Seeing Riches in Sports TV, Fox Will Create New Network

For Rupert Murdoch, creating a national cable sports network in the United States to compete with ESPN has been his white whale — a tantalizing television opportunity but one of the few fields that his media empire has not conquered. But two decades after shaking up the sports broadcasting world for the first time by acquiring NFL rights, Murdoch has plans to challenge ESPN head on and claim some of the lucrative revenue that the sports media giant has had largely to itself for more than three decades. Fox will announce its intention to start Fox Sports 1, an all-sports network, in August. The channel will carry NASCAR races, Major League Baseball games, college basketball and football, soccer and UFC fights. It will also broadcast studio shows, including one that is to be hosted by Regis Philbin, a celebrated Notre Dame fan. Murdoch’s effort is a long shot to topple ESPN, or at least take a huge bite out of it.