SportsWatch: Comparing Monday Night's "Fox Sports Live" Versus "SportsCenter"

Both FS1's new "Fox Sports Live" studio show and ESPN's "SportsCenter" last night went heavy with coverage of MLB's playoff races leading their respective broadcasts, which accounted for nearly one-third of FS1's 34 news reports that aired, according to a continuing analysis of the 11:00pm ET editions of the two programs. Both broadcasts went about 11 minutes before their first non-MLB report, but FS1's reports were shorter and aired more highlights than ESPN in the same time span. FS1 once again had a more diverse lineup of sports covered, including MLB, the U.S. Open, NASCAR, NBA, NFL and int'l soccer. ESPN had more NFL and college football coverage. The intro to "SportsCenter" featured co-anchors Steve Levy and Linda Cohn sitting quietly looking off-camera to the side of the studio, with Levy finally saying after an awkward pause, "Oh, hi there, sorry. We too were watching the debut of 'Olbermann' over on ESPN2." After about 45 minutes, Levy said, "I know what you're thinking: Why are we showing you the Astros and the White Sox? Craziest game of the night maybe." FS1 began its broadcast with Charissa Thompson introducing viewers to the "The Audi Big Board," which was "keeping track of all the night's scores." Thompson then introduced a panel of Donovan McNabb, Andy Roddick, Ephraim Salaam and Gabe Kapler. FS1's Dan O'Toole said of the Bills likely starting rookie QB Jeff Tuel -- pronounced "Tool" -- to open the season, "We will not be using any 'Home Improvement' sound effects because Tim 'Tool Time' Taylor, that is not a Fox show." FS1's Jay Onrait joked about reports of EPL club Manchester United F Wayne Rooney possibly being transferred to rival club Chelsea. Onrait: "By that measure we'd like our friends at other networks to sell us the rights to broadcast NBA games so we can continue to make American sports TV the best."