Fox Sports 1 Update

[TheBall]

Seriously it is year two of a decade long deal. Why nitpick stuff. The ratings this year improved from last across the board. The fox national games were great. Things keep getting better. We don't have a now or never mandate, we are growing together.

The Simpsons started on the Tracy Ulman show and nobody knew anything about them for almost half a decade. Thirty years later the show is doing fine. Thanks to fox patience and eye for opportunity and investment in long term ambitions. Fox News took a while to catch cnn before passing it by. And fox don't have to pass espn by to be a success. They just want to be in the game.

Exactly.

It amazes me how some people around here cannot grasp the long-term nature of this whole thing.

But the question is, especially if the Big Ten doesn't come to Fox, what is going to exactly change in the next 5 years to bring more eyeballs? After the Big Ten, there's just nothing out there to really bid on that could help out FS1 at all.

A couple things that will change:

1. The channel becomes available in more homes. Right now espn and espn2 are available on regular cable feeds, but you need a digital subscription for fs1. Fox does have an in with the local cable companies, but right now that slot is being used for their regional fox affiliates (je, I get fox sports west on my tv without a digital box). The regional affiliates are not foxsports long term project, as they usually have spill over content. At some point fox will get fs1 onto that lower tier. You can go ahead and tell me why this will be difficult, but I am plenty confident it will happen. Right now, fs1 is "available" in 91 mill homes, but only a fraction if those homes where it is available actually have the channel

2. More people are going to find fs1. MLB games, soccer matches, college football games, whatever. The more different types of events that air, the more casual fans will tune into the station. The are people out there who are sports fans but don't have a clue about fs1, and why should they? But when they have to go find the channel to watch their mlb playoff game, they become awar. Again, it's year two, marketing, branding and product awareness takes time.

3. The brand of the big east continues to improve. And by that, I mean the ten schools involved. Let's face it, some of these schools got a little lost in the old version of the big east. Espn was so concerned about hyping up cuse, uconn, Lville, etc..., that schools like St. John's, seton hall, providence simply got buried. These schools are now back in the forefront. Their national recognition should continue to improve. Recruiting is improving across the hoard.

No need to panic, not even a little

[stever20]

The problem fs1 has with the 1st point is they need programming that would make the cable companies decision easy. Fact is a network with really only UFC, Nascar, MLB, and a limited amount of college sports, that's getting terrible ratings- cable companies can play hardball.

#2- MLB was on the playoffs on FS1 this year and it didn't make them aware at all.

#3- I think that's such a bogus point. Providence isn't where they are right now because all of a sudden it's 10 teams. They recruited the kids like Dunn and Henton while it was a 16 team big east. If it was the old Big East, Providence would still be damn good. If anything it made things easier. I mean last year if PC doesn't win the BET they don't make the tourney. That would NEVER have been the case in the old 16 team Big East. Those schools that you mentioned got buried because they couldn't hire a good coach. Providence hired Cooley and look what we have.

[TheBall]

The problem fs1 has with the 1st point is they need programming that would make the cable companies decision easy. Fact is a network with really only UFC, Nascar, MLB, and a limited amount of college sports, that's getting terrible ratings- cable companies can play hardball.

#2- MLB was on the playoffs on FS1 this year and it didn't make them aware at all.

#3- I think that's such a bogus point. Providence isn't where they are right now because all of a sudden it's 10 teams. They recruited the kids like Dunn and Henton while it was a 16 team big east. If it was the old Big East, Providence would still be damn good. If anything it made things easier. I mean last year if PC doesn't win the BET they don't make the tourney. That would NEVER have been the case in the old 16 team Big East. Those schools that you mentioned got buried because they couldn't hire a good coach. Providence hired Cooley and look what we have.

Wrong

First, fox already has a sports station on the basic cable package. It is a regional one. They will eventually switch them up. You can try to explain to me that they cannot, but they will.

Second, mlb playoffs were on fs1 last yr, and more people learned about the station. And next year even more people will. Uefa soccer is all over fs1, and that's helping too (I watch uefa). And while UFC and NASCAR are different demographics than big east hoops, that still helps increase awareness.

And the third point is absolutely true. 100%. These schools were buried, they were cast aside, they rarely got espn games and rarely got mentioned. Providence and St. John's are in better position to build their brands moving forward and to continue positive momentum. Feel free to disagree, but I think what has happened to Boston college is sort of what PC and the johnnies had to go through in the old big east. It wasn't a good fit for them. Yes, coaching was a problem too, but I see this new platform as a better fit.

