All sports all the time. ESPN made that concept work very nicely,thank you, even though initial reaction 22 years ago was: 'What canthey possibly show to fill up all that air time?'
Now we come to all sports news all the time.
If CNN and Fox can make it work with news, why can't it succeed insports?
The problem, of course, is getting both numbers to work - viewersand dollars.
For one thing, sports doesn't have cataclysmic events on a globalscale to swell ratings periodically and bring new viewers to thosechannels. Sports events of worldwide interest - Olympics, NBA Finals,America's Cup, World Cup - are covered by rights-holders. So arethere enough folks out there willing to tune in to an all-sports-news station for updates and highlights? The highlights that oncemade ESPN's 'SportsCenter' unique now are available to every localnewscast, even if they have less time to devote to sports.
Does sports generate enough stories that are compelling enough ona national scale to make the entire country tune in? Michael Jordan'sbig, but not that big.
Both ESPNews and CNN/SI have tried versions of the format, racingeach other to be first on the air, perhaps before the long-termplanning was in place. As each approaches its fifth birthday, theyremain works in progress, with only ESPNews remaining true to the all-news format.
ESPNews rolled out its relaunch Sept. 7 from Bristol, Conn. Downat CNN/SI in Atlanta, there is an ongoing process of diversifying thecontent to include live event coverage. With the Sept. 11 terroristattacks, and the cancellation of virtually all sports, the outletsare just now hitting full stride.
That the outlets were able to keep broadcasting and stay true tothe format had to be encouraging.
'ESPNews relied heavily on the vast resources of ESPN's news andinformation-gathering enterprise to focus on how the tragedy impactedsports,' said Mike McQuade, the senior coordinating producerresponsible for ESPNews production and content.
As part of the CNN/SI reorganization, CNN dropped 'SportsTonight,' with anchor Fred Hickman leaving the network. In addition,11 jobs were eliminated, even though the show will continue to air onCNN/SI.
The early race between ESPNews and CNN/SI was to get on the air.Then the goal became to get the channel into our houses. With CNN/SInow just past 20 million homes and ESPNews in 25 million, that questis ongoing. The ultimate question, however, is: How many people willwatch?
During all this time, Fox Sports Regional Network has taken adifferent approach, producing local sports telecasts in roughly 20 ofits 23 markets. Nationally, it is in 74 million homes.
In New England, ESPNews enjoys a double distribution, appearing ondigital cable tiers as well as on NESN, which is in roughly the samenumber of homes as FSNE.
The ESPNews relaunch involves a major graphic redesign. ESPN istryng to cram as much information on the screen as possible.Fortunately, the young male target demographic has the visual acuityto read the television equivalent of a box score on the screen.
'Sports fans have the ability to multi-task when they search forup-to-the-minute scores and stats,' said Bob Eaton, ESPN senior vicepresident and managing editor. Still, he says, the goal is to do it'without creating information overload on screen.' ESPN's bottom-line ticker continues to scroll through national ads, with an indextelling what's coming up next.
At CNN/SI, executive vice president and general manager SteveRobinson is enjoying the push NASCAR's pole qualifying and 'HappyHour' telecasts have given the station. CNN/SI shows the events live,then again in prime time.
'We still feel our strength is in news and immediacy with our CNNconnections, but we also bring good story-telling, especially withSports Illustrated's insider analysis and commentary,' he said.
Still, Robinson's goal is 50 million homes. That would make CNN/SI a more credible bidder for the rights to events that fit thestation's profile and mesh with its NASCAR, WUSA, Wimbledon, and newNational Lacrosse League programming.
The bottom line in all this is an ever-more-intense battle for asports audience that doesn't grow as fast as the number of outletsseeking its attention. And that's before we even get into thenetworks' Web sites.
NESN doubleheader
Next Saturday's Temple-Boston College football game will be a 3:30p.m. start on NESN. Not a bad lead-in to that night's Atlanta-Bruinsgame at the FleetCenter . . . The final week of Red Sox games hasproven tough to place on the screen. Monday through Wednesday's gamesat Tampa Bay are on NESN, as is the nightcap of Friday's day-nightdoubleheader. Thursday night's game in Baltimore and the first gameFriday are on Channel 25. Meanwhile, the Sox are hoping to announcetomorrow which outlet will air Saturday night's season finale (CalRipken's final game) . . . All sorts of events battle for our eyesearly this afternoon, including Sox, Patriots, and two auto races.Sox-Tigers (NESN, 1 p.m.) goes against Colts-Patriots (Channel 4, 1p.m.). Two motor circuits go head to head, with NASCAR in Kansas City(Channel 7, 1 p.m.) up against the Formula One US Grand Prix inIndianapolis (Channel 5, 1:30 p.m.). It's amazing to think the RyderCup would have been finishing up at the same time.
Bill Griffith's e-mail address is griffith@globe.com
