Fox Sports is "overhauling its online operations, eliminating the writing staff to invest in more-lucrative video production," according to Lucas Shaw of BLOOMBERG NEWS. Fox Sports will "eliminate about 20 writing and editing positions" in L.A. and "replace them with a similar number of jobs in video production, editing and promotion." The company has "decided that paying writers to cover sporting events, pen columns or grade teams’ NBA draft moves is best left to ESPN and other news-focused sports sites." Fox is "opting to divert those resources into producing online video that complements on-air shows, can be packaged into advertising sales across the web and TV, and has the potential to go viral on social media." Fox Sports National Networks President Jamie Horowitz in a memo wrote, "We will be shifting our resources and business model away from written content and instead focus on our fans’ growing appetite for premium video across all platforms.” Horowitz has "already pushed" Fox Sports to "abandon newsgathering on-air in favor of personalities who offer their take on headlines reported elsewhere." He "plans to eventually put the TV and digital operations in a single office so that executives specializing in social media and online distribution will be in meetings with TV producers and hosts, who will play a more active role in Fox’s online output" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 6/26). In Philadelphia, Rob Tornoe wrote Horowitz "hasn’t been shy about making big changes" to Fox Sports. He "quickly shifted the network’s lineup to place more emphasis on opinion, creating shows for former ESPN personalities Colin Cowherd, Skip Bayless and Jason Whitlock." The moves also "resulted in cutbacks to the network’s television news operations and the elimination of updates during its shows" (PHILLY.com, 6/26).
