Friend of our site


MMA Headlines


UFC HP


Bleacher Report


MMA Fighting


MMA Torch


MMA Weekly


Sherdog (News)


Sherdog (Articles)


Liver Kick


MMA Junkie


MMA Mania


MMA Ratings


Rating Fights


Yahoo MMA Blog


MMA Betting


Search this site



Latest Articles


News Corner


MMA Rising


Audio Corner


Oddscast


Sherdog Radio


Video Corner


Fight Hub


Special thanks to...

Link Rolodex

Site Index


To access our list of posting topics and archives, click here.

Friend of our site


Buy and sell MMA photos at MMA Prints

Site feedback


Fox Sports: "Zach Arnold's Fight Opinion site is one of the best spots on the Web for thought-provoking MMA pieces."

« | Home | »

Despite recent TV ratings, UFC’s overall success rips the scab off of uncomfortable truths for Fox

By Zach Arnold | September 13, 2016

Print Friendly and PDF

Despite below-average UFC 203 prelim ratings (870,000 viewers) and Ultimate Fighter viewership (370,000 viewers), UFC’s overall success on Fox Sports 1 has ripped the mask off of some very uncomfortable truths about the future of Rupert Murdoch’s suicide sports pact with ESPN.

The two sports properties saving the Fox Sports 1 ship from sinking are UFC and NASCAR. In the words of Dan Patrick, they don’t have “ESPN muscles” — they have their own muscles and have demonstrated to be capable, portable television properties.

For non-live event programming, the most successful shoulder programming on Fox Sports 1 is the daily NASCAR race hub show that attracts around 150,000 viewers. That number is only “good” relative to how else Fox Sports 1 performs. Colin Cowherd’s radio simulcast draws around 100,000 viewers. The Skip Bayless Experiment is drawing between 70,000 and 90,000 viewers. Cowherd & Whitlock average around 60,000 viewers.

You can’t build a major sports network on those kinds of figures and expect cable & satellite companies to pay hefty carriage fees like ESPN is asking for right now. The great heist ESPN has pulled off for years getting $7 a month from each cable subscriber for having shoulder programming that draws a few hundred thousand viewers has been exposed. Fox Sports 1 emulating ESPN in 2016 makes little sense.

Which brings us to the uncomfortable truths about Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to compete with ESPN:

First: Without UFC and NASCAR, there is little (if any) justification for cable & satellite providers to carry Fox Sports 1.

If ESPN executives warmed up to the idea of poaching UFC away from Fox, it would severely hurt Murdoch’s ability to demonstrate the long-time viability of Fox Sports 1.

Second: UFC and NASCAR drawing solid ratings on Fox Sports 1 while the rest of the programming tanks demonstrates that plenty of sports fans are aware of what Fox Sports 1 and they simply don’t want to watch the channel.

It also demonstrates that your average American sports fan is really only interested in one 24/7 TV sports channel. ESPN’s declining fortunes are due to self-inflicted wounds. There are sports fans who hate how hollow the network’s daily programming has become. It’s empty. It’s political. It’s a poor attempt at becoming a dumber, less sharper version of MSNBC. For the average American, sports programming is supposed to be a reprieve from politics. Instead, ESPN has gone full-throated on one-way politics.

Rupert Murdoch thought he could capitalize on this opportunity with his own sports network. He didn’t in the past with Fox Sports Net and he can’t now with Fox Sports 1. Best Damn Sports Show Period remains his greatest daily sports show accomplishment. Murdoch’s inability to capture sports fans who are sick of ESPN’s political agenda is a manifestation of two problems:

  1. Murdoch simply doesn’t know how to create a smart alternative to ESPN
  2. Americans don’t want two full-time 24/7 sports TV channels — they just want ESPN to clean their act up

In Rupert Murdoch’s world, politics are transactional. Murdoch wasn’t the driving force behind Fox News — Roger Ailes was. Outside of immigration issues, Murdoch largely has maintained a hands-off approach to Fox News. Murdoch maintains the New York Post simply as a matter of convenience if he has an axe to grind. He used the paper to shuttle Ailes out the door during the major sexual harassment scandal.

