Coming, Fox's action sports network

Coming, Fox's
action sports network

Will take on ESPN2 to reach 'boarding generation

By Toni Fitzgerald

    If you rolled your eyes when snowboarding made its Olympic debut or ever ridiculed the presumed athletic ability of street lugers, brace yourself.
Next summer, Fox Cable Networks will debut a digital cable channel devoted entirely to the action sports genre.
   That’s 24 hours a day and seven days a week of skateboarding, BMX aerials, surfing and more. The target audience of 12-24 apparently can’t get enough of these cringe-inducing “Jackass”-style sports.
    Fox is essentially challenging ESPN2, the former alternative sports leader, at a time when the network has migrated to bass fishing, bowling and billiards.
   Fox hopes to attract a younger sports fan who’s too hip for ESPN2 but doesn’t see enough fringe sport coverage on ESPN.
   Fox says it’s already entered marketing deals with video game-makers, armed services recruiters and other younger-skewing advertisers.
   How much of an audience is there for extreme sports?
   Good question. There is certainly a large enough one for ESPN2 to hand over its primetime schedule to the X Games twice a year.
   When NBC aired the Gravity Games opposite football earlier this year, they attracted more than 1 million viewers. Fox Sports Net plans to debut a new nightly action sports show.
   What is less clear is whether there is enough of an audience to support a network that offers action sports at all hours every day of the week.
   To draw an analogy, knitting may be becoming more popular among Americans, and more shows featuring knitting may be appearing. But that alone doesn't make a very good argument for a knitting network.
   Fox obviously thinks there is the audience for an all-action sports network.
   "Now is the perfect time to apply Fox's core action sports and youth-culture programming and production toward what is already America's first digital TV generation," says Fox Networks chief executive Anthony Vinciquerra in a statement announcing the new network last week.
   In essence, Fox plans to give younger viewers a playground of their own, as it fights with other broadcasters to hold those viewers from migrating to the internet and other diversions. Sports cable remains ruled by baseball, hockey and basketball, which have transitioned over from broadcast.
   According to Nielsen data, there are 51.7 million people aged 12-24 in the U.S. and more than 100 million between 9-30. Teens Research Unlimited puts their buying power at $172 billion, or about $5,000 per year per teen.
   While ESPN2 targets a slightly older crowd, reverting to baseball when the X Games are in recess, the as-yet-unnamed Fox network will pander to the kids.
   What do the kids like?
   ’Boarding, for one thing. American Sports Data Research found that, of the nation’s 11.6 million skateboarders, 86 percent are under 18. More than half of the nation’s 7.2 million snowboarders are under 18, too.
   That demo has tuned into cable in the past. The X Games, which debuted in 1995, have registered their strongest ratings the past two years.
   Combined winter and summer X Games coverage averaged a 1.7 rating among 12-17 males on ABC. They watched as much of the NBA on NBC as they did X Games this year.
   Fox will target males 12-24. That demo averaged a 1.5 rating for ABC’s X Games. That’s better than the network’s averages for college basketball (.8) and the NHL (.8).
    By comparison, ESPN2 averaged a .6 household rating and 131,000 18-34 viewers in primetime during November. Its total-day average of .2 in households and 69,000 in 18-34 ranked in cable’s top 40.
   Fox would be thrilled with those numbers for the new network, which clearly appeals to a more limited market.
   The network, which Fox says will be available in 80 million homes, including those subscribing to Time Warner Cable and DirecTV, will offer 1,000 hours of original programming next year.
    A Fox spokeswoman says the amount of original programming will grow with the channel. It will also incorporate a lot of library programming.
   There will be, as seen on ESPN and ESPN2, a good deal of cross-promotion between Fox Sports Net and the network. Sports Net targets a very different viewer by providing specialized regional coverage throughout the country.
    But the network was already slated to debut a new action sports show, “54321,” next month. Two other action sports shows on the network, “Bluetorch” and “Rush Hour,” may migrate to the new network.

-Toni Fitzgerald is a staff writer for Media Life.

Printer-Friendly Version | Send to a Friend
Cover Page | Contact Us