NYT: Jamie Horowitz Tries Again, This Time to Revive FS1

[Tugg Speedman]

Jamie Horowitz Tries Again, This Time to Revive FS1
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
MAY 8, 2016
The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/09/business/media/jamie-horowitz-tries-again-this-time-to-revive-fs1.html?ref=business

“We’re making big bets on three types of programming: live events, pre- and postgame programming and opinion-based programming,” Mr. Horowitz said by phone from Los Angeles. “And we’re making an equally big bet against traditional news and information shows.”

That may be partly because of the failure of “Fox Sports Live” but also the realization that the availability of scores and highlights on mobile devices has made programs like “SportsCenter” — once must-see TV for any self-respecting sports fan — less critical.

You can almost hear Mr. Horowitz pronouncing last rites for SportsCenter — which runs several times a day during the morning, early and late evening and overnight and accounts for about half of ESPN’s programming — when he says, “Strictly, analytically, the traditional news and highlights show is in a record free fall.”

From 2010 to 2015, the average viewership of all live editions of “SportsCenter” has fallen by one-quarter to 552,000. And among adults 18 to 34, the audience has declined 37 percent to 178,000. By contrast, viewership for “First Take” has risen 48 percent since 2010, with the last four years featuring Mr. Bayless and Stephen A. Smith. The show’s audience this year is 11 percent larger than the late-morning edition of “SportsCenter” on ESPN.

Keith Olbermann, who first came to prominence as a “SportsCenter” anchor during the 1990s, said the change in viewing habits feels irreversible.

“You can have a show anchored by me, Dan Patrick and Jesus,” he said. “And we could be announcing as our lead story that it was written in the sky that Cubs fans had been granted eternal life — and seven-eighths of our audience would say, ‘I don’t want to hear this.’ If it’s not about the N.F.L. or N.B.A., they’re gone.”

ESPN and FS1 are each flush with college sports programming and Major League Baseball games, but ESPN also has National Football League and National Basketball Association rights.

ESPN executives are protective of “SportsCenter” and claim they are not too concerned about Mr. Horowitz, their former colleague, and his plans at FS1. They like to point to the 5,700 hours of “SportsCenter” that populate ESPN and ESPN2 each year; its substantial digital growth as video highlights are shared more and more online; and how its 11 p.m. audience is 11 times larger than that of “Fox Sports Live.”

[ChicosBailBonds]

Yet Jamie is hiring many of his old guard from ESPN to reboot....including Skip Bayless.   

[Herman Cain]

Yet Jamie is hiring many of his old guard from ESPN to reboot....including Skip Bayless.

I think  the production values of FS1 for college basketball are excellent. The more top sports properties they can get access to, the better off they will be.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I think  the production values of FS1 for college basketball are excellent. The more top sports properties they can get access to, the better off they will be.

Don't disagree, but the problem is that most of them are tied up for many years to come and when they do come up, the $$$ will be hefty because of what they are.  I'm talking specifically about the comments around the talking heads and personalities.   Jamie, whom I know, is going out of his way to pay big dollars for some of the opinion makers at some of the other networks.  Hopefully it works for them, but I have my doubts.  There is no doubt I agree with him on the SportsCenter stuff or other shows like it.  That's why you don't need high priced talent to do that stuff any longer, people aren't watching.  However, will they watch a bunch of the opinion shows to the level he is betting on?  It's a big bet, to be sure.  I know Shanks (his boss, my former boss) also believes it.  I'm just not convinced in this day and age that people will go there.  Part of the problem is that anyone that is controversial enough to get ratings can't last because corporate America neuters those guys not to say anything that might rub someone the wrong way.

[Blackhat]

I'd tandem live sports with soft core porn during off hours.

Ratings problem solved.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I'd tandem live sports with soft core porn during off hours.

Ratings problem solved.

Good luck with that....you should read the screaming from the Fem groups just for the SI swimsuit stuff and the ESPN athlete body painting.  Off the charts vitriol.  I enjoyed reading most of it!   

[Herman Cain]

Don't disagree, but the problem is that most of them are tied up for many years to come and when they do come up, the $$$ will be hefty because of what they are.  I'm talking specifically about the comments around the talking heads and personalities.   Jamie, whom I know, is going out of his way to pay big dollars for some of the opinion makers at some of the other networks.  Hopefully it works for them, but I have my doubts.  There is no doubt I agree with him on the SportsCenter stuff or other shows like it.  That's why you don't need high priced talent to do that stuff any longer, people aren't watching.  However, will they watch a bunch of the opinion shows to the level he is betting on?  It's a big bet, to be sure.  I know Shanks (his boss, my former boss) also believes it.  I'm just not convinced in this day and age that people will go there.  Part of the problem is that anyone that is controversial enough to get ratings can't last because corporate America neuters those guys not to say anything that might rub someone the wrong way.

I dont think the talking heads opinion guys will matter much.  In the old days, guys like Howard Cosell, made their name because of the events they covered , such as Muhammad Ali Joe Frazier fights and Monday night football. Guys like Skip Bayless are just filler.

They just have to bite the bullet and pay up. This is why I think our Big East rights are still going to hold value when they come up for renewal. There are going to be multiple networks that need quality live content.