Fox Sports 1 Announcement

[kryza]

No mention of the Big East, but the announcement states that they will carry dozens of primetime college bball games on Monday's and Thursday's. I wonder if that's when they plan on airing our games.

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/FOX-Sports-announces-FOX-Sports-1-network-030513

[Groin_pull]

Also, with the addition of Fox Sports GO, fans who've gotten used to ESPN3 can breathe easier.

[Dawson Rental]

No mention of the Big East, but the announcement states that they will carry dozens of primetime college bball games on Monday's and Thursday's. I wonder if that's when they plan on airing our games.

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/FOX-Sports-announces-FOX-Sports-1-network-030513

I know.  The announcement makes it sound like The Big East will be the week night programming while other leagues will get the week end slots.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL – Dozens of exclusive prime time games on Monday and Thursday nights, plus Saturday and Sunday coverage of the Big 12, Pac-12 and Conference USA.

Hopefully, The big East would have been included in the conferences listed for weekend coverage, if the separation agreement had been finalized.

Does this announcement mean that Big East games will be on the network that carries Kansas, UCLA, and Texas games?

[ChicosBailBonds]

Also, with the addition of Fox Sports GO, fans who've gotten used to ESPN3 can breathe easier.

Maybe.

BIG MAYBE.

Here is where I will be accused of name dropping, but I don't give a damn.  Eric Shanks, mentioned prominently in the article, is one of my former bosses here and now the President of Fox Sports (co-president...happens to be an IU guy).  Here's what he and others didn't say and what I've been trying to find out.

Notice how ESPN GO doesn't work for AT&T customers?  DIRECTV customers? Charter?  Etc?  It's because ESPN wants more money to allow that authentication of those products to the customers of those services.  Or ESPN may want carriage of Longhorn, or something else in exchange.  This is why so few television providers actually are authenticated on ESPN's go product right now.

Shanks, Chase Carey, and others have all said they want to ramp up rates to pay for all this content they are buying.  Well, many of us just did our Fox deals in the last year or two and they don't come up for renewal for 3, 4, 5 years down the line.  So what sometimes happens is they will say this is "new", and outside the contract you signed.  If you want FOX Go, you have to agree to pay 4X (just an example) of what you originally agreed to pay for Fuel, Speed, etc.

Is this going to happen?  I don't know, but I'm just telling you how the game is sometimes played and we have a living example of it with ESPN right now.

So that's my word of caution...you may be able to breathe easier, then again you may not.

[Dawson Rental]

Maybe.

BIG MAYBE.

Here is where I will be accused of name dropping, but I don't give a damn.  Eric Shanks, mentioned prominently in the article, is one of my former bosses here and now the President of Fox Sports (co-president...happens to be an IU guy).  Here's what he and others didn't say and what I've been trying to find out.

Notice how ESPN GO doesn't work for AT&T customers?  DIRECTV customers? Charter?  Etc?  It's because ESPN wants more money to allow that authentication of those products to the customers of those services.  Or ESPN may want carriage of Longhorn, or something else in exchange.  This is why so few television providers actually are authenticated on ESPN's go product right now.

Shanks, Chase Carey, and others have all said they want to ramp up rates to pay for all this content they are buying.  Well, many of us just did our Fox deals in the last year or two and they don't come up for renewal for 3, 4, 5 years down the line.  So what sometimes happens is they will say this is "new", and outside the contract you signed.  If you want FOX Go, you have to agree to pay 4X (just an example) of what you originally agreed to pay for Fuel, Speed, etc.

Is this going to happen?  I don't know, but I'm just telling you how the game is sometimes played and we have a living example of it with ESPN right now.

So that's my word of caution...you may be able to breathe easier, then again you may not.

To paraphrase Michael Corleone:

"Just when you think that you're in, they suck you back out again."

[Groin_pull]

Maybe.

BIG MAYBE.

Here is where I will be accused of name dropping, but I don't give a damn.  Eric Shanks, mentioned prominently in the article, is one of my former bosses here and now the President of Fox Sports (co-president...happens to be an IU guy).  Here's what he and others didn't say and what I've been trying to find out.

Notice how ESPN GO doesn't work for AT&T customers?  DIRECTV customers? Charter?  Etc?  It's because ESPN wants more money to allow that authentication of those products to the customers of those services.  Or ESPN may want carriage of Longhorn, or something else in exchange.  This is why so few television providers actually are authenticated on ESPN's go product right now.

Shanks, Chase Carey, and others have all said they want to ramp up rates to pay for all this content they are buying.  Well, many of us just did our Fox deals in the last year or two and they don't come up for renewal for 3, 4, 5 years down the line.  So what sometimes happens is they will say this is "new", and outside the contract you signed.  If you want FOX Go, you have to agree to pay 4X (just an example) of what you originally agreed to pay for Fuel, Speed, etc.

Is this going to happen?  I don't know, but I'm just telling you how the game is sometimes played and we have a living example of it with ESPN right now.

