Fox Sports 1 Update

[billyjack]

Fox Sports 1 is going to stress sabermetrics during tomorrow's Giants-Cardinals game... meaning the focus will be more on OBP, OPS, WHIP, etc... Rob Neyer (an early sabermetric supporter) will be featured. Should be a good telecast. Great to see FS1 innovating, and it'd be nice to see it carry over into our hoops games.

Fox Sports back in the day was the first station to display (during live action) the score/ inning/ outs/ count/ baserunners in their baseball, and the score/ time/ etc during football and basketball.

Seems impossible nowadays to watch a game without the score display box, but before that innovation viewers would have to wait for a commercial or a score to get the game info displayed... as kids, if we joined a Red Sox home game mid-inning, we would hope that the batter would fly to left so that we could get a glimpse of the scoreboard...!

Here's an article on FS1's idea:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/on- ... broadcast/

I think a lot of folks will cringe with the sabermetrics. I think more are going to watch the game on Fox and forget about FS1 quite frankly. I remember a few years ago how folks cringed with the Felix Hernandez Cy Young win.

I don't think this is anywhere near in the same realm as the score/etc. quite frankly. It's painful watching a game broadcast years ago w/o the score box.

Did Fox come up with the 1st down line? I can't remember(that's another one that has changed things big time)

Yeah, the first down line was another great telecast innovation, along with the score display box... I think Sabermetrics will work as well, since every successful team uses advanced baseball stats... so even if a viewer disagrees with the numbers, at least they can maybe understand the reasoning behind teams' strategies, lineups, pitching staff make-ups, and so on. I can't see this as a bad thing.

Anyway, hopefully other innovations will be brought into our hoops coverage... advanced basketball stats, etc.

Also, I don't remember a controversy over Felix winning the Cy Young... was that the year he only won 12 games...? Based on his performance since then, I'd say that the saber guys had it right. We're not talking Dewey Hoyt here...

[stever20]

Fox Sports 1 is going to stress sabermetrics during tomorrow's Giants-Cardinals game... meaning the focus will be more on OBP, OPS, WHIP, etc... Rob Neyer (an early sabermetric supporter) will be featured. Should be a good telecast. Great to see FS1 innovating, and it'd be nice to see it carry over into our hoops games.

Fox Sports back in the day was the first station to display (during live action) the score/ inning/ outs/ count/ baserunners in their baseball, and the score/ time/ etc during football and basketball.

Seems impossible nowadays to watch a game without the score display box, but before that innovation viewers would have to wait for a commercial or a score to get the game info displayed... as kids, if we joined a Red Sox home game mid-inning, we would hope that the batter would fly to left so that we could get a glimpse of the scoreboard...!

Here's an article on FS1's idea:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/on- ... broadcast/

I think a lot of folks will cringe with the sabermetrics. I think more are going to watch the game on Fox and forget about FS1 quite frankly. I remember a few years ago how folks cringed with the Felix Hernandez Cy Young win.

I don't think this is anywhere near in the same realm as the score/etc. quite frankly. It's painful watching a game broadcast years ago w/o the score box.

Did Fox come up with the 1st down line? I can't remember(that's another one that has changed things big time)

Yeah, the first down line was another great telecast innovation, along with the score display box... I think Sabermetrics will work as well, since every successful team uses advanced baseball stats... so even if a viewer disagrees with the numbers, at least they can maybe understand the reasoning behind teams' strategies, lineups, pitching staff make-ups, and so on. I can't see this as a bad thing.

Anyway, hopefully other innovations will be brought into our hoops coverage... advanced basketball stats, etc.

Also, I don't remember a controversy over Felix winning the Cy Young... was that the year he only won 12 games...? Based on his performance since then, I'd say that the saber guys had it right. We're not talking Dewey Hoyt here...

I don't think the Sabermetrics will be as big because when they go to the local broadcasts- it's going to be the same as always. It's not as pervasive as the score box/first down line.

Yeah there was a big one with Felix winning the Cy Young. Or the huge debate about Miguel Cabrera vs Mike Trout for AL MVP a few years ago.

[billyjack]

So the Giants-Cards game was offered two ways. The main Fox network had the standard, solid telecast with Harold Reynolds and I forgot who else.

