FOX gets half the Big Ten rights

[hoya95]

Well, we won't be getting all of FOX's attention during basketball season anymore, but I have to assume this will help for overall exposure for FS1 and the Big East generally.

m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Closing-Bell/2016/04/19/Big-Ten.aspx

[beenaround]

I agree. Probably good for the conference.

[RBHoya]

I'd agree that it's a good thing. For a fledgling network like FS1, I think the most important thing is that college sports fans learn what number the channel is on their cable box and get in the habit of checking it at the same times they'd check ESPN or ESPN 2 (ie. Saturdays in fall for college football, weeknights or Saturday afternoons in winter for college basketball). The more general awareness that there is of the network, the better it is for us. There are a lot of people who are content to get all of their sports content from the worldwide leader, and more and more people being forced to break out of that box will only help the Big East. It lends some credibility too. There are Power 5 fans out there who will tell you that if your games aren't on ESPN you're a mid-major (ie. the A10 and other conferences with their games on CBS Sports or NBC Sports). That argument is pretty much invalidated if your November or December basketball game comes on right after a Michigan or Ohio State football game.

[FrazierFanatic]

Apr 19, 2016 15:22:34 GMT -5 hoya95 said:

Well, we won't be getting all of FOX's attention during basketball season anymore, but I have to assume this will help for overall exposure for FS1 and the Big East generally.

m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Closing-Bell/2016/04/19/Big-Ten.aspx

How many Big Ten/Twelve teams made the Final Four this year?!

[eagle54]

The more Fox can add content the more relevant the network so can only be viewed as a positive. I'm sure they'll split the nights between the two appropriately.

[MCIGuy]

This was a move that FOX had been working on for a year based upon reports from way back. It is good for FOX Sports and for the Big East. The channel needs to become and remain relevant. On the other hand ESPN is coming up against a numbers crunch as more and more folks drop cable, meaning ESPN is getting less and less money from cable subscribers (FS1 doesn't have a deal in place that gives it anywhere near the percentage of subscribers' fees that ESPN is getting so the loss of cable subscribers doesn't hurt it as much). ESPN/ABC is trying to hold onto everything but it won't be able to. In a few years it could be very vulnerable; in a few years FS1 could be in a much better position.

[professorhoya]

Apr 19, 2016 20:54:34 GMT -5 MCIGuy said:

This was a move that FOX had been working on for a year based upon reports from way back. It is good for FOX Sports and for the Big East. The channel needs to become and remain relevant. On the other hand ESPN is coming up against a numbers crunch as more and more folks drop cable, meaning ESPN is getting less and less money from cable subscribers (FS1 doesn't have a deal in place that gives it anywhere near the percentage of subscribers' fees that ESPN is getting so the loss of cable subscribers doesn't hurt it as much). ESPN/ABC is trying to hold onto everything but it won't be able to. In a few years it could be very vulnerable; in a few years FS1 could be in a much better position.

Disney needs all the money for Avatarland , Star Wars land and toy story land so no more frivolous big contracts for ESPN.

[hoya95]

To finish this off, ESPN will buy the 2nd half of the Big Ten rights, but FOX gets first choice of games. FOX will pay $240 million per year, and ESPN will pay $190 million. To show how much value college basketball has, CBS will keep its basketball package that includes the Big Ten Tournament semis and finals for $10 million a year.

www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2016/06/20/Media/ESPN-Big-Ten.aspx

[tashoya]

Fox has been getting more aggressive in the live sports arena and that's good for the BE.

Hopefully, they see that people are cutting cords and will adjust accordingly with mobile access on an a la carte basis. I know a lot of people, myself included, that only keep their current cable/satellite setup because of live sports but are getting closer to giving up on it because of the prohibitive cost. $150/month for sports is getting more and more difficult to justify.

[FrazierFanatic]

Jun 20, 2016 11:37:30 GMT -5 tashoya said:

Fox has been getting more aggressive in the live sports arena and that's good for the BE.

Hopefully, they see that people are cutting cords and will adjust accordingly with mobile access on an a la carte basis. I know a lot of people, myself included, that only keep their current cable/satellite setup because of live sports but are getting closer to giving up on it because of the prohibitive cost. $150/month for sports is getting more and more difficult to justify.

