News: MLB on Fox, SportsCenter, Fox DTC, MotoGP

July 4, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Detail view of Independence Day themed base before the Los Angeles Dodgers play against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Fox is seeking to put baseball back on the Fourth of July, a new edition of SportsCenter is coming to Disney+, a former Venu exec is running Fox’s DTC product, and MotoGP has a new home.

Fox seeking July 4 MLB games

Fox Sports is in talks with Major League Baseball to add coverage of an MLB games on Independence Day beginning this season, according to John Ourand of Puck News. Notable games currently scheduled include Mets-Yankees, Cardinals-Cubs, and Astros-Dodgers.

The league has not traditionally scheduled national television windows on the holiday in recent years, especially since ESPN scaled down its weekday coverage with its current rights deal. As traditional Independence Day activities do not tend to feature communal television viewing, MLB games would be unlikely to receive the same out-of-home ratings boost associated with other holidays (such as the NFL on Thanksgiving).

ESPN launches Disney+-exclusive “SportsCenter”

ESPN announced Thursday it will create a new daily edition of SportsCenter to stream exclusively on Disney+ beginning Monday. The show, titled “SC+”, will be live at 9 AM ET, and available on-demand throughout the day. The exact length of the show was not announced, but the format is expected to be “fast-paced”, “concise”, and “streamlined”.

Morning SportsCenter anchors Gary Striewski and Randy Scott will host on weekdays, with Hannah Storm and Jay Harris on weekends.

The show joins a growing lineup of ESPN studio content available directly to Disney+ subscribers, including College GameDay and Pardon the Interruption. The show will not be available on ESPN+.

Fox taps former Venu exec for DTC product

The CEO of Fox’s upcoming direct-to-consumer streaming product will reportedly be Pete Distad, who was previously in charge of the abandoned Venu Sports project. Distad brings experience with direct-to-consumer streaming from his time with Apple and Hulu. Technical infrastructure from Fox was being used to build the Venu Sports platform, which was dropped last month after lengthy legal proceedings surrounding antitrust litigation.

The unnamed Fox streaming product is set to unify all of the company’s brands (sports, news, and entertainment). No pricing or launch date has been revealed, although its expected Fox would want to have the offering available before football season. The upcoming product will remain separate from Tubi, Fox’s free streaming platform, and Fox Nation, the Fox News Channel-adjacent paid content library.

MotoGP inks deal with Fox Sports

Fox Sports has reached a multiyear US media rights agreement with MotoGP, it was announced Wednesday. The international motorcycle racing circuit will have 22 events televised on FS1, FS2, and Fox Business Network beginning with the Thai GP this weekend at 3 AM early Sunday morning on FS1. An exact broadcast schedule was not announced, but the release did not indicate any races will air on the Fox broadcast network.

MotoGP is the latest in a slew of recent rights additions for Fox Sports, including LIV Golf and the IndyCar series, which will also debut on Fox this weekend. MotoGP races were most recently carried by NBC Sports from 2020-2024.

MLB reportedly talks with Netflix, Amazon, NBC, but nothing imminent

Ben Huddleston

Ben Huddleston is an Oklahoma City based Sports Media Watch contributor, TV scheduling nerd, and Olympics junkie. Find him on the weekends cheering on the Sooners, Thunder, and Chiefs, or reach him on X @sportswithben1.

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Comments 16

Jtk1 says:

2 years ago

I believe having MLB on FOX for the 4th of July would be great. That said, I have the MLB Extra Innings package, but I know a lot of casuals don’t, this way more people can watch the National Pastime. What I think FOX should do is show 3 games that day starting with the Nationals 11am et game, then maybe a mid afternoon game, followed by their normal 7:15 et start. Also I would go one step further and also put two games on FS1, maybe one afternoon and one at night. I believe with this ratings would be sky high.
- Jon Lewis says:
  
  2 years ago
  
  Honestly, I don’t think Fourth of July is a good ratings play. There’s a reason why there have not been national MLB games on that day in the past, and that is because it’s a holiday that draws people *away* from television. The only real mass gatherings are ones where people are watching fireworks, not live sports.
  - George Cooper says:
    
    2 years ago
    
    I agree Jon, as July is probably the least viewed month of the year with vacations and kids at camps, not to mention local fireworks viewing. My Fox station has fireworks show at night that has been on for at least 20 years and baseball franchises that have home games on July 4th usually have big event surrounding the game.
    - ESL says:
      
      2 years ago
      
      I agree that a prime time game would be a waste. Everyone is out watching fireworks (or home watching on tv). However, the 11am et would work as I noted below. Game hosted by the Washington Nationals. Fox could bring have their pre-game show outside of the Washington monument. Bring in some legendary players to read the declaration of independence. It would be a great backdrop to start the 4th of July. The Washington Nationals could be associated with the 4th of July in baseball as the Lions are on Thanksgiving in the NFL. The 11am start would be good as people are still home in the morning before going to their BBQS and fireworks later in the day.
    - Jtk1 says:
      
