ESPN has long been known as the "Worldwide Leader In Sports" and although the company has had a dominant position as a 24-hour sports network, the channel is about to get some big competition, as Fox announced a brand new network to directly compete with the network.
According to The New York Times, Rupert Murdoch and the Fox Sports Media Group officially announced on Tuesday on their upfront presentation that it is planning to launch a new national sports network called Fox Sports 1, which will take over the company's "Speed" channel.
Fox Sports 1 will go live on August 17 and will be branded as "FS1" while being broadcast in over 90 million homes. The channel will have a number of programs from current Fox broadcasters and personalities and will cover a full range of sports and events, including college football, NASCAR, soccer, UFC, college basketball and more.
Some of the programming on the network includes "Rush Hour", which is a panel show hosted by Regis Philbin, as well as "Fox Football Daily", which will be formatted much like Fox's NFL Sunday show and will feature personalities such as Howie Long, Jay Glazer, Gus Johnson, Erin Andrews, and Mike Pereira.
According to EW.com, the network will also have the documentary franchise show "Being", which will feature an in-depth look at boxer Mike Tyson.
"Our 'secret,' admittedly a very poorly kept one, is now revealed," FSMG co-president and COO Eric Shanks said in a statement. "Fans are ready for an alternative to the establishment, and our goal for FS1 is to provide the best in-game experience possible, complemented by informative news, entertaining studio shows and provocative original programming."
The release clearly is talking about ESPN as the "establishment" they are giving an alternate to and the network will feature UFC on Wednesday's as well as NASCAR coverage during the weekend.
Fox is taking the gamble in part because they have the rights to the World Cup and will have a huge event five years down the line and it will also have important League Championship Series and League Division Series games in Major League Baseball.
According to Daniel Kaplan on Twitter, senior VP David Hill said he "estimates it will take two to three years for fox sports one to become a viable alternative to espn."
ESPN was started over 30 years ago and it has not had a true national competitor in many years, although it has battled regional and local networks like NESN as well as Fox channels in Los Angeles and on cable. ESPN is a huge moneymaker for ABC and Disney and the company brings in over $6 billion per year and has nearly 100 million subscribers over ESPN and ESPN2.
Fox is hoping to cut into ESPN, but they have a huge presence on television and the web, as the NY Times notes:
"It is a true empire, with eight domestic cable channels; the ESPN3 broadband network; the Web sites ESPN.com and Grantland.com; a radio network; digital properties like ESPNw, which focuses on women's sports; a magazine; the WatchESPN app, which enables viewing of ESPN on computers, smartphones and tablets; and ownership of the Global X Games, college basketball tournaments and seven bowl games."
The NBC Sports Network has struggled to compete with ESPN and Fox is hoping to have more success in the market with better ratings and more programming.