But you can complain about us not being on espn news. I totally disagree. We are in such a better position.

[TheBall]

Saw gtown v johnnies last week was at 888k viewers.

[MUPanther]

College football did have a huge increase on FS1 from year 1 to year 2.

[TheBall]

Something that will be interesting is how the mls Sunday games on espn2 do against the ones on fs1.

They are doing a triple header, with the earlier one on espn. They are co-marketing it as a package.

[Xudash]

Saw gtown v johnnies last week was at 888k viewers.

Damn, well done.

Don't forget that Fox is picking up USGA events as well.

[MUPanther]

Saw gtown v johnnies last week was at 888k viewers.

Saturday
0.91 rating CBS 12:00 pm Georgetown at St John’s
1.31 rating CBS 2:00 pm #15-North Carolina at Miami
1.96 rating CBS 4:00 pm #18-Arkansas at #1-Kentucky
0.46 rating FOX 2:00 pm #6-Villanova at Xavier
0.86 rating ESPN 12:00 pm Michigan at #14-Maryland
0.74 rating ESPN 2:00 pm #10-Northern Iowa at #11-Wichita State
1.01 rating ESPN 5:00 pm Texas at #8-Kansas
1.40 rating ESPN 7:00 pm Syracuse at #4-Duke
0.84 rating ESPN 9:00 pm #7-Arizona at #13-Utah

Sunday
0.86 rating CBS 2:00 pm #21-SMU at Connecticut
1.24 rating CBS 4:00 pm Michigan State at #5-Wisconsin

[stever20]

The problem fs1 has with the 1st point is they need programming that would make the cable companies decision easy. Fact is a network with really only UFC, Nascar, MLB, and a limited amount of college sports, that's getting terrible ratings- cable companies can play hardball.

#2- MLB was on the playoffs on FS1 this year and it didn't make them aware at all.

#3- I think that's such a bogus point. Providence isn't where they are right now because all of a sudden it's 10 teams. They recruited the kids like Dunn and Henton while it was a 16 team big east. If it was the old Big East, Providence would still be damn good. If anything it made things easier. I mean last year if PC doesn't win the BET they don't make the tourney. That would NEVER have been the case in the old 16 team Big East. Those schools that you mentioned got buried because they couldn't hire a good coach. Providence hired Cooley and look what we have.

Wrong

First, fox already has a sports station on the basic cable package. It is a regional one. They will eventually switch them up. You can try to explain to me that they cannot, but they will.

Second, mlb playoffs were on fs1 last yr, and more people learned about the station. And next year even more people will. Uefa soccer is all over fs1, and that's helping too (I watch uefa). And while UFC and NASCAR are different demographics than big east hoops, that still helps increase awareness.

And the third point is absolutely true. 100%. These schools were buried, they were cast aside, they rarely got espn games and rarely got mentioned. Providence and St. John's are in better position to build their brands moving forward and to continue positive momentum. Feel free to disagree, but I think what has happened to Boston college is sort of what PC and the johnnies had to go through in the old big east. It wasn't a good fit for them. Yes, coaching was a problem too, but I see this new platform as a better fit.

But you can complain about us not being on espn news. I totally disagree. We are in such a better position.

Fox doesn't have a sports station on basic cable everywhere. I know here in DC that isn't the case. Also, you are delusional if you think folks would be ok with Fox moving off their local teams off basic cable. Not going to happen....

If so many folks learned about FS1, why are the ratings still hovering around 100k?

#3- I totally disagree. What hurt Providence and St John's wasn't the conference, but the fact they had awful coaches. It's absolutely no coincidence that PC's improved so much since Cooley has been around. The reason why PC is good now isn't that it's only a 10 team league now. The reason why PC is good now is players like Dunn and Henton and a coach like Cooley. Period. That happened in the 16 team big east, not now. Same with St John's.

[stever20]

Something that will be interesting is how the mls Sunday games on espn2 do against the ones on fs1.

They are doing a triple header, with the earlier one on espn. They are co-marketing it as a package.

Here's the answer:
http://awfulannouncing.com/2015/mls-str ... -2015.html
-Orlando City vs NYCFC on ESPN2 drew 539,000 viewers.
-Sporting KC vs New York Red Bulls on Fox Sports 1 drew 268,000 viewers.
-Seattle Sounders vs New England Revolution on Fox Sports 1 drew 289,000 viewers.

So 1 game on ESPN2 539k
2 games on FS1 557k