Fox Sports 1 is set to premiere on Aug. 17, and today officials at the network let us in on some of their plans for the opening couple of weeks, as well as some talent hires. Let’s take a look at what they have in store.
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*FS1’s first day will begin looking like it might have looked like had it still been the SPEED channel. They’ll begin things with seven hours of auto racing coverage, including a live NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and NASCAR Sprint Cup practice. Racing will dominate FS1 from 8 a.m. ET until 3:30 p.m. ET.
*UFC takes over at 3:30 p.m. ET and carries the day. Fox Sports 1 will air ancillary programming from 3:30-5 p.m. ET, followed by UFC studio shows and preliminary bouts until primetime. At 8 p.m. ET, Fox’s UFC Saturday launches from 8-11 p.m. ET.
*Fox Sports Live, the nightly highlights show that’s made some buzz with its hires recently, premieres that night at 11 p.m. ET. It goes live from 11 until 2 a.m. ET every night.
*FS1 premieres a lot more new programming in the next couple of weeks after the Aug. 17 launch. Crowd Goes Wild, starring Regis Philbin, and the Curt Menefee and Jay Glazer-hosted Fox Football Daily premiere Monday, Aug. 19 and fill up a 5-7 p.m. ET block.
*As far as live programming goes, Fox Sports 1 has a Monday Night Fights series debuting on Aug. 19, which features fights from Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Productions. UEFA Champions League action begins on Tuesday, Aug. 20. Another NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race airs on Wednesday, Aug. 21 in primetime. CONCACAF Champions League, a staple of Fox Soccer, premieres on Aug. 22.
*Fox’s UFC branded Wednesday nights debut on Aug. 28 under the banner of Fox UFC Wednesday Live. The Ultimate Fighter premieres in the block on Sept. 4.
*Finally, college football heads to Fox Sports 1 on Thursday, Aug. 29 with a primetime game. The network will add a primetime game on Aug. 30 and a tripleheader Aug. 31. FS1 also debuts a college football pre-game show that will presumably go head-to-head with College Gameday at 10 a.m. ET on Aug. 31.
*FS1 made one more programming announcement: an episode of its docu-series Being, centered around the NYPD’s football team, following it on the road to taking on the FDNY team. Being: The Finest will premiere during Super Bowl week.
*Fox wrapped things up by announcing three new talent hires. Don Bell (a former ESPNews anchor) will be one of the anchors for Fox Sports Live. Former Celtics reporter Molly McGrath and CTV on-air personality Julie Stewart-Binks join the network as “update desk and breaking news correspondents.”
