Fox Sports Happy To Reach Non-Millennials, Except On U-Verse

Greg Connors of the Buffalo News looks at Fox Sports' embrace of non-millennials as it begins covering golf on Fox Sports 1.

Because it seems any live event is better than a rerun, even if it's the U.S. Junior Amateur.

From Bill Wanger, executive vice president of research and programming for Fox Sports, on not being ashamed to attract the demographic dead to most over-35-year-olds.

The live events drive the viewership,” Wanger said, “so we’re going to have about 40 hours of coverage on Fox Sports 1 of just the U.S. Open. You’re talking about eight hours on Thursday and Friday, and all sorts of preview shows, so it’s really important to establish a good base for people to come and check out the channel. 

“And particularly golf, which is a unique audience. It’s a little bit older, more upscale, so it’s an opportunity for those folks to be able to see the network.”

Fox Sports acquired digital rights to the USGA events, as well as broadcast rights. Wanger said that in addition to streaming some of the TV broadcasts online, there will be three digital-only feeds available on Fox Sports Go and through USGA.com.

Awful Announcing's Matt Yoder noted this in analyzing the story:

Seeing Fox Sports 1 publicly yearning to attract golf’s older, upscale audience and have them visit the network is a long cry from the days of #The1ForFun.  The arranged marriage between the conservative golf audience and Fox Sports is one that will bear watching in June considering the golf world’s yearly reaction to Chris Berman.

One area of continued concern: the number of homes Fox Sports 1 reaches. As Awful Announcing noted earlier this week, the Fox-AT&T U-Verse standoff hasn't changed, meaning 4.5 million homes that have Fox Sports 1 are likely to see a darts rerun when USGA events are airing.

Fox's VP of Communications Dan Bell confirmed this when I reached out to Fox about the status of AT&T-Fox relations.

His statement:

“AT&T U-verse has determined it will forgo carriage of dozens of live sporting events on FOX Sports 1.  Unfortunately, U-Verse subscribers have already missed several events, and will miss many more including FOX Sports 1’s coverage of eight USGA championships, including rounds 1 and 2 of the US Open.  U-verse subscribers are encouraged to contact AT&T to request all FOX Sports 1 programming.”

As of February 2015, approximately 84.8 million households in the U.S. receive Fox Sports 1, while 94.3 million pay television households have ESPN, where the U.S. Open weekday coverage aired for 28 years.