Fox Sports 1 is about to start up on Saturday as a legitimate challenger to ESPN and the network has brought along a number of high profile names, including Erin Andrews, Jay Glazer, Brian Urlacher, Randy Moss, Ronde Barber and more.
FS1 will debut on Saturday August 17 in the morning at 6 AM and will take over for the channel previously called "Speed". The first day will have over 15 hours of live original programming and the first big event will be NASCAR at Michigan International Speedway and the network will have full coverage, including a NASCAR morning live show as well as practice runs and other races in the Camping World Truck Series. At the same time, the network is also launching Fox Sports 2 and that will be in the same vein as ESPN and ESPN2.
The company is still working out deals with some TV providers and they will be bringing a number of sports to the network, including soccer, college football, Major League Baseball, the NFL and more. The channel will broadcast Pac-12 games, Big Ten games, Big East games as well as over 5,000 hours of live coverage from events, including the World Cup. The channel will also broadcast the UFC as well as Conference USA and other programs include FA Cup; CONCACAF Gold Cup; CONCACAF Qualifiers, FIFA Women's World Cup coverage in 2015 and 2019; FIFA Men's World Cup coverage in 2018 and 2022.
The company offers a streaming app for Sports called Fox Sports GO that will launch with the channel and the biggest program on the first day will be Fox Sports Live with Dan O'Toole and Jay Onrait, who were hired from TSN in Canada where they co-anchored "SportsCentre". The two are considered quality studio performers and the company likes their irreverent and funny style and feels it should translate to America.
Fox Sports 1 is getting ready to launch on Saturday and the most anticipated show on the debut day is the 11 PM premiere of "Fox Sports Live" with anchors Dan O'Toole and Jay Onrait, since it is the program that will go directly up against ESPN and "SportsCenter."
Fox's biggest hires for the network apart from name athletes were Dan O'Toole and Jay Onrait from TSN in Canada where they hosted "SportsCentre" to great fanfare. The two have been compared to the Olbermann-Patrick duo from ESPN years ago and the first show will be an event for Fox Sports 1 and the program is one they are building around with names like Regis Philbin, Bill Raftery, Gary Payton, Andy Roddick and Donovan McNabb hired to the network.
The channel will debut on Saturday and the company will broadcast a number of different sports and leagues, including Pac-12 football, college football, NASCAR, UFC, baseball as well as soccer and much more. The Fox Sports Live program is expected to be more loose and fun than SportsCenter and the two hosts are considered to be very funny and exactly what the network is planning. The duo have become stars on YouTube and now they will bring their skills to the United States.
Here are some videos of the duo, time to meet Dan O'Toole and Jay Onrait from the TSN Canadian show SportsCentre.
Check here for the full schedule for Fox Sports 1.
The full schedule for the first day:
Saturday 8/17/2013
FOX College Football Kickoff 6am ET
Fantastic Finishes 7am ET
NASCAR Live, Michigan Live - 8am ET
NCWTS Qualifying, Michigan Live - 9:30am ET
NASCAR Sprint Cup Practice, Michigan Live - 11am ET
NCWTS Racing, Michigan Live - 12:30pm ET
FOX Sports 1 on 1: Tom Brady 2:30pm ET
UFC Fight Night Prefight: Shogun vs Sonnen Live - 5pm ET
UFC Fight Night Prelims: Shogun vs Sonnen Live - 6pm ET
UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs Sonnen Live - 8pm ET
FOX Sports Live [Premiere] Live - 11pm ET
