ESPN vs Fox Sports | Undisputed | 5

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2022

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s 2015 and Fox Sports 1 is in a rut. Its attempt to topple ESPN has barely dented the defences of the Disney-controlled sports media giant.

Not that Fox is about to give up. It's looking to former ESPN producer Jamie Horowitz to craft a studio programming strategy that can suck viewers away from the market leader.

But even as Fox readies for another round, the very foundations of the cable sports business that built ESPN are starting to give way.

Big Tech’s coming for sports and that’s going to force change at both ESPN and Fox.

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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.
0:31.8	Spring 2015, Los Angeles.
0:35.6	Inside the Apple Pan diner, it's like the 1940s never ended.
0:40.2	Waders in white service caps rush around slinging cheeseburgers fries and hefty slices of
0:45.4	pie at the customers on the stools surrounding its use-shaped counter.
0:49.9	And sitting in the midst of this fast food frenzy, our Fox Sports One boss, David Nathanson
0:55.8	and Jamie Horowitz.
0:58.2	Horowitz is the former ESPN producer who struck ratings gold by building shows around
1:03.3	incendiary hosts like Skip Bayless and Colin Cowherd.
1:07.8	And Nathanson thinks Horowitz has what it takes to fix Fox's struggling sports network.
1:14.8	And Horowitz isn't sure he wants the job.
1:18.2	Nathanson puts down his paper wrapped burger.
1:21.0	Jamie will support the changes you want to make.
1:23.2	Few people have as much experience as you in developing original sports programming.
1:28.1	Horowitz sips his soda.
1:30.1	But I don't want to join only to find people saying, because you make this show slightly
1:33.8	better, I want a free hand to do what I think is needed.
	...

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