In decades past, the networks’ sports departments were usually given just a sliver of the overall time in any upfront presentation. In 2021, Fox Sports is stepping out on its own.
The Fox Corp. unit on Friday put on a separate presentation to advertisers, rather than just having Joe Buck take up a few seconds of the proceedings during the usual Monday-afternoon pitch devoted to the Fox broadcast network. During upfronts, U.S. networks work to sell the bulk of their advertising for the next programming cycle.
There’s new reason to put a solo spotlight on sports. Live programming — read: sports and news — is largely driving the economics of linear TV. So there’s little reason to relegate the sports team to lobbing a few footballs into the crowd at the end of the yearly spiel, as has often been the case. In a sign of the new emphasis being placed on live programming,...
The Fox Corp. unit on Friday put on a separate presentation to advertisers, rather than just having Joe Buck take up a few seconds of the proceedings during the usual Monday-afternoon pitch devoted to the Fox broadcast network. During upfronts, U.S. networks work to sell the bulk of their advertising for the next programming cycle.
There’s new reason to put a solo spotlight on sports. Live programming — read: sports and news — is largely driving the economics of linear TV. So there’s little reason to relegate the sports team to lobbing a few footballs into the crowd at the end of the yearly spiel, as has often been the case. In a sign of the new emphasis being placed on live programming,...
- 5/14/2021
- by Brian Steinberg
- Variety Film + TV
Although it had been in the works for a while, today’s virtual upfront presentation by Fox Sports packed uncanny punch after Thursday’s big mask news.
The Centers for Disease Control dramatically shifted its guidance, saying those vaccinated against Covid-19 could ditch their masks in most situations. Fox’s 45-minute pitch almost completely avoided any mention of the pandemic, instead reveling in what the network expects will be a total return to sports normal. That means tailgate parties, cheers, jeers and capacity crowds.
“It’s meaningful when you have full stadiums,” Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks told lead play-by-play announcer Joe Buck. “You feel it. It makes you broadcast differently. … And I’m sure it makes the players more amped-up.” Agreed Buck, “I can’t wait for these stadiums to be jam-packed.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, among others in the sports world, has...
The Centers for Disease Control dramatically shifted its guidance, saying those vaccinated against Covid-19 could ditch their masks in most situations. Fox’s 45-minute pitch almost completely avoided any mention of the pandemic, instead reveling in what the network expects will be a total return to sports normal. That means tailgate parties, cheers, jeers and capacity crowds.
“It’s meaningful when you have full stadiums,” Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks told lead play-by-play announcer Joe Buck. “You feel it. It makes you broadcast differently. … And I’m sure it makes the players more amped-up.” Agreed Buck, “I can’t wait for these stadiums to be jam-packed.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, among others in the sports world, has...
- 5/14/2021
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
The National Football League’s regular season kicks off Thursday night with a mouth-watering encounter between the Green Bay Packers, led by Aaron Rodgers who has a point to prove, and the Chicago Bears, boasting a formidable defense.
However, while fans won’t have to wait long to find out whether offense or defense will come out on top in Chicago, one thing that seems likely is that offense will dominate the league once again in 2019, after an astronomical number of touchdowns and offensive yards helped the NFL to a ratings rebound in 2018.
2017 saw an alarming dip of 10% in totalviewers for the NFL — but the league bounced back across the board last year with NBC up 6% to just over 19 million viewers with “Sunday Night Football,” ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” up 8% to 11.6 million viewers, and Fox and CBS’s Sunday afternoon games up 2%.
“We’re coming into the season with high expectations,...
However, while fans won’t have to wait long to find out whether offense or defense will come out on top in Chicago, one thing that seems likely is that offense will dominate the league once again in 2019, after an astronomical number of touchdowns and offensive yards helped the NFL to a ratings rebound in 2018.
2017 saw an alarming dip of 10% in totalviewers for the NFL — but the league bounced back across the board last year with NBC up 6% to just over 19 million viewers with “Sunday Night Football,” ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” up 8% to 11.6 million viewers, and Fox and CBS’s Sunday afternoon games up 2%.
“We’re coming into the season with high expectations,...
- 9/5/2019
- by Will Thorne
- Variety Film + TV
Fox’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game hit a record-low 8.7 million total viewers on Tuesday evening. The annual exhibition contest between the American League and the National League drew just a 2.0 rating in the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic. It peaked at 9.3 million viewers, just after 10 p.m. Et. By comparison, in 2015, the game averaged 10.9 million viewers and a 3.1 rating in the 18-49 demo. “Baseball’s midsummer classic reaffirmed its status as the most popular all-star event in sports and provided an exciting end to an excellent first half of the season,” Michael Mulvihill, Evp Research, League Operations and Strategy...
