A Chicago radio station reported last week that FSN's
"National Sports Report" could "either be canceled or
severly truncated," according to David Barron of the HOUSTON
CHRONICLE. Speculation has FSN's regional networks going
from their local games to the "Regional Sports Report,"
which would "provide local news into the regular 30-minute
regional show" at 11:00pm. The "only national presence
under this scenario would be a five-minute update" from L.A.
Fox Sports VP/Media Relations Lou D'Ermilio "discounts the
report and attributes nervousness about the future of the
National Sports Report to an upcoming combination of the
national and regional newsgathering operations" in L.A. to
begin in January. D'Ermilio said this "supernewsroom" will
share resources from FSN's "NSR" under the direction of
Coordinating Producer Scott Ackerson and FSN's "Regional
Sports Reports" under Exec Producer Milt Weiss. D'Ermilio:
"It's just another case of us trying to determine how we can
best utilize our regionality and national operations. There
is no plan to cut back, and rumors to the demise of ['NSR']
are greatly exaggerated. There are no plans to change
anything" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 11/20).
