The Fox Sports Media Group arm of media conglomerate News Corporation has confirmed long-running speculation that it will launch a new national cable-television sports channel in the US.
Fox Sports 1 will launch on August 17, replacing motorsport cable-television channel Speed. The launch will coincide with the kick-off of Fox Sports’ 20th anniversary year, and the channel will be available in more than 90 million US homes, the group said.
The channel will offer nearly 5,000 hours of live sports event coverage, news and original programming every year. Live event coverage in year one will include college basketball, college American football, motor-racing’s Nascar series, soccer and events from mixed martial arts promoter the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
“Our ‘secret,’ admittedly a very poorly kept one, is now revealed,” the group’s co-president and chief operating officer Eric Shanks said. “Fans are ready for an alternative to the establishment, and our goal for FS1 is to provide the best in-game experience possible, complemented by informative news, entertaining studio shows and provocative original programming.”
The group also said that it would launch Fox Sports Live, a rolling sports news service, and Fox Sports Go, a service for mobile and internet platforms. Fox Sports Go will offer more than 1,000 live games and events from across Fox Sports and its 22 regional sports broadcasters.
Group co-president and chief operating officer Randy Freer added: “As a company we haven’t been afraid to innovate and take well-calculated risks. We’ve devoted significant resources over the last few years to acquire and/or extend multiplatform rights with a wide variety of leagues and governing bodies well into the next decade, enough to give us a rich schedule right out of the box.”