FOX Sports lined up a heavy hitter with the launch of The Mike Francesa Show today on FOX Sports 1, running on weekdays on the channel from 1-4p, before shifting to FOX Sports 2 from 4-6p. The acquisition and debut of the CBS Radio program comes a part of a new wave of programming hitting the network, including MLB games, the new hour-long series America’s Pregame, and documentary program Rise as One.
Cynopsis Sports caught up with David Nathanson, General Manager & Chief Operating Officer, FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2, to talk about Francesa and his appeal, the channels’ programming strategy and how the network is positioning itself moving forward.
Nathanson on picking up The Mike Francesa Show: First and foremost, Mike has an iconic personality and FOX has built our sports brands around iconic people. He fits the mold of a Fox Sports personality and when we saw that he was available, it was a pretty easy, quick decision to try to get him on-board to join FS1.
On viewership expectations: Ratings in TV are always important, but we see the addition of Mike’s show to FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2 as providing value to us in several other ways that at this stage are more important to us. It’s an incredibly efficient and economical way to add five hours of live programming each week day where we didn’t have it before. Also, our viewership for FOX Sports 1 in the Northeast has tracked below other parts of the country, so adding The Mike Francesa Show provides both channels greater awareness in the New York DMA where Mike has a loyal following, and allows us to promote our programming in the nation’s biggest market. In fact, by adding Mike’s show and addition of MLB next month, we’ve made two substantial moves to improve our performance in the Northeast, continuing our growth and evolution.
On the programming strategy: When we launched the network, our original studio-based programming really started at 4p eastern and then continued on up until 7p and then went to live events and then obviously, FOX Sports Live. So this allows us to start our live programming significantly earlier live on FS1. With Francesa from 1-4, that makes us live and more relevant for a longer period of time. The goal is to fortify the network and build the foundation that will allow us to continue to grow the network.
On rights: The exciting thing is that our portfolio of rights has only just begun to roll out on this network. We are about to get into regular season baseball and we haven’t even started with US Open golf, World Cup rights and other rights to come. So when you combine those sports with the programming we are developing, it is a very exciting time for FOX Sports 1, and the reach and power of our network hasn’t even begun to be exposed to the audience.