You get your Kardashians also tas

[lichoya68]

GO FOX lets get ESPN and put them to bed

[hoya8185]

SI and FOX Sports announce digital partnership
This could be interesting.
www.si.com/sports-illustrated/2016/10/03/sports-illustrated-fox-sports-partnership-launch

[daveg023]

awfulannouncing.com/fox/ohio-state-michigan-officially-fox-coaches-promoting-network.html

It seems like Fox is going all out on it's new Big Ten rights. I wonder how it affects the promotion of the Big East. Will we find ourselves on FS2 a bit more? One good thing about our deal has been virtually every game has been televised whether on Fox, FS1, or FS2. Selfishly as a fan, I hope that doesn't change but as important as a recruiting tool it's important our games are on as well.

[tashoya]

May 16, 2017 6:14:46 GMT -5 daveg023 said:

awfulannouncing.com/fox/ohio-state-michigan-officially-fox-coaches-promoting-network.html

It seems like Fox is going all out on it's new Big Ten rights. I wonder how it affects the promotion of the Big East. Will we find ourselves on FS2 a bit more? One good thing about our deal has been virtually every game has been televised whether on Fox, FS1, or FS2. Selfishly as a fan, I hope that doesn't change but as important as a recruiting tool it's important our games are on as well.

I think that, coupled with the shake-up at ESPN, it'll be good for us in the end. Content is king and presentation is important. Fox has to smell a little blood in the water. Hopefully, they take this chance to make the most of their current properties in terms of delivery, production value and commentary.

[Bigs"R"Us]

It was great to have our games televised while we stunk. If we become relevant again, our games will be showcased.

[BigmanU]

May 16, 2017 6:14:46 GMT -5 daveg023 said:

awfulannouncing.com/fox/ohio-state-michigan-officially-fox-coaches-promoting-network.html

It seems like Fox is going all out on it's new Big Ten rights. I wonder how it affects the promotion of the Big East. Will we find ourselves on FS2 a bit more? One good thing about our deal has been virtually every game has been televised whether on Fox, FS1, or FS2. Selfishly as a fan, I hope that doesn't change but as important as a recruiting tool it's important our games are on as well.

That's great, but we better produce on the court because I don't want to be delegated to FS2. Comcast still doesn't carry this in the DC market.

[hoyasaxa2003]

There are plenty of nights, even during basketball season, where Fox Sports has virtually no content. And don't forget that they also shop games out to CBS Sports Network, too. So I don't think we have a whole lot to be worried about. For some reason, I thought it was part of the deal that all Big East games would be televised, but I don't have a source to back that up.

[hoya95]

There just aren't that many Big East games (especially during league play) so it shouldn't change the network assignments too much. I assume our promotion from Fox is going to take a hit, but having Big Ten games on the same network should help ratings and exposure overall. But what Fox is really paying for is football, and it looks like they are going to get a giant upgrade in their football schedule for both Fox and FS1. It's too bad that they gutted FS1 to become the Skip Bayless/Hot Take network. Now that they have enough live sports to build a network around, there is nothing else to watch.

[EasyEd]

Every time I turn to FS1 in the off season I turn it off immediately because the content is not my bag. To get more people to know where it is on the dial they must upgrade this to where it is appealing.

[sleepy]

More interesting and relevant to the Big East is this article: www.si.com/college-football/2017/05/08/power-five-tv-rights-deals-amazon-google?xid=socialflow_twitter_sicr

With the other conferences locked in with ESPN for 15-20 years, I believe we'll be the first major conference to be able to test and learn with both negotiation with the new streaming model in entertainment. I really think there is some overlap between Fox Sports and potential streaming services looking to break into sports, similar to the HBO/Showtime and Hulu partnerships.

As the article details, Amazon makes a lot of sense. With Netflix seeing an uptick in original sports documentary content I could see a natural cross promotion there as well.

Either way, the conference needs to be thinking outside the box down this path when the Fox contract is up. The conference presidents quoted in that article are clearly out of touch and just blowing smoke and I'm fairly confident those numbers are off and deal proposed would cost Amazon money, but the direction is right and needs to be explored.