Fox Sports

Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world that are either controlled or partially owned by the family of Rupert Murdoch. These assets are held mainly by 21st Century Fox, with the exception of the operations in Australia, which are part of News Corp Australia. (21st Century Fox and News Corp are the two companies resulting from the breakup of the larger News Corporation in mid-2013; the Murdoch family retains voting control of both entities.)

The name originates from the Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn was derived from the name of the Fox Film Corporation (later 20th Century Fox). The Fox Sports name has since been used in 21st Century Fox's and News Corp's other sports media assets around the world.

Channels and divisions

International

Fox Sports (United States)

Fox Sports is the programming division of the Fox Broadcasting Company, owned by 21st Century Fox, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its dedicated regional and national sports cable channels. The flagship entity of 21st Century Fox's Fox Sports Media Group division, it was formed in 1994 with Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to National Football League (NFL) games. In subsequent years, it has televised the National Hockey League (1994–1999), Major League Baseball (1996–present), NASCAR (2001–present), Bowl Championship Series (2007–2010), the USGA Championships (2015–present), and the FIFA World Cup (starting in 2018).

History

When the Fox Broadcasting Company launched in October 1986, the network's management, having seen how sports programming (in particular, soccer events) played a critical role in the growth of the British satellite service BSkyB, determined that sports would be the type of programming that would ascend Fox to a major network status the quickest; as a result, Fox tried to attract a professional football package to the network. In 1987, after ABC initially hedged on renewing its contract with the National Football League (NFL) for the television rights to Monday Night Football, Fox made an offer for the package at the same price that ABC had been paying at the time – about $13 million per game. However, partly due to the fact that Fox had yet to establish itself as a major network, the NFL decided to resume negotiations with ABC, with the two parties eventually agreeing to a new contract, keeping what was the crown jewel of the league's television broadcasts on that network (where it remained until 2006, when MNF moved to sister network ESPN as part of a contract that also saw NBC gain the Sunday Night Football package).

Fox Sports 1

Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television channel that is owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of the Fox Entertainment Group division of 21st Century Fox. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports 2 replaced Fuel TV. Both FS1 and FS2 absorbed most of the sports programming from its predecessors, as well as content from Fox Soccer, which was replaced by the entertainment-based channel FXX on September 2, 2013.

FS1 airs an array of live sporting events, including Major League Baseball, college sports (most notably Pac-12 and Big 12 Conference football, and Big East Conference basketball), soccer matches (including Major League Soccer, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, CONCACAF Champions League and Copa Libertadores), United States Golf Association championship events, UFC mixed martial arts, and a variety of motorsports events (such as the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series, United SportsCar Championship, FIA Formula E Championship and starting in 2016, the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series). FS1 also features daily sports news, analysis and discussion programming (with Fox Sports Live serving as the centerpiece), as well as sports-related reality and documentary programs.

Sport

Sport (UK) or sports (US) are all forms of usually competitive physical activity or games which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills while providing entertainment to participants, and in some cases, spectators. Usually the contest or game is between two sides, each attempting to exceed the other. Some sports allow a tie game; others provide tie-breaking methods, to ensure one winner and one loser. A number of such two-sided contests may be arranged in a tournament producing a champion. Many sports leagues make an annual champion by arranging games in a regular sports season, followed in some cases by playoffs. Hundreds of sports exist, from those between single contestants, through to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants, either in teams or competing as individuals. In certain sports such as racing, many contestants may compete, each against all with one winner.

Sport is generally recognised as activities which are based in physical athleticism or physical dexterity, with the largest major competitions such as the Olympic Games admitting only sports meeting this definition, and other organisations such as the Council of Europe using definitions precluding activities without a physical element from classification as sports. However, a number of competitive, but non-physical, activities claim recognition as mind sports. The International Olympic Committee (through ARISF) recognises both chess and bridge as bona fide sports, and SportAccord, the international sports federation association, recognises five non-physical sports, although limits the number of mind games which can be admitted as sports.

Fox Broadcasting Company

The Fox Broadcasting Company (commonly referred to as Fox; stylized as FOX) is an American commercial broadcast television network that is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. The network is headquartered at the 20th Century Fox studio lot on Pico Boulevard in the Century City section of Los Angeles, with additional major offices and production facilities at the Fox Television Center in nearby West Los Angeles and in Manhattan. It is the third largest major television network in the world based on total revenues, assets, and international coverage.

Launched on October 9, 1986 as a competitor to the Big Three television networks, ABC, NBC and CBS, Fox went on to become the most successful attempt at a fourth television network. It was the highest-rated broadcast network in the 18–49 demographic from 2004 to 2012, and earned the position as the most-watched American television network in total viewership during the 2007–08 season.

Fox and its affiliated companies operate many entertainment channels in international markets, although these do not necessarily air the same programming as the U.S. network. Most viewers in Canada have access to at least one U.S.-based Fox affiliate, either over-the-air or through a pay television provider, although Fox's National Football League telecasts and most of its prime time programming are subject to simultaneous substitution regulations for cable and satellite providers imposed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to protect rights held by domestically based networks.