Having "lost" to Comcast in an attempt to buy Midwest
Sports Channel, FSN execs are "moving forward with plans to
start" an RSN in the Minneapolis market, according to Judd
Zulgad of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. The "centerpiece"
of the programming will be 50 Wild games. FSN Rocky
Mountain VP & GM Tim Griggs said that Fox execs "want to
have the network in Minnesota launched by the time the Wild
begins its season in early October." FSN has started
selling advertising, with the staff at the Fox-owned station
in Milwaukee handling sales in the Twin Cities until people
are hired locally. FSN also ran classified ads for various
positions in the local papers and "has begun looking for
office space." Zulgad writes the question is "how quickly
it can get on cable systems such as Time Warner and
MediaOne." Locally, execs at both cable companies are
"skeptical" about FSN Minnesota "getting immediate channel
clearance on their systems," but Griggs said that "talks on
the corporate level have been ongoing and will soon start at
the local level" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 7/28).
