FOX Sports Networks PR Blog: January 2014

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Has Comcast Turned the Cord-Cutting Tide?

http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2014/01/28/has-comcast-turned-the-cord-cutting-tide/

Across the country, more and more households — including that of the WSJ’s own media and marketing editor Martin Peers — are opting out of paying for cable TV and choosing to forage on a media diet provided by the internet alone.

It seems to be an unstoppable trend, as more and better TV options get streamed online. It’s bad news for the cable business, which has been losing subscribers for years to other competitors. So can ComcastCMCSA +1.64% stop the decline in its own TV subscribers?

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Monday, January 27, 2014

FOX Keeping Super Bowl Live Stream Simple

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2014/01/27/Media/Fox-stream.aspx

By Eric Fisher, Staff Writer

Published January 27, 2014

Fox Sports will not be showing alternate camera angles such as the popular “All-22” view during its live stream of Super Bowl XLVIII because of contractual ties between the NFL and technology partner Microsoft Corp.

League and network officials confirmed that Fox Sports will not be reviving the alternate camera angles, which CBS Sports used during the Super Bowl live stream last year. Instead, Fox Sports will offer a straightforward, live simulcast of the televised game feed through its Fox Sports Go mobile application, and a first-ever stream of the game in Spanish.

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ESPN's Internet Rollout Tests Television Cash Cow

Sports Channel Seeks to Profit From Demand for Online Video Without Pushing Away Pay-TV Customers

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304603704579326781949947414

ESPN staff member Luis Bernard monitors the distribution of programming on WatchESPN, the sports channel's online app, at the Bristol, Conn., office. Jesse Neider for The Wall Street Journal

BRISTOL, Conn.—In the control room of ESPN's headquarters, a row of screens shows video feeds going out to cable providers for each of its television channels. But a growing part of ESPN's future lies across the room, where a similar setup tracks transmissions to the Internet.

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Sunday, January 26, 2014

Comcast likely to work with Charter on Time Warner Cable bid

By Shalini Ramachandran

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/comcast-not-keen-on-sole-bid-for-time-warner-cable-2014-01-26

Comcast Corp. is much more likely to work with Charter Communications Inc. on a bid for Time Warner Cable Inc. than to pursue an offer on its own, said a person familiar with the situation, a major boost to Charter's hopes of winning the takeover battle.

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

Leagues, networks have issues with Yahoo’s ‘Loops’

By John Ourand & Eric Fisher

Published January 20, 2014

Leagues and TV networks are questioning the legality of a new feature on Yahoo Sports’ mobile app that curates game highlights in near real-time.

The feature, “Loops,” was launched at the beginning of the year and allows users to create in-game GIFs (graphics interchange format files) from NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and NCAA game telecasts. The app records the game broadcasts and then lets users create their own video highlight reels, complete with graphics, text and video filters.

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Friday, January 10, 2014

FOX Sports Detroit Celebrates Hockeytown with Winter Festival

The FSD/FSN Girls Best Hockey City in America hashtag battle generated 5,521 tweets during the Hockeytown Winter Festival.
Over 2,000 fans stopped by the FOX Sports Detroit photo booth to get a photo with a green screen of either the studio desk with Chris Osgood & Darren Eliot, the FOX Sports Girls or the FSD/FSD Girl logo backdrop during Hockeytown Winter Festival.

Classics Before the Classic

As a lead-in to celebrate the Winter Festival coverage, we scheduled Classic games before the Winter Classic, including the Cold War Outdoor game at Spartan Stadium between Michigan & Michigan State, The Big Chill Outdoor game at The Big House between Michigan & Michigan State as well as the Feb. 27, 2003 game between the Red Wings and Maple Leafs at Joe Louis Arena.

Each game ran twice between Dec. 22-Dec. 26. The highest rating was a .24 HH rating on Christmas Day for the Red Wings vs. Leafs 2003 replay.

Hockeytown Winter Festival

FOX Sports Detroit hosted on-site activation at Winter Festival outside of Comerica Dec. 27 – Dec. 31. We had Tap Snap bring in their photo booths to capture photos of fans at a green screen of the FSD desk with Chris Osgood and Darren Eliot, a FOX Sports Detroit/FOX Sports Detroit Girls backdrop and a Which is the Best Hockey City backdrop with the FOX Sports Detroit Girls Angela & Stephanie and FOX Sports North Girls Angie & Kendall.

The event also kicked off a hashtag tug-o-war between the FSD Girls & FSN Girls. The two FOX Sports regions encouraged fans to join the hashtag tug-o-war by using #Hockeytown for Detroit and #StateOfHockey for Minneapolis. Click here for the release. Click here for the photo gallery on the website. Click here for Angela’s interview on Red Wings Live on Dec. 23.

In addition, Cleatus was also at the FSD table to take pictures with fans & the FOX Sports Girls on Dec. 31 & Jan. 1.

We also gave away Nothing Stops Detroit wristbands to support our Nothing Stops Detroit PSA:

FOX Sports Detroit televised seven games during the Winter Festival, including the Great Lakes Invitational, Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL) game and two Alumni games. FSD also aired a live postgame show from the Winter Classic on Jan. 1.

Ratings:

· Dec. 27: GLI Game 1: .07

· Dec. 27: GLI Game 2: .16

· Dec. 28: GLI Game 1: .85 (Michigan vs. Michigan State)

· Dec. 28: GLI Championship Replay: .26 *

· Dec. 30: Griffins: .42

· Dec. 31: Alumni Showdown: 3.94

· Jan. 1: Winter Classic Postgame: .18

Note: The GLI Championship game was streamed live on FOXSportsDetroit.com and had an audience of 13,372.

Social Media Integration:

· We hosted a Twitter Chat during the first & second periods of the first GLI game on Dec. 27.

· We hosted a Twitter Chat during the first & second periods of the GLI Championship game on Dec. 28

· The FOX Sports Detroit Instagram increased by 450 followers during the week and posted 48 photos.

· The FOX Sports Detroit Facebook page increased by 2,000 followers and posted 10 single photos to promote the broadcasts/events in addition to the photo galleries.

· The FOX Sports Detroit Twitter increased by 1,200 followers.

Also leading into the Alumni Showdown, we gave away tickets in the Alumni Showdown Sweepstakes and had over 3,000 entries.

Photo Galleries on the FOX Sports Detroit Facebook:

Dec. 26: GLI team practices

Dec. 27: GLI Day 1 of games

Dec. 28: GLI Consolation/Championship games

Dec. 30: Alumni Practices

Dec. 31: Alumni Showdown

Jan. 1: Winter Classic

Tap Snap Photo Galleries on the FOX Sports Detroit Facebook:

Dec. 27: Studio backdrop

Dec. 27: FOX Sports Detroit/FOX Sports Detroit Girls logo backdrop