ESPN vs Fox Sports | First Down | 1

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 January 2022

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s the late 1970s and TV sports is equivalent to a few hours of programming on ABC, NBC and CBS each week.

But in Connecticut, Bill Rasmussen is on a mission to change that by creating a cable TV network dedicated to airing sports. Trouble is, he’s got no money, no sports rights, no TV studio, and no cable provider willing to put his network into homes.

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Transcript

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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.
0:32.7	Spring, 1983.
0:34.7	Finney County, Kansas.
0:37.4	A lone car cruises down a long, straight road surrounded by wheat fields, as the sun slips
0:43.1	below the flat horizon.
0:45.7	ESPN salesman Randy Brown grips the wheel of the car and strains to see the edges of the
0:51.1	road as dusk falls.
0:55.3	In the passenger seat, his 24-year-old colleague George Bodenheimer clutches his stomach
1:00.8	in moans.
1:01.8	You okay?
1:02.8	No, my stomach's doing summer salts.
1:06.6	I don't think I can do this.
1:09.7	The this that Bodenheimer's talking about is the public debate they're heading to.
1:15.1	The boss of a local cable TV provider organized it after Bodenheimer told him he now has to
1:20.2	pay to provide ESPN to his customers.
1:23.7	The cable boss said he'll only agree if Bodenheimer convinces his customers to pay more
1:29.2	to keep getting ESPN.
	...

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