FX wants the sports, too

[Bob in Jersey]

OK, they tried and dumped NASCAR...
baseball only comes to them in the postseason...
rasslin' has a longterm deal at NBCU...
and the other sports have their own namesake networks.
What's that leave?

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/307219-FX_s_Landgraf_Sports_Would_Change_Network_s_Game.php


--
BOB

[Tom Wolper]

Mixed Martial Arts is probably the one minor sport that's growing and
could use a stable media home.

Tom

[Joe Ryan]

A couple of things here...

1. Vince McMahon has to see this and be thanking God (or whatever diety he
worships). I don't know how the contract with NBCU works but WWE runs a
second brand (Smackdown) which is on MY Network and is treated as the lesser
brand. If WWE could get onto FX it could help both.
2. UFC may be ripe for the taking. Spike has been good to them but FX may
provide more mainstream legitmacy.
3. Fox and News Corp. has sports properties they could use on FX but at the
risk of cannabalizing other Fox networks. Fox Cable owns half of the Big Ten
Network, has tv deals with the Big 12 and Pac 10 for football and a Sunday
ACC basketball package. They also have US rights to the English Premier
League, Italy's Serie A and UEFA Champions League. What impact, if any, they
would have on FX is unknown.

[M-D November]

I think McMahon would keep his options open regarding 'WWE Smackdown',
but I don't see him moving the show to FX, at least not in the near
term. Smackdown is viewed as the lesser show (and always will be, as
long as Raw is on the air), but the fact that it airs on a broadcast
network (even a crappy one like MyNet) is a big thing for McMahon. He
may not want to give that up (especially with a reasonably young rival
company out there).

There's also the MyNet affils to consider. If I were one of those UPN
castoff stations that signed up for MyNet, I'd feel like I'd been sold
a bill of goods right around now. Smackdown is essentially the only
thing MyNet has going for it.

> >http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/307219-FX_s_Landgraf_Sports_...
>
> > --
> > BOB

[Jeremy DeStefano]

Add two more variables: MyNet is owned by Fox, and will no longer be a
"network" starting in the fall. They will be a syndicator instead.