Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

Media

Fox Increasing Saturday Primetime Sports Lineup In Effort To Boost Audience Numbers

Fox Sports has scheduled primetime sports broadcasts for 28 of 32 Saturday nights, beginning with this Saturday and running through December 8. The schedule is led by 12 college football regular-season games (to be announced), the Big Ten Football Championship game, eight regular-season MLB games and Game Four of the World Series. Fox will round out those events with three NASCAR Sprint Cup races and three UFC cards. In addition to the Saturday primetime schedule, Fox also has 20 other primetime sports nights scheduled in '12. Below is the complete list of Fox' Saturday primetime broadcasts through December 8 (Fox).

DATE
EVENT
DATE
EVENT
1/28
UFC
9/1
College football
2/18
NASCAR Sprint Cup (Bud Shootout)
9/8
College football
4/14
NASCAR Sprint Cup (Texas)
9/15
College football
4/28
NASCAR Sprint Cup (Richmond)
9/22
College football
5/5
UFC
9/29
College football
5/12
NASCAR Sprint Cup (Darlington)
10/6
College football
5/19
MLB
10/13
College football
5/26
MLB
10/20
College football
6/2
MLB
10/27
World Series
6/9
MLB
11/3
College football
6/16
MLB
11/10
College football
6/23
MLB
11/17
College football
6/30
MLB
11/24
College football
7/7
MLB
12/1
Big Ten Championship
8/4
UFC
12/8
UFC
 
 

CHANGING THE LINEUP: BROADCASTING & CABLE's John Consoli wrote Fox is "hoping to change the Saturday night broadcast network landscape in a major way" with its primetime lineup. The entire Saturday sports programming package "has been in the planning stages for more than a year." Fox Sports co-President & co-COO Eric Shanks said, "This is a collaborative effort between Fox Sports and Fox Entertainment. We decided to do it because the opportunity was there. Ratings continue to go down on Saturday nights and we thought we should take a swing at programming the night with sports each week." For Fox, the "biggest obstacle came from whether or not they'd be able to schedule the increased number of Saturday night MLB games." Shanks said, "Last year, we televised three or four Saturday night games, but there's a big difference between that number and eight. Scheduling these games was no easy feat. We had to have discussions with all 30 teams and they all had to sign off on the scheduling. Some teams don't like to play Saturday night games before Sunday day games. Some teams would rather play at one or four in the afternoon. We needed a consensus. It took almost all of last baseball season to come up with it" (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 4/9). MEDIA LIFE's Toni Fitzgerald wrote, "When you think about it, it seems like a no-brainer." The net's "Baseball Night in America" will be hosted by MLB Network's Matt Vasgersian, Kevin Millar and Harold Reynolds. The changes "should give an immediate boost to Fox' Saturday ratings." The net is averaging a 1.5 Nielsen rating among adults 18-49 "this season, tied for second with NBC behind CBS at 1.9" (MEDIALIFEMAGAZINE.com, 4/9). The L.A. TIMES' Joe Flint wrote on Twitter, "Silly me. I see Fox's move to turn Saturday over to sports as a good thing, not throwing in towel, which is what they were doing."

GEARING UP FOR NEGOTIATIONS: SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's John Ourand notes MLB's "move to prime time should help increase the package's TV ratings, which have been flat at a 1.8 rating for the last three years." It also comes as MLB "opens negotiations for new media rights deals." MLB's deals with ESPN, Fox and Turner Sports end after the '13 season. Shanks said, "What we saw last year with prime-time baseball and what we've seen with UFC and I think what ESPN has seen with college football, you can do good business on Saturday night" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 4/9 issue).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2012/04/10/Media/Fox.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2012/04/10/Media/Fox.aspx

CLOSE