YAHOO SPORTS' Kevin Iole noted FX will carry the prelim fights for UFC 242 on Sept. 7 in Abu Dhabi because of a "conflict with the first major weekend of college football" on ESPN and ESPN2. FX is now "in the Disney family after having been acquired" in Disney's deal to buy Fox assets. The prelims will be "on much earlier than usual," going from 12:00-2:00pm ET that day (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 8/17). ESPN has "no plans to return the UFC to FX on a regular basis, but in a pinch the network seemed a good roost for a few hours" of content (VARIETY.com, 8/17).
BACK TO THE BASICS: Ed Werder talked about his return to ESPN and said of the net, "Any change of direction focused on being more sports-oriented, more news-oriented, a greater emphasis on analysis and traditional coverage is to my benefit." Werder: "I'm not sure that's the direction we were going before, but I think it is the direction we're going now. I assume that I benefited from that redirection at ESPN, that they want to prioritize some of the things that fit well into what I do and what I can provide as a reporter." He added, "It was obvious the numbers were suggesting that we weren't providing people what they wanted. I think that they've corrected that" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 8/17).
THE GAME BECKONS: Josh McCown this weekend signed a one-year deal to join the Eagles after he had been "planning to be an ESPN analyst this season." McCown announced his retirement in June, but he "wanted to play and told the network that if the right opportunity came along, he would strongly consider it." A source said that McCown plans to "resume his broadcasting career with ESPN after the season" (ESPN.com, 8/17).