So that's my word of caution...you may be able to breathe easier, then again you may not.

Keep on dropping. I appreciate the insight.

[Norm]

Geez, if the new Big East only got Monday and Thursday night games on Fox Sports that would stink. I can't believe the ADs would agree to that, but who knows. It would definitely put the Big East behind the other major conferences and be a real drag on attendance.

[The Lens]

Geez, if the new Big East only got Monday and Thursday night games on Fox Sports that would stink. I can't believe the ADs would agree to that, but who knows. It would definitely put the Big East behind the other major conferences and be a real drag on attendance.

There is talk that FOX will sub-licence games to ESPN.  I think at minimum you will see ESPN3 and something along the lines of ESPN Regional-like set-ups in play (Big East Network etc).   A game like MU @ Rutgers for example.

[Norm]

There is talk that FOX will sub-licence games to ESPN.  I think at minimum you will see ESPN3 and something along the lines of ESPN Regional-like set-ups in play (Big East Network etc).   A game like MU @ Rutgers for example.

OK, that would be good. I'm not sure how all this "tv rights" game works, I actually learn a lot of that stuff from fellow posters here.

[StillAWarrior]

Maybe.

BIG MAYBE.

Here is where I will be accused of name dropping, but I don't give a damn.  Eric Shanks, mentioned prominently in the article, is one of my former bosses here and now the President of Fox Sports (co-president...happens to be an IU guy).  Here's what he and others didn't say and what I've been trying to find out.

Notice how ESPN GO doesn't work for AT&T customers?  DIRECTV customers? Charter?  Etc?  It's because ESPN wants more money to allow that authentication of those products to the customers of those services.  Or ESPN may want carriage of Longhorn, or something else in exchange.  This is why so few television providers actually are authenticated on ESPN's go product right now.

Shanks, Chase Carey, and others have all said they want to ramp up rates to pay for all this content they are buying.  Well, many of us just did our Fox deals in the last year or two and they don't come up for renewal for 3, 4, 5 years down the line.  So what sometimes happens is they will say this is "new", and outside the contract you signed.  If you want FOX Go, you have to agree to pay 4X (just an example) of what you originally agreed to pay for Fuel, Speed, etc.

Is this going to happen?  I don't know, but I'm just telling you how the game is sometimes played and we have a living example of it with ESPN right now.

So that's my word of caution...you may be able to breathe easier, then again you may not.

From my perspective, there are two issues here:  access on devices and access on the internet.  For ESPN, as an U-Verse subscriber I don't have access on my iPhone, but I do have access on the internet.  Any insight on whether Fox will/can split the access in the same way?

[muwarrior69]

It's probably too early to know how the Big East TV schedule plays out. Heck we don't even know who all the teams are, don't have a commissioner or anything officially announced. All conjecture right now.

[nathanziarek]

Maybe.

BIG MAYBE.

Is there any chance they'll try to make a splash by being more open than WatchESPN? Saying something like: No extra charge for customers to access FS1Go, and they have to authenticate through you. Or is the fact that they can use it as leverage in the future too much risk for DirecTV to take it for free initially?

Could they sweeten the pot by developing a system to display the DirecTV logo in the corner when authenticated through your system? Or, mirroring the ads?

(These are things I've always wondered about. I know they're technically possible, but I have no idea if they're valuable...)

[GGGG]

Not only will they sublease games to ESPN for the weekends, they very well might play games on the regular Fox networks.  Don't worry...with the money they are paying, they will put games on the weekends!

[jsglow]

Not only will they sublease games to ESPN for the weekends, they very well might play games on the regular Fox networks.  Don't worry...with the money they are paying, they will put games on the weekends!

+1  You don't pay what they are paying and show basketball 2 nights a week.

I'd anticipate BEast basketball to get NASCAR level attention from Fox.  In fact, I wouldn't be shocked to see the product married up to Saturday and Sunday racing coverage during Fox's portion of the season which coincides with BEast conference play down the stretch.  Picture Georgetown/Marquette as the lead in to the Daytona 500, for example.

[Marqevans]

Also, with the addition of Fox Sports GO, fans who've gotten used to ESPN3 can breathe easier.

Will you have to have certain cable providers to have free access to Fox Sports GO?

[ChicosBailBonds]

Is there any chance they'll try to make a splash by being more open than WatchESPN? Saying something like: No extra charge for customers to access FS1Go, and they have to authenticate through you. Or is the fact that they can use it as leverage in the future too much risk for DirecTV to take it for free initially?

Could they sweeten the pot by developing a system to display the DirecTV logo in the corner when authenticated through your system? Or, mirroring the ads?

(These are things I've always wondered about. I know they're technically possible, but I have no idea if they're valuable...)

Of course.

Just to be clear, I'm only throwing out that this is one contingency that could happen.  I just spoke to one of our folks and I would say that conversation left me optimistic about this not happening, at least with our customers.  Each service is different and many more details need to come out.

