This interview in Broadcasting & Cable with the President-General Manager of FX Networks makes the point that if you took away the sports franchises from FX's major competition (like TNT, TBS and USA), their overall 18-49 average would be within shouting range of FX's territory. Only problem is that no major sports franchise is currently available, and even if one were FX might not be able to afford it. So, what's the point again?
There is only one thing FX Networks President-General Manager John Landgraf doesn’t have that could afford his network a shot at challenging his basic cable rivals for the top of the ratings chart: sports.
“I’d love to have a major sports franchise,” Landgraf says. “It’s just a question of which one, and how do you make the economics work? If you look at FX versus TNT to date, we’re up 5%; they’re probably up 4% or 5%. But look at them without sports. Entertainment to entertainment, they’re down 7%; we’re up 5.”
FX has a strong history in highly rated original series and a pipeline of new development ready to be tapped, but originals don’t really move the needle, Landgraf says. FX can maintain its perch as the fifth-highest-rated basic cable network in core demos with its current strategy, but if the network is going to move up, it needs wrestling, playoff baseball, a Thursday package of NFL games, a NASCAR package—something. FX parent News Corp. looked at the Bowl Championship Series college football playoffs, with one scenario putting it on FX, but that didn’t pan out.
“It’s going to be virtually impossible for FX to ever challenge TNT, TBS or USA without sports,” Landgraf says.
“Look at their average number of adults 18-49 per hour in prime,” he continues. “We’re at about 750,000 on average year-to-date. We’ll finish the year in the 700s, just as we have the last three years. I can see with our current strategy being in the 800s at some point. TNT and USA are getting incremental 100,000 or 150,000 on average in prime out of sports. No channel is getting anywhere near 1 million adults 18-49, 21 hours a week, 365 days a year, without sports. It’s not going to happen.”
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Right now, FX has no plans underway to acquire a major sports property. If one becomes available, the question for the network is whether it can acquire sports in a way that would be profitable, according to Landgraf. “There are a lot of guys at News Corp., from David Hill and Ed Goren to Chase Carey and Tony [Vinciquerra], who know a heck of a lot more about the sports business than I do. So, it’s not going to be my decision,” he says. “It’s a very, very big business decision to go after a major sports package, and it’s not going to be made at my level. I’ll be consulted along the way, but it will be made for big, strategic reasons.”
via Broadcasting & Cable.
Well they have the Champions League final next year, that should help them out a bit in the summer season. But as far as I know nothing big is going to be up for grabs besides hockey for a few years. They could try for an MLB cable package after 2013 though.
I gotta think they could afford the NHL if they really wanted to commit to it, I mean it’s on Versus – how much could Versus actully be paying…maybe NBC keeps the stanley cup.
There’s tons of car racing series out there they could pick up – maybe get the truck series from Speed.
MLS could probably use some more exposure then what they get on ESPN and FSC.
But FX is nuts if it thinks it can compete with FOX or NBC or Disney
Versus is paying $75m+ per season for the NHL, which strikes me as completely insane, but it’s not my money.
What do they mean by ‘major’? I can’t imagine they’d ever get the NFL or NBA. MLB might be feasible, though the MLB network makes it harder. NASCAR will never happen, since Fox already has it on the free-to-air side. So now you’re talking college sports or MLS, or burning tens of millions of dollars for the NHL to give you a 0.2 rating.
The Pac Ten has an absolutely horrific television deal with FSN…I’m sure they’d love to be on FX, though I’m not sure that’s major enough.
djl, completely agree. Any of the “major” conferences shunned by the four letter should consider FX as a way to launch its brand nationally. Pac 10 football (national game of the week) and basketball (two games a week) would be huge. So who is available — Big 10 has its own network, Big East and ACC are tied up by the four letter, so is the SEC if I recall correctly. So that would leave the Big 12 or Pac 10.
With USC as the top draw in college football and UCLA a perennial contender in basketball, Pac 10 makes perfect sense.
I think making a play for the PAC 10 would be a great idea. I think ESPN wants to make a bid for getting the NHL back after the versus contract expires. It’s a point of pride for them to carry all the major pro sports leagues.
I say they go for wrestling. There are some companies that would die to have national exposure, so the cost could be low. Maybe ROH, heck I think TNA would fit FX better than it does Spike.