- 7/13/2016
- by Tony Maglio and Joe Otterson
- The Wrap
From a hardcore baseball fan's perspective, having the small-market Kansas City Royals in the World Series for the first time since 1985 is pretty cool. From a TV programming professional's standpoint, well, it pretty much sucks. Michael Mulvihill is both. Therefore, the Fox Sports senior vice president of Programming and Research will be a little torn on Tuesday when Major League Baseball's championship throws out its first pitch. See photos: 12 of the Most Dramatic Moments in Sport Movies “I honestly think that Kansas City being in the World Series is maybe the best thing that's happened to baseball in 10...
- 10/21/2014
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
Cable channel Fox Sports 1 existed during last year's Major League Baseball Playoffs, but it didn't have the rights. This season it will exclusively air the Division Series and League Championship Series. But before the postseason arrives, the former Speed channel is helping its parent network smother Tuesday's Mlb All-Star Game with coverage. Combined, Fox Sports is boasting more than 25 hours of All-Star Game coverage across multiple platforms, which it claims to be the most ever. TheWrap spoke with Fox Broadcasting senior vice president of programming and research Michael Mulvihill about the current status of the re-branded cable channel, with a focus on America's pastime.
- 7/11/2014
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
On the very day that Fox Sports and Major League Baseball made official a new $4 billion eight-year rights deal, Fox Sports executive Mike Mulvihill called soccer the "next national pastime." Mulvihill, who is senior vice president of programming and research, wasn't attempting to make any slight towards professional baseball, which has long been known as America's pastime and has just inked new deals with Fox and Turner which will double Mlb's annual take of TV money. The Fox executive was attempting to explain his enthusiasm for the growth of live sports as part of an Advertising Week
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- 10/2/2012
- by Eriq Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
On Saturday, October 22nd, 2011, the eleventh annual Screamfest Horror Film Festival Awards were held in Hollywood, California, to celebrate the ten days of original horror programming which had preceded it, most notably the China Brothers’ Crawl (which took home awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography). Today results were released for the fest’s Screenplay Competition, and we’ve got ‘em. Read on for the winners!
Screamfest, which is spearheaded by founder and director Rachel Belofsky, has built a reputation over the last decade as having its finger on the pulse of the horror genre. Recent films programmed at Screamfest that have garnered a lot of attention include Let the Right One In, Trick 'r Treat, Splinter, Martyrs, The Signal, and Paranormal Activity.
Best Screenplay
Blood Type:v
by Eric Maloney
Top 5 Screenplays
Blood Type:v
by Eric Maloney
Exit 49
by Lanny Grant
Someone Must Die
by Joe Henriques
The Sticks
by...
Screamfest, which is spearheaded by founder and director Rachel Belofsky, has built a reputation over the last decade as having its finger on the pulse of the horror genre. Recent films programmed at Screamfest that have garnered a lot of attention include Let the Right One In, Trick 'r Treat, Splinter, Martyrs, The Signal, and Paranormal Activity.
Best Screenplay
Blood Type:v
by Eric Maloney
Top 5 Screenplays
Blood Type:v
by Eric Maloney
Exit 49
by Lanny Grant
Someone Must Die
by Joe Henriques
The Sticks
by...
- 12/12/2011
- by SeanD.
- DreadCentral.com
By Todd Gilchrist
Yesterday in conjunction with the release of Warner Brothers’ new Blu-rays, Hollywood News published an exclusive interview with Richard Taylor, one of the good folks at effects house Weta who was responsible for helping bring the Lord of the Rings film to the screen. While Taylor provided as much information as he could, he confessed outright that he actually had nothing to do with the high-definition upgrade, and further, hadn’t even seen the discs yet. Subsequently, however, we spoke with one of the DVD/Bd project’s actual participants, longtime Peter Jackson collaborator Michael Pellerin, who provided some real insights into the process of bringing the films to Blu-ray for the first time.
In addition to his work with Jackson on documenting The Lord of the Rings films, the producer and director has worked on countless featurettes and bonus materials for other films as well, including Tron and Fantasia for Disney.
Yesterday in conjunction with the release of Warner Brothers’ new Blu-rays, Hollywood News published an exclusive interview with Richard Taylor, one of the good folks at effects house Weta who was responsible for helping bring the Lord of the Rings film to the screen. While Taylor provided as much information as he could, he confessed outright that he actually had nothing to do with the high-definition upgrade, and further, hadn’t even seen the discs yet. Subsequently, however, we spoke with one of the DVD/Bd project’s actual participants, longtime Peter Jackson collaborator Michael Pellerin, who provided some real insights into the process of bringing the films to Blu-ray for the first time.
