Remember the old “Prime Ticket” regional sports network? Well, the precursor to
Fox Sports Net is back, at least as a brand name.
Los Angeles-based FSN West 2 will re-dub itself FSN Prime Ticket starting April 3.
A sister channel to FSN West, the new FSN Prime Ticket will also move to an all-local programming format, launching several new interview and documentary series and no longer carrying any national FSN programming such as “Best Damn Sports Show Period” and “Beyond the Glory,” still seen on FSN West.
The changes coincide with the cancellation of the “Southern California Sports Report,” a staple on the two networks since 2000. Instead, both FSN Prime Ticket and FSN West will air extended pregame and postgame shows around live events.
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The Mighty Ducks’ RSN home, FSN West 2,
will become FSN Prime Ticket in April. |
They follow the lead of
FSN Northwest in dropping the “Regional Sports Report.” FSN Northwest airs something called “FSN Northwest Live” after each game. FSN West and Prime Ticket will do something similar, but they’ll brand the shows with team names instead of the network names — such as “Dodgers Live” or “Lakers Live.”
FSN Prime Ticket has rights to the Dodgers, Clippers, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Chivas, USC and UCLA. FSN West has the Lakers, Angels, Kings and Galaxy.
“The basic strategy is to make FSN West and FSN Prime Ticket equals,” said Steve Simpson, general manager and vice president of both. “[In focus groups], the name ‘Prime Ticket’ resonated with fans who had been around awhile and also resonated with those who never heard of it because they liked the name.”
The original Prime Ticket debuted in 1985 and had that name until Fox took over in 1996.
ESPN2 SHAKES UP RATINGS: Throwing a camera in a radio booth and juggling its schedule has helped ESPN2 increase its 8 a.m. to noon audience by nearly 82 percent. Both the “Mike & Mike in the Morning” show and the re-formatted “Cold Pizza” are racking up better ratings than when the two-hour “Cold Pizza” aired twice from 8 a.m. to noon.
Flipping “Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith” to late night from an evening slot has also led to an overall ratings uptick for the network, though the jump from that move is not as pronounced as in the morning.
In all, 10 daily hours were affected by the scheduling changes, the first of which took hold Jan. 2, and ESPN2 has averaged 37,000 additional viewers across those hours.
The “Mike & Mike” show, a simulcast of ESPN Radio drive-time hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic’s morning radio show, has averaged 113,000 households from 6 to 8 a.m., a 53 percent jump for the time slot over the same period a year ago, and 145,000 households from 8 to 10 a.m. That’s almost double the 77,000 households the live “Cold Pizza” was doing in the same time slot.
“Cold Pizza” was pushed to 10 a.m. and has been scaled down to have more emphasis on news and highlights and less on talk and features. Including the re-air, viewership for the show is up 83 percent over a year ago.
“Quite Frankly” was moved from 6:30 to 11 p.m. daily Jan. 30, replacing an assortment of studio shows and live events. Smith’s show has since averaged 276,000 households, up 13 percent for the time slot and 39 percent over what “Quite Frankly” was averaging at 6:30 p.m. Meanwhile, the 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. slot has held its own with repeats of “Around the Horn” and “Pardon the Interruption.”
ESPN is encouraged by the success of the new schedule. David Berson, senior vice president of program planning and development, said the network is committed to “Cold Pizza” and “Quite Frankly” and there has been “no discussion” of canceling either.
Contact Andy Bernstein at abernstein@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
