ESPN vs Fox Sports | Best in Show | 3

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2022

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The 1990s are about to end and ESPN is on a quest to strike down the competition before they can muster the strength to challenge it.

But when ESPN starts using the NFL to gouge the nation’s cable providers, Fox Sports gets an opportunity to dominate regional sports TV.

And as Fox steps up its attacks, ESPN soon discovers that it has to take drastic action to stop an exodus of viewers.

Listen to new episodes 1 week early and to all episodes ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App. https://wondery.app.link/businesswars

Please support us by supporting our sponsors!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Business Wars Add Free on Amazon Music.
0:04.6	Download the app today.
0:06.8	Starting this season with ESPN vs. Fox Sports, Business Wars is bringing you new, longer episodes
0:13.4	every Wednesday.
0:14.7	You can look forward to even more inside stories on the most scandalous, outrageous, and intense
0:19.2	corporate rivalries of all time.
0:30.7	December 1997, a meeting room inside ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut.
0:37.2	Disney's CEO, Michael Eisner, looks like he's just chewed a lemon.
0:42.4	You want to offer the NFL $9 billion?
0:47.2	Steve Bornsstein repositions his glasses and nods.
0:51.2	He's the president of ESPN and ABC Sports, which are both controlled by Disney.
0:56.2	Yeah, that's what it'll take to keep Monday Night Football on ABC and get all the Sunday
1:00.8	Games for ESPN.
1:03.1	We do that.
1:04.1	Turner Broadcasting will be shut out of pro football for years.
1:08.3	Eisner looks pained.
1:10.4	For the past seven years, ESPN and Turner have shared the job of airing Sunday Night
1:15.0	NFL games.
1:16.6	But now ESPN wants it all.
1:20.4	Fox Sports is winning the war to dominate regional sports networks, and that makes the
1:25.3	idea of eliminating Turner from the field appealing.
1:29.6	But Eisner finds the price tag too rich, even for him.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wondery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Wondery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.