In addition to his work with Jackson on documenting The Lord of the Rings films, the producer and director has worked on countless featurettes and bonus materials for other films as well, including Tron and Fantasia for Disney.
- 4/9/2010
- by Todd Gilchrist
- Hollywoodnews.com
When the American and National League face off in Tuesday's Major League Baseball All-Star Game in New York, there will be fewer people watching than there were the last time Yankee Stadium was the host in 1977.
Gone are the days when the All-Star Game commanded double-digit household ratings. Last year's 8.4 household rating was about a third of its 24.5 rating 31 years ago. With the exception of the 2006 All-Star Game in Pittsburgh, which bucked the trend, the ratings have fallen since 2001.
That's the way it is for most of TV these days. But for the All-Star Game, the signature TV event of the summer, the ratings losses are particularly stark. Blame the TV landscape, interleague play, the fact there's plenty more baseball on TV and cable these days or even the fact that many of the recent games have been blowouts by the Al. There's also a lot more competition, albeit reality programming mostly, from broadcast and cable rivals. Whatever the reason, it adds up to diminished ratings.
"The All-Star Game used to be one of the highlights of television in the summer," baseball fan and Horizon Media researcher Brad Adgate said. "I don't think you can necessarily make that claim anymore. It's still relevant and it's a lot of fun." But there's no doubt, Adgate said, that it has lost much of the cachet it has enjoyed since the first one was dreamed up by a Chicago sportswriter in 1933.
But Major League Baseball has high hopes for this year's game, which will be played in the last year of one of baseball's most storied homes, Yankee Stadium. Several days of celebration kicked off this past weekend, with a free concert in Central Park by Jon Bon Jovi and continuing today with Espn's telecast of the Home Run Derby and Tuesday's parade in Manhattan and the game itself. It's a big investment for Mlb and Fox.
Fox Sports president Ed Goren said that the historic nature of this year's game -- the last year in a fabled ballpark and the participation of almost every living Hall of Famer -- makes it something special.
"The viewership for this All-Star Game is going to be sensational," Goren said.
What's also sensational is the ad sales, which recorded a double-digit increase in CPMs this year. The average 30-second spot goes for between $425,000 and $450,000 a throw. Some spots are going for $550,000 each and only one spot was left heading into the weekend. There is strong support from Mlb's corporate sponsors, among other advertisers -- something that other sports can't always claim.
It's true that baseball's All-Star Game still holds a special place in the summer. It's often still the most-watched program of the summer. It always finishes well above the ratings for similar all-star games in hockey, basketball and even football. And the declines the All-Star Game has seen in ratings isn't as stark when looking at what's happened in broadcast TV's big picture. Fox Sports vp research and programming Mike Mulvihill said that the ratings have been about 25% higher in any given season than the network season average going as far back as 1970 when it was a three-network universe.
"Compared to the three-network primetime average, the All-Star Game holds up as well today in relative terms as it did 20, 30, 40 years ago," Mulvihill said. "Relative to the environment, it's just as strong today as it has ever been."
Horizon Media's Adgate thinks that the Home Run Derby, which airs tonight on Espn, also is siphoning off viewers that usually would have been watching the game. Espn began televising the derby in 1992, going live with it starting in 1997.
Len DeLuca, Espn's senior vp programming and acquisitions, thinks the derby's much more than an excuse to get host Chris Berman on the field. Espn dropped its part of the Mlb postseason package but made sure it kept the derby.
"It's regularly part of our summer mantra, one of the highest, if not the highest-rated shows in cable in July," DeLuca said.
Mlb and Fox have worked together to try to stem the ratings loss, to mixed results. Those efforts intensified after 2002, when the game ended in a tie after one of the teams ran out of players. Mlb came up with a new plan to reinvigorate the game, and have it mean something. That led to the winning league gaining home-field advantage at the World Series, as well as adding other flourishes like an all-star parade and red carpet.
While the game isn't just an exhibition anymore, the ratings haven't really followed suit. It hit an all-time low of 8.1 in 2005 before recovering a bit in 2006 and then falling again in 2007. That doesn't mean, however, that Fox is ruing its investment in the All-Star Game. Quite the contrary.
