In Saturday's HOUSTON CHRONICLE, David Barron profiled
the competition for viewers between Fox Sports, ESPN and
CNN/SI in a seven-part feature which focused on challengers
to ESPN's "SportsCenter." Under the header, "Newcomer With
Attitude Poses Threat To SportsCenter's Dominance," Barron
wrote that Fox Sports Net "is evolving." But ESPN and Fox
Sports Net don't "agree on how to measure audiences" to
gauge viewership. In December, ESPN claimed the 11:00pm ET
"SportsCenter" was viewed by an average of 1.07 million HH
compared to the 106,000 viewers of "Fox Sports News" at
11:00pm ET. Fox "begs to differ," as the margin is "much
closer" when it groups its 10:00pm and 11:00pm shows. By
Fox's count, its "fourth-quarter viewership" for two hours
of news totaled 266,000 HH to "roughly" 1 million in one
hour for ESPN. ESPN "howls" that Fox "is cheating" by using
its two-hour audience comparison. ESPN Exec Editor John
Walsh: "They are a collection of regional networks and, as
such, there is a flaw in the concept. If I'm a fan, I know
where I can go for my national sportscast of record ... I
don't think Fox has that ability." FSN Exec VP Arthur
Smith: "They compare our second hour (11 pm), which is the
weaker of the two because it is not next to a strong local
lead-in, and they'll take it from a time like the fourth
quarter (of 1998), when we had the NBA lockout." Barron
notes that Smith "appears to have a point," as FSN's two-
hour news audience was up 17% in January and rose another
22% the first two weeks in February. In a sidebar, Barron
also examines the impact of CNN/SI, which has a "substantial
audience." In January, CNN/SI's 11:00pm ET half-hour show
of "Sports Tonight" was seen by an average of 324,000
households. For more, see (#29) (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 2/20).