I think Mixed Martial Arts is the smarter play. It might not be working too well for Versus, but SpikeTV is doing pretty well with the UFC brand, and FX is higher-profile, and might have favorable demographics.
Fox/FX will be the home of the NHL in 2011 unless NBC really wants to keep the Stanley Cup finals…and the ratings indicate they should.
The Fox family already has football deals with the Big XII and the Pac-10 with their FSN networks…that could be an easy move.
Pro wrestling is another option but only the WWE brings enough ratings and they have enough shows as is. Unless there was a startup wrestling company with a big name (Hulk Hogan) or a ton of money behind it, that’s not an option. Ditto for MMA unless it’s UFC.
ummm not afford it are u being serious theyre owned by fox, who are owned by NewsCorp who are one of the biggest media conglomerates in the world so i dont think they cant afford it
elliott, presumably FX ‘s operations have to make financial sense on their own, even though it’s a subsidiary of NewsCorp. If you have any doubts, try actually reading what the President of FX said in the interview.
do fox value their nascar package- do they need it or could they move it to fx???
The spring NASCAR does AMAZING numbers for FOX. Those aren’t going anywhere.
Now the Race for the Cup series in the fall is another story. Those races (on ABC/ESPN) don’t do very well; however, a move to cable would help out the station they were on.
Look at Monday Night Football. At the end of its ABC run, the ratings didn’t justify keeping it on ABC; but moving it to ESPN (where it got similar viewership) was HUGE for ESPN.
Look at the demos that Spike consistently brings in with the UFC. FX, being much higher profile than Spike, could seduce Dana with a wink and a nod.
A BCS bowl would have made sense. Unless Fox can send them a couple races. I think FX should have done this a few years ago. They may have to wait 4-6 years. ESPN is well ESPN and Versus is making a move with events. Too early and too late for FX. The only hope is working with FSN for now.
The only real hope is the 2014 and beyond Olympics should FOX make a bid for the games which I am sure they will. Unless some new league pops up, FX will have to just wait. Again, too early and too late.
What about the other NASCAR circuit? The minor league one, the Nationwide Series is it? I feel like there’d be interest in that, seeing as how it’s chock full of drivers who also drive in the Sprint Cup Series too.
either it be the nhl or college basketball. remember cbs deal will expire in 3 years. so outbidding espn would be huge.
besides fx had a baseball schedule and some college football games back in its early days. why go back to sports now?
If they’re serious, the NHL would be the perfect target for them and it would probably be a boone for Fox if they want to replace the BCS rights with the Winter Classic (which is the NHL’s most valuable property). Plus the Stanley Cup Finals have trended upward the past few years and with big market teams like Boston and Chicago primed for big runs, the NHL figures to be back in it’s usual solid #4 position by the time it’s rights come up.
FX is boxed in by being late to the game to find an anchor sport so they either have to take one away from someone else (and risk overpaying for it) or they have to promote something so strongly it becomes an anchor sport (risky). College football seems to have no downside – especially if it’s a big conference like the Pac-10.
I can’t believe that the NHL or MLS are worth the gamble of trying to promote it into something bigger. Versus decided to go for NHL but I can’t believe they actually make money with it or that it helps the rest of their schedule. The ratings are on the floor. Maybe it would fair better with FX but I wouldn’t stake my job on it.
The MLS is basically a tax ESPN pays to get the only (somewhat) valuable World Cup. There is some growing interest in soccer and the ratings have improved some but we are still talking about a pretty small audience. European leagues and the Champion’s League have some increased interest and ratings, too, but it’s still a very small audience segment and it runs at a terrible time of day.
Indy car racing has become even less popular than Soccer. Strong man competitions might get better ratings than an Indy Car race. Formula 1 is expensive and runs at the crack of dawn.
Strangely enough, wrestling is a great ratings winner for cable but cable executives seem to hate running wrestling because of problems with some advertisers and the perception that it lowers the prestige of the network. If you could get it cheap enough, I’d say make a play for Spike’s TNA wrestling and put a little money into the production values of the show. It will come at a fraction of the price of WWE. Pair it with a college sports package and throw in some Champions League (which Fox Soccer, who own the english US rights, has already said FX would be a place where some of the games could be shown) quarter-finals and above matches that feature English clubs. That would be relatively cheap and effective.