"We're not disappointed in the viewership and the ratings for the All-Star Game," Fox's Goren said. "If you ask sports fans, one of their most memorable all-star events of any sport, has to be the All-Star Game in Boston in 1999." The pregame ceremony at Fenway Park honored Ted Williams. Goren thinks that that's just a warm-up for Tuesday.
"This one will outdo the Ted Williams game," Goren said. "Baseball has organized this phenomenal weekend."...
Gone are the days when the All-Star Game commanded double-digit household ratings. Last year's 8.4 household rating was about a third of its 24.5 rating 31 years ago. With the exception of the 2006 All-Star Game in Pittsburgh, which bucked the trend, the ratings have fallen since 2001.
That's the way it is for most of TV these days. But for the All-Star Game, the signature TV event of the summer, the ratings losses are particularly stark. Blame the TV landscape, interleague play, the fact there's plenty more baseball on TV and cable these days or even the fact that many of the recent games have been blowouts by the Al. There's also a lot more competition, albeit reality programming mostly, from broadcast and cable rivals. Whatever the reason, it adds up to diminished ratings.
"The All-Star Game used to be one of the highlights of television in the summer," baseball fan and Horizon Media researcher Brad Adgate said. "I don't think you can necessarily make that claim anymore. It's still relevant and it's a lot of fun." But there's no doubt, Adgate said, that it has lost much of the cachet it has enjoyed since the first one was dreamed up by a Chicago sportswriter in 1933.
But Major League Baseball has high hopes for this year's game, which will be played in the last year of one of baseball's most storied homes, Yankee Stadium. Several days of celebration kicked off this past weekend, with a free concert in Central Park by Jon Bon Jovi and continuing today with Espn's telecast of the Home Run Derby and Tuesday's parade in Manhattan and the game itself. It's a big investment for Mlb and Fox.
Fox Sports president Ed Goren said that the historic nature of this year's game -- the last year in a fabled ballpark and the participation of almost every living Hall of Famer -- makes it something special.
"The viewership for this All-Star Game is going to be sensational," Goren said.
What's also sensational is the ad sales, which recorded a double-digit increase in CPMs this year. The average 30-second spot goes for between $425,000 and $450,000 a throw. Some spots are going for $550,000 each and only one spot was left heading into the weekend. There is strong support from Mlb's corporate sponsors, among other advertisers -- something that other sports can't always claim.
It's true that baseball's All-Star Game still holds a special place in the summer. It's often still the most-watched program of the summer. It always finishes well above the ratings for similar all-star games in hockey, basketball and even football. And the declines the All-Star Game has seen in ratings isn't as stark when looking at what's happened in broadcast TV's big picture. Fox Sports vp research and programming Mike Mulvihill said that the ratings have been about 25% higher in any given season than the network season average going as far back as 1970 when it was a three-network universe.
"Compared to the three-network primetime average, the All-Star Game holds up as well today in relative terms as it did 20, 30, 40 years ago," Mulvihill said. "Relative to the environment, it's just as strong today as it has ever been."
Horizon Media's Adgate thinks that the Home Run Derby, which airs tonight on Espn, also is siphoning off viewers that usually would have been watching the game. Espn began televising the derby in 1992, going live with it starting in 1997.
Len DeLuca, Espn's senior vp programming and acquisitions, thinks the derby's much more than an excuse to get host Chris Berman on the field. Espn dropped its part of the Mlb postseason package but made sure it kept the derby.
"It's regularly part of our summer mantra, one of the highest, if not the highest-rated shows in cable in July," DeLuca said.
Mlb and Fox have worked together to try to stem the ratings loss, to mixed results. Those efforts intensified after 2002, when the game ended in a tie after one of the teams ran out of players. Mlb came up with a new plan to reinvigorate the game, and have it mean something. That led to the winning league gaining home-field advantage at the World Series, as well as adding other flourishes like an all-star parade and red carpet.
While the game isn't just an exhibition anymore, the ratings haven't really followed suit. It hit an all-time low of 8.1 in 2005 before recovering a bit in 2006 and then falling again in 2007. That doesn't mean, however, that Fox is ruing its investment in the All-Star Game. Quite the contrary.
"We're not disappointed in the viewership and the ratings for the All-Star Game," Fox's Goren said. "If you ask sports fans, one of their most memorable all-star events of any sport, has to be the All-Star Game in Boston in 1999." The pregame ceremony at Fenway Park honored Ted Williams. Goren thinks that that's just a warm-up for Tuesday.
"This one will outdo the Ted Williams game," Goren said. "Baseball has organized this phenomenal weekend."...
- 7/13/2008
- by By Paul J. Gough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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