FS1 had the sabermetric-friendly telecast, which was also good, and played out a lot like MLB Network on weeknights when, from the studio, they provide live look-ins of all the games as Vasgergian and the MLB crew discuss strategy... it's a great, comfortable format, and worked well tonight. Again, this format will be familiar to any MLB network viewers.

Nice idea.

[stever20]

Was out so wasn't able to see it- but it sounds very similar to what ESPN has done in the past with the college football title game. More and more we're seeing this on playoff/title game broadcasts.

[LabRatScott]

I've been impressed watching FS1 during baseball and college football. The product is everything ESPN offers. The job of Fox is to get people to watch despite not having much live programming. I don't watch SportsCenter anymore and wish more people would make the switch.

[BEwannabe]

Look for ESPN to keep FS1 at an arms length by continuing to win the biggest rights in sports. You can't attract sports viewers without highly watched live content and ESPN is the undisputed leader in sports tv and whomever is 2nd is not within site. As a young salesman I sold against IBM and there was this mindset to overcome and that was "no one ever got fired for choosing IBM". ESPN has that same mystique and FS1 is working from a deep hole.

[Chalmers0]

So the Giants-Cards game was offered two ways. The main Fox network had the standard, solid telecast with Harold Reynolds and I forgot who else.

FS1 had the sabermetric-friendly telecast, which was also good, and played out a lot like MLB Network on weeknights when, from the studio, they provide live look-ins of all the games as Vasgergian and the MLB crew discuss strategy... it's a great, comfortable format, and worked well tonight. Again, this format will be familiar to any MLB network viewers.

Nice idea.

Anything that gives me the option to listen to someone other than Harold Reynolds is great. That being said, I did read from some people on Twitter that despite being a "sabermetric friendly" telecast, the analysis and strategy discussions were pretty bad. I can't really speak to that since I didn't get a chance to watch.

[stever20]

1 big problem has been highlighted here last 2 weeks- seen a lot of media folks traveling saying they couldn't get FS1 in their hotel rooms so had to go out just to watch the baseball games on FS1.

w/o live content- FS1 is going to always struggle.

Thought it was interesting- saw on Awful Announcing over the weekend- had something with Keith Olbermann- sounds like ESPN brought him back in part to mute Fox Sports Live. Thought that was pretty brilliant- and it worked out really well. ESPN isn't stupid. I think they took the FS1 threat very seriously- and that's in part why FS1 is where they are now. Everyone gushes about the MLB ratings. Well did you know Mone Davis Little League World Series- had about 1 million more viewers than the best LDS viewership had?

[R to the OB]

1 big problem has been highlighted here last 2 weeks- seen a lot of media folks traveling saying they couldn't get FS1 in their hotel rooms so had to go out just to watch the baseball games on FS1.

w/o live content- FS1 is going to always struggle.

Thought it was interesting- saw on Awful Announcing over the weekend- had something with Keith Olbermann- sounds like ESPN brought him back in part to mute Fox Sports Live. Thought that was pretty brilliant- and it worked out really well. ESPN isn't stupid. I think they took the FS1 threat very seriously- and that's in part why FS1 is where they are now. Everyone gushes about the MLB ratings. Well did you know Mone Davis Little League World Series- had about 1 million more viewers than the best LDS viewership had?

A few things:
First, the LLWS this year was by far the most watched ever (thanks in large part to the Davis/Chicago storylines). In fact, it was up 57 percent in 2013. That's not a norm. Nor should we expect it to become a norm.
Second, it's unfair to compare FOX ratings with FS1 ratings when it comes to MLB post season coverage. Remember that there is a great number of free tv viewers. That seems to be left out quite a bit.
Third, FS1 still isn't on the Basic Cable/Satellite package like ESPN is in many places. Heck, even in Omaha FS1 isn't on the basic Cox package. That's definitely a factor when it comes to ratings.
Fourth, ESPN has a practice of not telling its viewers when games are on rival channels. Don't believe me, watch College Gameday. They NEVER show that a game is on FOX or CBS. That's definitely a factor when it comes to typical fans.

[stever20]

I'll give you about the most watched ever. However I would note that the ratings had gone down for about 4-5 years but this past year was a lot closer to what it was getting before on tv ratings...

Your 3rd point is a killer. If it's not on basic package- how is it ever going to get good ratings?

And 4th point- is that going to change? No. If Fox has to rely on ESPN to tell folks that the game is on FS1- something is pretty wrong about that picture. CBS seems to do ok with that.