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ABC/ESPN reportedly bidding for Thursday night football

TheBigA said:
That's funny...the turkey usually knocks me out halfway during the NBC game, so I doubt they'd have much audience. But hey, ESPN does west college football and basketball all the time. The bad news is it throws off the schedule for 8 teams instead of 6.
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And really leaves the cupboard bare for the following Sunday afternoon, which already loses two games to Sunday night and Monday night. Three might be the most we'll ever see on Thanksgiving, but as we know, money talks, and if ESPN wants one at any price, the NFL will probably oblige. As for the audience, if two West Coast teams are involved, the Western and Mountain zones ought to watch. I don't think Rams-49ers would have any problem attracting eyeballs, especially with both teams on the upswing.
 
Tim from Springfield said:
Then again, who will Fox choose for the Thursday night announcers? Will they be Joe Buck and Troy Aikman? (Although Buck probably won't be available for the Oct. 25 game due to World Series commitment). And if so, will Buck and Aikman also still announce "America's Game of the Week" on Sunday?
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I've read that Buck and Aikman aren't doing the Thursday games, and the name that's been thrown around as the lead play-by-play caller is Gus Johnson, whom they've barely used on NFL telecasts since coming over from CBS. It wouldn't be a bad way to go, but I have a feeling they'll tap Kevin Burkhardt instead, since they've been grooming him as the #2 face of the sports division behind one Joseph Francis Buck.
 
TheBigA said:
To run live on their broadcast network? Really? The linked story isn't really clear. This sounds more like FS1 material to me.

Or perhaps they run a highly edited version on the weekend.
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This is an over the air Fox simulcast of NFL Network coverage of the draft, Round 1-3 (Thursday and Friday evening).
Doesn't make sense to have it on FS1, that is a cable network and so is the NFL Network.

But OTA has never been done, and gets it into homes without cable/satellite, which will mean higher ratings.
 
NoDakObserver said:
But OTA has never been done, and gets it into homes without cable/satellite, which will mean higher ratings.
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Maybe. It could also mean abysmally low ratings for Fox. But that's nothing new. They really don't have many popular shows any more. There's a reason why the other nets have never done it. It's boring TV.
 
TheBigA said:
Maybe. It could also mean abysmally low ratings for Fox. But that's nothing new. They really don't have many popular shows any more. There's a reason why the other nets have never done it. It's boring TV.
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Thursday this spring Fox has on their schedule Gotham and Showtime at the Apollo. Fridays will be Masterchef Junior and various repeats. I'm pretty sure the NFL draft will beat the ratings those shows would get. Especially Fridays, most networks have seemed to give up on Friday.
 
TheBigA said:
Maybe. It could also mean abysmally low ratings for Fox. But that's nothing new. They really don't have many popular shows any more. There's a reason why the other nets have never done it. It's boring TV.
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What sort of numbers did the first three rounds do on ESPN last year?
 
http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/111545/nexstar-fox-thursday-nfl-a-strong-move/format/print

Now Nexstar has released a statement on the Fox/ Thursday Night Football Deal.

Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said Tuesday that Fox made a “smart investment” in paying $3.3 billion for the TV rights to the NFL’s Thursday Night Football for the next five seasons.

“It builds value for the network and the affiliates,” he said on an earning call following release of the company’s 4Q results this morning. “It’s good programming that will be consistent not only for 11 weeks, but for five years.”

Sook said he did not believe that Fox would make Nexstar and other Fox affiliate pay more in reverse comp to pay for the rights.

“Fox is no slouch in attempting to extract value from their affiliates so I think they have already taken that bite from the apple.”

All in all, it’s a “net positive” for Nexstar.

On the call, Sook and CFO Tom Carter gave more insight into the health of the company by providing pro forma same-station results. All the growth numbers in the earnings report were grossly inflated by the addition of the Media General stations in 2017.

They also discussed the outlook for retrans growth, the impact of the FCC’s decision to loosen station ownership restrictions and the potential for the new broadcast standard, ATSC 3.0.

According to Carter, on a same-station basis, core ad revenue grew 3.4% in 4Q, contributing to overall revenue growth — excluding political — of 9.1%.

The principal driver for the overall growth was retrans, which grew a little more than 20%.

Sook noted that six of nine ad categories were up 4% to 10% in the quarter: retail, attorneys, medical, insurance, cable and banking.

But the No. 1 category — auto — was a drag, falling 2%.

Sook said the group expected core advertising to be “flat to slightly up” in 1Q 2018, even though Nexstar’s 34 NBC affiliates are expected to post double-digit core growth because of the Olympics.

“If 20% of your portfolio is up double digits and the average of the rest is basically flat, you’re looking at slightly up in core for the quarter.”

Auto has not rebounded in 1Q, he said. In fact, he said, it is “a little softer” than it was in last year’s fourth quarter. “Local auto may have stayed away from the Olympics a little more than they have in years past.”

Sook said that retrans surpassed local advertising as the company’s top revenue stream and that by the end of this decade it could surpass total advertising revenue. In 2017, total advertising accounted for $1.3 billion, while retrans chipped in nearly $1 billion.

Despite all the talk of cord cutting at the MVPDs, Sook said he has he has seen “virtually no diminution” in 4Q of MVPD subscriptions. Since retrans is calculated on a per-sub bases, loss of subs would depress retrans revenue.

“Virtually no” doesn’t mean none, according to Carter. He said that subscriber “churn” caused retrans revenue to slip from $257 million in 3Q to $253 million in 4Q.

But “rest assured,” he said, retrans will be up in 1Q and will continue to rise as Nexstar renews retrans deals for about 10% of its homes this year and more than 80% next year.
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I think he's very optimistic if he thinks Fox won't be upping retrans fees as a result of TNF. I think it'll become very clear later this year that they overpaid for these rights. I'm not even sure that this was a good deal for the NFL. Cable companies will be emboldened to drop the NFL Network or move it to higher tiers. Without TNF, few, if any, viewers will care.
 
NoDakObserver said:
Thursday this spring Fox has on their schedule Gotham and Showtime at the Apollo. Fridays will be Masterchef Junior and various repeats. I'm pretty sure the NFL draft will beat the ratings those shows would get. Especially Fridays, most networks have seemed to give up on Friday.
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Not CBS. Friday is one of their big nights along with Tuesday.
 
umfan said:
I think he's very optimistic if he thinks Fox won't be upping retrans fees as a result of TNF. I think it'll become very clear later this year that they overpaid for these rights. I'm not even sure that this was a good deal for the NFL. Cable companies will be emboldened to drop the NFL Network or move it to higher tiers. Without TNF, few, if any, viewers will care.
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NFLN still has 7-8 exclusive games (and a bunch of preseason) to keep themselves relevant.
 
TheBigA said:
Maybe. It could also mean abysmally low ratings for Fox. But that's nothing new. They really don't have many popular shows any more. There's a reason why the other nets have never done it. It's boring TV.
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There are alot of people that watch the NFL draft, last year draft coverage on ESPN had higher ratings than the NBA playoffs that was on that same night.
 
TheBigA said:
Maybe. It could also mean abysmally low ratings for Fox. But that's nothing new. They really don't have many popular shows any more. There's a reason why the other nets have never done it. It's boring TV.
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Hey! What about the re-made X-Files? Personally, my favorite show.
 
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