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Horowitz Betting Opinion-Heavy Shows Will Give FS1 Better Shot In Social Media Future

Fox Sports National Networks President Jamie Horowitz can make an argument that while he is "losing a battle that’s being waged on an increasingly irrelevant medium" -- linear TV -- FS1 is "setting itself up for a future in which Twitter and Facebook (or whatever replaces Twitter and Facebook) are more important than TV," according to Ben Mathis-Lilley of SLATE. Horowitz envisions FS1 as a channel that "appeals to a young and diverse audience and is a friendly forum" for figures who are the "subject of intense social media interest." Depending on who you ask, Horowitz is "either the guy who ruined sports television, a genius broadcasting executive, or the genius broadcasting executive who ruined sports television." FS1 Exec VP/Content Charlie Dixon said that Horowitz' "greatest talent is drawing out his stars’ own personalities and beliefs." Mathis-Lilley wrote the aesthetic of Horowitz’ debate-show format "owes as much to sports talk radio" as it does to "SportsCenter." While at ESPN, Horowitz revamped "First Take" with Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith, injecting the show with the "hyper-caffeination and resentful tone" of radio stations like N.Y.-based WFAN-AM. Horowitz at FS1 is essentially building the net's debate shows out of that model, with FS1 "increasingly all-in on opinion." Horowitz also is "smart enough to understand it's good business to play both sides." Horowitz said that he also "modeled his sports network after FX and Fox, both of which ascended by taking more risks than their more established competitors." Horowitz: "That’s been the philosophy that’s driven the entire Fox portfolio. ... The same type of philosophy that leads you to launch 'Empire' is the same one that allows you to bet big on Katie Nolan" (SLATE.com, 3/26).

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