FX Official Feels Major Sport Would Help Grow Net's Profile
FX Networks President & GM John Landgraf said he would "love to have a major sports franchise" on the net, as it is "going to be virtually impossible for FX to ever challenge TNT, TBS or USA without sports," according to Melissa Grego of BROADCASTING & CABLE. Landgraf added that FX has a "strong history in highly rated original series and a pipeline of new development ready to be tapped, but originals don't really move the needle." Landgraf noted FX averages "about 750,000" viewers year-to-date in adults 18-49 per hour in primetime. But he said, "TNT and USA are getting incremental 100,000 or 150,000 on average in prime out of sports. No channel is getting anywhere near 1 million adults 18-49, 21 hours a week, 365 days a year, without sports. It's not going to happen." Grego noted FX currently "has no plans underway to acquire a major sports property." Landgraf said that even if a property "becomes available, the question for the network is whether it can acquire sports in a way that would be profitable." Landgraf: "It's a very, very big business decision to go after a major sports package, and it's not going to be made at my level." Grego noted FX aired select NASCAR races from '01-06, which was a "key distribution driver before the network was fully distributed as it is now." Landgraf: "It helped people find the channel, helped put us on the map. ... Ultimately it was not profitable on our channel at the price we were paying for it for the number of races we had, so it was one of the sacrifices we made" (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 6/30).
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