Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 19, 1993 TAG: 9312190148
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Long
Now, it's between CBS and NBC for what's left of the NFL.
In a determined grab for legitimacy, the Fox Television Network outbid CBS by about $100 million a year for rights to televise National Conference games beginning next season and the 1997 Super Bowl.
On Saturday, one day after the Fox bombshell, the NFL announced that it has renewed its deals with ABC for "Monday Night Football" and with ESPN and TNT for Sunday night games.
"We regard this NFC franchise as the crown jewel of all sports programming in the world and will give it our complete commitment," Fox owner Rupert Murdoch said in a statement.
That left CBS and NBC bidding for the AFC after the stunning announcement that Fox had won the rights to its first major sports programming.
Although neither Fox nor the NFL would disclose figures, industry sources said Fox will pay the league about $395 million per year for four years, a total of $1.58 billion. That's about $130 million a year more than what CBS paid over the past four years for the NFC.
"Fox will assemble the finest sports division in the business to deliver to the American people the highest quality coverage possible. We will retain the best of what has been done before and build on it to make it ever better," Murdoch said.
The Associated Press also learned that CBS on Friday made a bid for AFC games, currently carried by NBC. NBC now must match the offer or lose the AFC package it has carried since 1970.
"The CBS-NBC matter currently is before our broadcast committee," said Joe Browne, an NFL vice president.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, a broadcast committee member who was at Giants Stadium for his team's game against the New York Jets on Saturday, added: "Nobody's out of it."
Although the amount Fox was willing to pay might have been surprising, the network's desire to buy into the NFL was not. In 1987, Fox bid against ABC for the Monday night package.
"We've known they were there," said Dennis Swanson, ABC Sports' president. "They're for real. We compete against them on a regular basis."
The mood at CBS was somber and not optimistic. CBS, however, declined to confirm any aspect of NFL talks. "We have no comment until the negotiations are concluded," said Susan Kerr, a CBS Sports spokeswoman.
Similarly, NBC Sports spokesman Ed Markey said: "Since we're in the middle of negotiations with the NFL, we're not in a position to comment."
Not only has the NFC won the past nine Super Bowls, it also has either the only team or the most popular team in the top three TV markets of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. That makes it the NFL's most valuable commodity.
CBS has televised NFL and then NFC games since 1956. The current TV package has been in place with few changes since the NFL and AFL merged in 1970. CBS has done the NFC, NBC has done the AFC and ABC has done Monday night games.
All three networks have lost money on the NFL in the past four years, perhaps as much as $300 million combined. CBS was the big loser at about $200 million, with NBC losing about $75 million and ABC the rest. The Monday night package, however, remains a valuable prime time ratings-grabber for ABC.
Four years ago, the NFL added a cable package of Sunday night games split between ESPN and TNT. At that time, ESPN and Turner Sports were in a position similar to the one Fox is in. They were willing to lose money to enhance their credibility.
The old four-year package, worth about $3.62 billion to the NFL, expires at the end of this season. With the most valuable piece of the pie, CBS paid $1.06 billion. ABC paid $925 million for four years of Monday nights, and NBC got the AFC for $752 million. ESPN and TNT each paid about $450 million for Sunday night games.
Figures for the new Monday night and cable packages were not immediately available.
"I would just say that we feel we made the best financial deal we could with the league, given the competitive circumstances we are in," Swanson said. "We got what we wanted - a four-year renewal, the 1995 Super Bowl and the Pro Bowl."
The networks and the NFL originally expected to have a new contract in place earlier this year, but the only thing that was settled by April was the rights to the 1994 Super Bowl. As the only bidder, NBC got its second consecutive Super Bowl for about $41 million.
Sources close to Murdoch said the the billionaire media mogul is well aware his NFL bid will lose money. Some industry insiders predict it could lose in excess of $500 million.
However, Murdoch also expects Fox's first major foray into sports programming to increase the value of the network.
The contract also will give Fox broadcast rights to a Super Bowl, annually the most-watched show on television and worth untold millions in exposure as well as advertising dollars. This year, Super Bowl ads on NBC are selling for about $900,000 per 30-second unit, with more than 50 units available per broadcast.
Launched as a fourth network in 1987, Fox has 139 affiliates nationwide and reaches a potential 92 percent of American homes. About 120 of those affiliates are smaller UHF stations that don't necessarily carry Fox's signal all day. One of them is WFXR Channel 27 in the Roanoke Valley.
Fox is hoping the NFL will increase the network's clearance time on affiliate stations as well as increase the number of affiliates.
by CNB