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Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Developing Sports Network to Challenge ESPN

Mar 29, 2012  •  Post A Comment

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is reportedly working on a national U.S. sports cable network that would compete with ESPN, reports Bloomberg.

While the company hasn’t made a final decision whether to move forward with the channel, News Corp. is assembling the rights it needs from pay-television carriers and sports organizations, the piece notes.

Its extreme-sports network Fuel might be converted into the new channel, the piece says.

Given ESPN’s rights for Monday Night Football and national basketball and baseball games, the Walt Disney-owned network will withstand the competition, according to Miller Tabak & Co. analyst David Joyce.

Nevertheless, given the rise of new challengers to ESPN, such as CBS Sports Network, the competition for sports rights has driven up the price, Joyce said, according to the story.

Fuel, which carries sports such as BMX and snowboarding, is available in 36 million homes, the story adds.

2 Comments

  1. Maybe this is a dumb question but isn’t FOX Sports Net a FOX network which would be owned by Murdoch? That’s what always thought.

  2. Those are not National. They’re regional.

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