At the end of the day, they need to cover the costs of all this programming they are buying up and somehow they have to monetize it.  How they do that will be interesting to see.

On a separate note, one area I am excited about is Fox does branding better than anyone.  This will help the league and Marquette more than you can imagine.  In this case, because they have less properties than ESPN, we will benefit from a ton of branding exposure.  That has strong value associated with it.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Will you have to have certain cable providers to have free access to Fox Sports GO?

Potentially

[ChicosBailBonds]

More on this....the key there is the authenticated basis comment.  So if your cable or tv provider doesn't carry those channels, you won't have access to Fox Go.  Secondly, as stated earlier in this thread, whether they actually grant access even if the channels are carried will have to be seen.  Hopefully the answer is yes, but we'll see what the rights are for various distributors.  It could be some distributors can and others can't....the MFN (Most Favored Nation) clauses in those deals will tell the story:

Below is the article just out....




Fox Sports as part of their announcement today around the forthcoming Fox Sports 1 cable channel said it plans in August to launch Fox Sports Go, a comprehensive mobile application streaming content from Fox Sports, Fox Sports 1 and the company's 22 RSNs. Also included in the app will be scores, highlights, news, stats, and other basic material. The product, similar to ESPN's WatchESPN, will allow for mobile viewing on an authenticated basis, with more than 1,000 live games and events planned for the first year.

"Ultimately, the goal is to be able to watch everything from Fox (Sports) on an authenticated basis," said Fox Sports co-President & co-COO Randy Freer. Fox Sports' recent programming and distribution agreements have contemplated a TV Everywhere strategy deployed through a product such as Fox Sports Go, Freer said. "We think we're going to have a powerful mobile product in the market, where everything is unified in this single product, instead of scattered through a handful of various apps," he said. Fox Sports Go will be able for iOS and Android devices and the mobile web.

[jesmu84]

Chicos - I realize large media corporations (comcast, etc) won't be doing ala carte services any time soon, but is there a chance a certain entity like Fox Sports could? Say I didn't want cable TV service, but I did want to watch Marquette/Fox Sports basketball... any chance they'd accept a fee for just the online/streaming service?

[LloydMooresLegs]

Chicos - I realize large media corporations (comcast, etc) won't be doing ala carte services any time soon, but is there a chance a certain entity like Fox Sports could? Say I didn't want cable TV service, but I did want to watch Marquette/Fox Sports basketball... any chance they'd accept a fee for just the online/streaming service?

Jes- love the gif

[chapman]

+1  You don't pay what they are paying and show basketball 2 nights a week.

I'd anticipate BEast basketball to get NASCAR level attention from Fox.  In fact, I wouldn't be shocked to see the product married up to Saturday and Sunday racing coverage during Fox's portion of the season which coincides with BEast conference play down the stretch.  Picture Georgetown/Marquette as the lead in to the Daytona 500, for example.

That was as painful as when 30 Rock was always surrounding shows that I could tolerate watching on NBC.  They can save their Big 12 slot for racetime coverage.  Not exactly complementary...the redneck sport vs. a conference of private, mostly-Catholic schools in major cities that don't really host races.

[WellsstreetWanderer]

Don't car crashes appeal to everyone?

[MU82]

Not only will they sublease games to ESPN for the weekends, they very well might play games on the regular Fox networks.  Don't worry...with the money they are paying, they will put games on the weekends!

You beat me to it, Sultan. There is no way Fox pays all this money and jumps through all these hoops and then says: No (weekend) hoop for you!

[Jet915]

You beat me to it, Sultan. There is no way Fox pays all this money and jumps through all these hoops and then says: No (weekend) hoop for you!

They will be showing basketball every day of the week.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Chicos - I realize large media corporations (comcast, etc) won't be doing ala carte services any time soon, but is there a chance a certain entity like Fox Sports could? Say I didn't want cable TV service, but I did want to watch Marquette/Fox Sports basketball... any chance they'd accept a fee for just the online/streaming service?

A la carte barriers are not from Comcast, Directv, Dish, etc....it is from the content producers.  Viacom offers 15 or whatever channels, of which 5 or 6 are what people watch, but in order for Directv, Comcast, Dish to get access to those 5 or 6, we have to buy all 15.  Now, Viacom will offer those 5 or 6 "a la carte" to the providers, but at prices so insane you are better off taking the the whole 15.  The same is true for ESPN, Fox, etc.  They also demand wide distribution.  There is just no way Fox or ESPN or any of them are going to risk being in 100 million homes (even if only 35 million want their sports programming) for a guaranteed monthly subscriber fee vs going a la carte and selling via stream.

The math just doesn't work.  They would be out of business next week. This is what I was trying to explain to Benny months ago.  They need guaranteed sources of revenue which they can forecast very easily based on the pay tv model. You can't get that kind of revenue from streaming, not today...and probably not for many many many years to come.  The infrastructure isn't there for starters and the dollars aren't enough for those content companies to pay for the sports rights they purchased, the series they have developed, etc.  It comes down to basic math.