The great irony? The blueprint that made Murdoch the most money on American cable & satellite TV is the one he’s most resistant to use in competing with cable TV’s biggest giant in ESPN. Murdoch could have attacked ESPN by presenting Fox Sports 1 as the conservative alternative. He could have driven that wedge. Murdoch has chosen not to. In his 20+ years of trying to compete with ESPN, he’s used *every* tactic except the Ailes business model.

As a result, Murdoch is left with a sports channel that is wandering aimlessly and being single-handedly saved by a Mixed Martial Arts boss who is a full-throated Trump supporter. Without UFC, there is no reason to watch Fox Sports 1 and no reason for cable/satellite providers to keep the channel for a high carriage fee. The best Murdoch can do is fail with his channel while inflicting damage to ESPN. ESPN could wipe out his venture by poaching away UFC programming rights. UFC is in the catbird’s seat and can demand as much cash as they want from Murdoch in order to keep his channel alive.

Exit question: Would Murdoch consider making a deal with TNA if Dixie Carter’s out of the picture?

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

6 Responses to “Despite recent TV ratings, UFC’s overall success rips the scab off of uncomfortable truths for Fox”

  1. TG says:

    Well done…ESPN turned me off, not because of politics, but because of the personality cult built up around the company, and mega-egos who believe because they’re on the network, that they’re a cut above.

    Still Fox Sports 1 is a weak-sister act. Cowherd is the Joe Dirt of sports talk, no matter how they dress him up. Whitlock has his own political axe to grind, and Bayless is a joke.

    What keeps the network alive you’ve hit upon correctly. They need to improve the sports content, and yes, shy away from politics. Better shows, better programs, better content…but once Rupert cedes complete control to his sons, will they go for this? My feeling is they are headed in a different direction, though too soon to tell which one.

  2. Zach Arnold says:

    https://sportstvratings.com/pardon-the-interruption-orioles-red-sox-top-cable-sports-tv-ratings-for-wednesday-september-14-2016/5840/

    Ultimate Fighter drew 441,000 viewers.

    NASCAR Hub did 129,000.
    TUF Talk did 113,000.
    UFC Tonight did 103,000.
    Cowherd did 87,000.
    Bayless did 74,000.
    Katie Nolan drew 60,000.
    TMZ Sports did 54,000.
    Jay and Dan did 39,000.

  3. Cutch says:

    Fox & Disney are working together on Hulu live streaming for 2017 NBC Universal are silent partners and Time Warner just bought in 10%, that’s a game changer, especially if its only $35

    Fox are trying to buy full control over Sky Europe, The UK, Germany & Italy’s biggest pay TV company. They bought out ESPN in Asia and ESPN is tiny in Europe, they sublicense their name to European sports companies and just air things no European would pay for like College Football & Basketball, NFL & NBA have some name value, college sports don’t really.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      I hope Hulu Live is great. Right now I have Playstation Vue and it is decent but could be improved upon. Plus, I can’t stream it on my XBOX One, despite being able to do everything else on that one box. Would be nice to not have a second streaming device hooked up to the television. It is $30 a month, but only has NBC live for the basic channels.

      All I want is the network TV channels…. and a few sports channels so I can watch Baseball, UFC, and Soccer.

  4. ot says:

    Fox has plenty of money. There is no reason to deal with TNA and/or Carter. It would be better for Fox to create its own promotion for MMA, boxing, wrestling, kickboxing, etc. At least, Fox could partner with PBC, Glory, or another organization.

  5. […] Without UFC, there is no major justification for cable & satellite networks to keep Fox Sports 1 in programm…. […]

Comments to Cutch

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture.
Anti-spam image