      2 years ago
      
      Why I said ratings would be high that day is , because yes like you have said people do go out that day, provided the weather is good, but I have seen a lot of people out with portable TVs, obviously a lot of these would only pickup local stations, and with FOX being a local station, there you go. Also I had a friend before he moved away, anyway when he went fishing, he also had a portable TV with him.
    - Wyatt Smith says:
      
      2 years ago
      
      If they start a game early enough then that’s fine, but even just a nationals game in mid afternoon like 3 pm et would be better than nothing (when it’s dark everyone wants fireworks but during the day it’s fine for them to schedule games)
ds says:

2 years ago

Regarding SC on Disney+, I am interested and surprised to read “The show will not be available on ESPN+”. I have assumed everything sports related would be on the ESPN app, with the ESPN app managing stream availability based on each user’s subscriptions. Like how ESPN+ content can be watched on the Hulu app but also remains on the ESPN app. Any idea what Disney is trying to achieve with Disney+ exclusivity for some sports content? Maybe Disney+ “exclusive” sports content will be on the ESPN app and available to view with linked Disney bundle credentials?
Rick James Bible Owner says:

2 years ago

When was the last time ESPN had holiday baseball? I thought the Bryce Harper-Hunter Strickland brawl (on their air) was in 2019, but it was on Memorial Day 2017. Even those games had to co-exist with local broadcasts (if I’m not mistaken), so if Fox did something on the 4th or any other holiday would have to be done regionally exclusive (like the Saturday Game of the Week). Baseball has been too deferential to the RSN well they thought wouldn’t dry up; they seem to appear to be moving in the right direction with some better ideas.
JEAN H PIERRE says:

2 years ago

I think this is a good move to put baseball on the air on 4th of July. Yes I may not get the numbers but at least we’ll be something on. This is long overdue for Major League Baseball
CF says:

2 years ago

I think MotoGP was randomly on TBS last year rather than NBC. We’d get an intro to US viewers on the coverage on TNT in the UK when they opted in.
Cosmo says:

2 years ago

Seems odd that the July 4 idea is just surfacing now, MLB should have jumped on doing something once ESPN cut back to Sundays only. And it’s odd that Fox is proposing this now when rights to that date are mostly set for the remaining 4 years of the contract. July 4 is a Friday this year, so Apple has first dibs — their schedule isn’t out yet but I was expecting they would have both an afternoon and an evening game. Next year July 4 is a Saturday, so Fox will have at least 2 game windows anyway. We don’t know who will have Sunday Night Baseball in 2027, so presumably there will be at least an afternoon window available (Roku would likely take the 11am Nationals game). In the leap year of 2028, July 4 is on Tuesday, so TBS will have at least a night game. None of this probably precludes Fox from doing something now, but MLB should prioritize holiday rights in the next contract negotiations.
ESL says:

2 years ago

I think it’s a great idea for MLB to have a 4th of July national game. This is long overdue. Every sport has a national holiday it is associated with. NFL Thanksgiving, NBA Christmas (even if the NFL monster is taking their territory), and the NHL has used the winter classic on New Years Day (but, this may change with the expanded college football playoffs). MLB has been always lost scheduling. My idea for MLB would be to a 4th of July daytime doubleheader. The first game on 4th of July would start at 11am et and would always be hosted by the Washington Nationals. Fox could bring have their pre-game show outside of the Washington monument. Bring in some legendary players to read the declaration of independence. It would be a great backdrop to start the 4th of July. The Washington Nationals could be associated with the 4th of July in baseball as the Lions are on Thanksgiving in the NFL. The 11am start would be good as people are still home in the morning before goiing to their BBQS and fireworks later in the day. Second game would be rotating. Make it a real event. MLB marketing has never been that creative on a national level. I think with the MLB in flux with its media rights, this would be a great time to start an event like this.
- Mike says:
  
  2 years ago
  
  I agree! I never understood why MLB didn’t try to take advantage of Memorial Day, 4th of July and to a lesser extent Labor Day.

SMW Podcast

Bomani Jones joins the pod, plus thoughts on Ernie Johnson's exit, World Series ratings and more

0:000:00

Nielsen has reprocessed the viewership for NBC’s four NFL games from Week 1-3 of the season. The Patriots-Seahawks Kickoff Game has been updated to 25.2 million, up from an originally-reported 25.1 million. The Week 1 Cowboys-Giants “Sunday Night Football” game has been updated to 25.82 million, up from 25.66 million. Colts-Chiefs the following week has been updated to 24.43 million, up from 24.29 million. Finally, Rams-Broncos in Week 3 has been updated to 20.96 million, up from 20.77 million.