|
Fox Sports one of the main divisions of Fox Broadcasting coming under the News Corporation umbrella, was organized after the purchase of the NFL broadcast rights by FBC in 1994. In the succeeding years, Fox Sports added in its lineup several major sporting events including NHL, from 1994 to 1999, MLB, from 1996 to present; NASCAR, from 2001 to present; Super Bowl, from 2007 to 2010. Fox Sports is scheduled to televise the World Cup starting 2018.
Exclusive Coverage of Fox Sports
Fox Sports started an alternating setup with NBC Sports in the airing of the Daytona 500 in its initial contract. It has also forged a joint venture agreement with another Fox Affiliate, Speed for the inaugural broadcast of Daytona’s Rolex 24 as well as several F1 races. In addition to this, a couple of featured races per season of the CWT Series by NASCAR were transferred to Fox Sports. This NASCAR produced sporting event now bears the Fox brand.
Fox Sports has held exclusive broadcasting rights for the World Series from the year 2000. The broadcasting contract for the World Series has been renewed in 2006 and will be effective until the 2013 Season of the World Series. Fox Sports has also started airing the finals series of the Champions League of UEFA. The 2010 finals was a milestone for Fox Sport, as it was their initial foray at soccer.
Fox Sports announced in August 2011 that it has sealed a contract for a 7-year broadcast arrangement with the UFC. This marked the end of their commitment with Spike. UFC programs will actually be aired in several divisions of Fox Broadcasting Company including Fuel TV, FX and Fox network. The latter will initially carry 4 live UFC events each year, and the inaugural broadcast will be made in November 2011. Prior to its buy-out by UFC, Fox has had a broadcast agreement with IFC since 2007 on the MyNetworkTV on a time-buy setup. To date, no word has been issued yet by Fox Sports on the MyNetworkTV component for the UFC contract.
Fox Sports Regional Coverage
Fox Sports Net is compliant of market distribution rules and operates as a sports network under a regional setup. For instance, Fox Sports Net would have a Midwest regional network, Fox Sports Midwest, to carry the games of the Kansas City Royals for viewers in Kansas City, while subscribers in St. Louis will receive the broadcast of games of the St. Louis Cardinals on Fox Sports Midwest. This means that there are existing restrictions in the broadcast of games outside of the home market of the concerned team under the regionalized broadcasting coverage.
|
