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Return Fire! ESPN Shoots Back At FS1's Repeated Jabs, Focusing On Content, Ratings

ESPN for months "institutionally has opted not to have its executives respond" to FS1's repeated affronts, but ESPN Exec VP/Programming & Scheduling Burke Magnus recently broke that trend, saying, "They are only getting headlines when they bash ESPN," according to Richard Deitsch of SI.com. Magnus said, "It is almost never for the quality of what they do. That strategy is fine but at some point there has to be substance behind it. Otherwise, it's just noise." Magnus said that he "does not believe FS1's lineup of opinion-based talkers" from 9:30am-6:00pm ET will be a "successful recipe to surpass ESPN." Magnus: "They have made a big mistake in abandoning journalism and abandoning news and information completely for all debate. ... They may have a hit here or there with a particular show but it really needs to be more diverse than that." He added, "We have a rights portfolio that is a mile deep and they are extended in most cases well out into the next decade if not further." Deitsch noted ESPN2's "First Take" has seen a drop in viewership since Skip Bayless left, but his new FS1 show "Undisputed" has "barely found an audience." Magnus said that he does not believe any "First Take" viewership drops "can be boiled down to Bayless's departure." Magnus: "Certainly breaking up a team that has had a successful show for that long will definitely have an impact. But it's not a huge concern. If you want to get into First Take and Undisputed throwing haymakers at each other, we still have four times the audience that they have." Deitsch noted while ESPN execs have been "cautious about firing back at FS1 publicly," Magnus did "enjoy Scott Van Pelt's fiery response in The Washington Post last month on any thesis that ESPN is somehow going away" (SI.com, 9/25). Awful Announcing tweeted, "We endorse these two companies getting fiesty with each other." ESPN's Jemele Hill: "Really appreciated @burkemagnus keeping it real" (TWITTER.com, 9/27).

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