Industry observers "feel that the personalities" of new
Fox Sports Net anchors Keith Olbermann and Chris Myers
"won't be enough to close the gap between Fox Sports News
and top-rated SportsCenter," according to R. Thomas Umstead
of MULTICHANNEL NEWS. FSN "had been on a ratings roll,
increasing its audience in every quarter though September"
since its '97 launch. But ESPN's ratings "have been on fire
since late September," with help from the MLB HR race and
Sunday night NFL games. ESPN Exec Editor John Walsh: "We
have 10 to 15 household names that appear on the network and
on SportsCenter. We have a strong lineup, and it makes us
feel really good about what we've done here; it shows that
we're helping to set the sports agenda." Umstead writes
that while industry observers believe that while Olbermann's
hiring "was a coup for Fox Sports News, it will take more
than a popular personality for it to compete with
SportsCenter." The Atlanta Constitution's Prentis Rogers:
"What Fox needs to do is to break a few big stories to close
the gap" (MULTICHANNEL NEWS, 11/16 issue).
REAX: In Boston, Howard Manly wrote that Olbermann
makes FSN "a legitimate rival to ESPN" (BOSTON GLOBE,
11/15). In Ft. Worth, David Markiewicz wrote that both
Olbermann and Myers will "bring added credibility to an
operation that has been playing Red Sox to ESPN's Yankees in
terms of content and personalities" (STAR-TELEGRAM, 11/14).
In Pittsburgh, Steve Sampsell wrote that anchors "were the
major deficiency" at FSN. Sampsell: "They might not make a
difference in terms of perceptions and performance, but the
all-sports network needed a face" (TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 11/15).
In S.F., Tim Goodman wrote that Fox "is getting a little too
excited about the coup." Olbermann "may not topple ESPN,
but he'll make things interesting" (S.F. EXAMINER, 11/13).
In N.Y., Phil Mushnick wrote that Olbermann is "in large
part responsible for the current state of sports anchordom,
all the young wiseguys reading from over-written scripts.
They're too often trying -- and too often failing -- to
imitate Olbermann" (N.Y. POST, 11/15).
DOLLAR FIGURES: Paul Kagan Associates analyst John
Mansell said the difference between FSN and ESPN "is in the
ad revenue generated by local cable networks versus national
cable channels." Mansell said that combined, all regional
cable networks and FSN will bring in "some" $300M this year,
while ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS and ESPN Classic together "will
attract nearly" $750M in ad revenue (B&C, 11/16 issue).
