ESPN will have to watch its back with discussions from News Coporation to create a cable sports network that would serve as a great adversary to this well known channel. The rumors of this channel have been confirmed by company executives with several details that were reported by Bloomberg News. Reports state that the News Corporation "had begun an ambitious effort to create a sports-only cable network, possibly by converting one of the existing channels it owns".
Discussions on the new channel have been kept quiet by spokes persons from Fox Sports. The company has made no comments on the new channel. Some unidentifed News Corp executives have admitted that the company "had held extensive discussions about creating a national cable sports channel".
News Corporation could try to use one of the cable channels it already owns, like Fuel. This channel specializes in sports shows such as Ultimate Fighting Championship matches. They would change a channel like this into a general sports channel. This network is only seen in about 36 million homes. A better network that would serve as a candidate, would be the Speed Channel, which the senior executive had already stated. This network that is based around car racing is currently watched in about 80 million homes.
If this plan was to go through, it would set up competition between several other corporations. Comcast is in the middle of setting up its own channel, NBC Sports Network, towards competitive status with ESPN. CBS also has it channels. The CBS Sports Network, and Turner Entertainment have been big competitors for the top sports channel. Acheiving this high status is not easy however. To earn this type of status the sports channel would need to play desirable events. News Corporation owns rights to packages like Big Ten and Pac 12 football, some Major League Baseball and Nascar racing events. The company also won the rights to World Cup soccer, starting in 2018.If a new channel was to emerge, the split between the rights for packages would attract more buyers.