should be good, granted I'm in the ballpark of thinking that every sport Fox airs or ever airs, someone does it better.

[alxy8s]

If FS1 acts like the world has more than 4 leagues and they each have more than 5 teams, it's a step in the right direction.

I understand that it's hard to fill a 24-hour network with original programming. They would be better served by increasing the breadth of their discussions, rather than beat the same things into the ground. ESPN has turned into a caricature of itself. Here's hoping that FS1 does well enough to force each network to constantly improve itself.

[Gothamite]

If Fox Sports does for sports what Fox News did for news, then this will get very ugly very quickly.

Soon we'll be talking about how Bucky Dent's home run won the 1957 AL East for the Red Sox.

[LETSGOBLUEBEATMSU]

I will defently watch but I'm not sure if I will keep watching I'm interested in the new Collage Football prime time show it sounds cool. I don't see how there going to compete with College Gameday though so many people watch College Gameday I doubt they will ever even come close to competing with it.

[NJTank]

How many people though Fox News channel would succeed when it was first launched in 1996? CNN was the established channel and had a long reputation of covering news. By 2001 FNC was #1 and has been #1 since. If Fox Sports1 can do the same I wont be shocked, ESPN needs a rival and we need a channel that gives us highlights and not BS list and discussion shows that are all the same.

[dbadefense1990]

Also, there's a CBS Sports Network, which no one watches and no one ever will.

Same for NBCSN, if it weren't for the NHL (and perhaps MLS) saving their face. Neither of the two did a good job at advertising their networks to the general public. And it also didn't help that both were already-existent cable networks, which didn't draw people to begin with in the past (CBSSN was CBS College Sports Network, while NBCSN was Versus/OLN).

I can't pull the data right now, but I'd figure each network's most viewed telecast of all time involved Super Bowl postgame shows (XLVI for NBCSN in 2012 and XLVII for CBSSN in 2013).