FOX SPORTS ISSUES APOLOGY FOR NASCAR MISHAP

Fox Sports has issued an apology for what might have become a technical disaster of the first order on Sunday when the rigging of an overhead CamCat camera broke at the Charlotte Motor Speedway during the NASCAR 600, injuring at least 10 people (none seriously) and causing officials to halt the race temporarily. The broadcaster […]

WILL FOX CHALLENGE ESPN?

A report by Bloomberg News on Wednesday that Fox Sports is considering launching a new cable sports network that would rival ESPN has been dismissed by people familiar with the matter, the Los Angeles Times reported today (Thursday). The newspaper observed that should such a network actually transpire, it could touch off fierce bidding between […]

$2 BILLION — THE MAGIC NUMBER FOR L.A. DODGERS

In 1957, in an effort to entice Walter O’Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, to move his team to Los Angeles, the city and county of Los Angeles offered to give him 300 acres of public land in Chavez Ravine, grade it and provide access roads at a cost of $4.7 million. In return, […]

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP DRAWS MASSIVE AUDIENCE

Sunday night’s primetime coverage of the NFC Championship game between the New York Giants and the San Francisco 49ers on Fox averaged an extraordinary 52.73 million viewers, peaking in the first hour of primetime (7:00 p.m.) with 55.92 million, according to overnight figures released by Nielsen Research. Surprisingly, shows airing opposite the game were virtually […]

JUDGE GIVES DODGERS OK TO SELL TV RIGHTS

A Delaware bankruptcy judge has given the Dodgers the green light to package their television rights along with the team itself in a quick sale — a decision that has angered Fox Sports, whose rights to air Dodgers’ games on its Prime Ticket channel ends after next season. Fox, which said it will appeal the […]

NEWS CORP SAYS IT WON’T BUY THE DODGERS AGAIN

News Corp COO Chase Carey appears to have shot down widespread reports on Wednesday that its Fox Sports division might make a bid for the team at a bankruptcy auction after weighing the costs of buying broadcast rights against the cost of an outright acquisition. But at a conference call to discuss the company’s latest […]

FOX SPORTS ADMITS FABRICATING CHICAGO “HEADLINES”

Following an investigation by the Chicago Tribune, Fox Sports on Monday admitted that it had concocted headlines about Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler that it claimed were the “actual” ones that had appeared in Chicago newspapers. Three of them: “Cutler Leaves With Injury,” “Cutler Lacks Courage,” and “Cutler’s No Leader.” In its report, the Tribune […]

NIELSEN: SUPER BOWL XLV SMASHED RATINGS RECORD

In its latest ratings update on Monday, Nielsen Media Research confirmed that Sunday’s Super Bowl XLV telecast has become the most-watched U.S. television program of all time. The newest preliminary figures indicate that the Fox telecast averaged 111.01 million viewers, versus 106.48 for last year’s game, an increase of 4.25 percent. Sunday’s game, in which […]