About

Fox Sports 1 USA history, coverage, features

Fox Sports 1, commonly referred to as FS1, is an English-language pay-TV channel in the United States. It is owned by Fox Sports Media Group–a division of Fox Broadcasting Company. Launched in August 2013, Fox Sports 1 was created to replace a now-defunct cable and satellite TV network called Speed. The latter had remained active for 23 years, and its primary focus had been on motorsports, including auto-racing and car-related programming. Originally launched as Speedvision in 1995, then renamed to Speed Channel in the early 2000’s, Speed was taken off air in 2013 following Fox Sports’ acquisition of the network.

Fox Sports 1 was then introduced, offering viewers NASCAR programming, in addition to live events from outside the world of racing. Content diversity eventually grew over time, as the network obtained deals to telecast events from many other sports disciplines, including baseball, basketball, boxing, bowling, college athletics, American football, futsal, golf, horse racing, mixed martial arts and soccer.

Soccer broadcast rights that Fox Sports 1 has inherited over the years cover both international and club competitions. The network has heavily invested in some of the biggest FIFA tournaments since its launch, rivaling other major US broadcasters for soccer coverage. In 2015, it was announced that Fox Sports had secured multi-platform English-language broadcast rights to multiple FIFA competitions up to 2026. The comprehensive deal involved both Men’s and Women’s tournaments, including the World Cup, U20 and U17 World Cups, Beach Soccer World Cups and the Confederations Cup.

Different soccer leagues have also aired live on Fox Sports 1 in the past. This includes the German Bundesliga, the Mexican Liga MX and the US Major League Soccer. On top of these and some domestic cups that it has covered, notable continental club competitions have marked Fox Sports 1’s history of soccer broadcast deals, particularly the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and even the UEFA Super Cup.

Fox Sports 1 is available to watch via cable, satellite and IPTV through TV providers in USA. Cable TV operators–including Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox and Cablevision—have Fox Sports 1 in their channel lineup. However, the channel’s exact slots for both SD and HD versions depend on the location. Subscribers with computers, mobile devices or games consoles may opt to stream Fox Sports 1 through partner OTT services such as AT&T TV Now, FuboTV, Hulu Live TV, PlayStation Vue, Sling TV and YouTube TV.

Fox Sports 1 can also be streamed in the USA using Fox Sports Go—a service that comes at no additional cost to customers of participating TV providers—or Fox Now. These official platforms can be accessed by authenticated viewers on PC, Mac, Android and iOS devices, as well as smart TVs.

Ownership

Parent company ownership and structure

Fox Sports 1 USA is owned and operated by Fox Sports Media Group.

Fox Sports Media Group, commonly referred to simply as Fox Sports, is a division of the Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States. It was first launched in 1994 and has since grown to operate a vast array of national and regional sports television channels, as well as subscription-based OTT services. The pay-TV broadcaster’s flagship channels include English-language cable networks such as Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, Fox Soccer Plus and Big Ten Network. Its regional stations provide in-depth coverage for some of the biggest sports franchises in the U.S. As a holder of major multi-platform sports broadcast rights, however, Fox Sports has benefited a lot from the existence of its Spanish-language channel Fox Deportes, which it has used to rival other networks such as Univision’s TUDN, NBC’s Telemundo and ESPN Deportes—all of which are targeted at Hispanics. Soccer rights that Fox Sports has acquired over the years cover major international tournaments, including the FIFA World Cup, and even club competitions like the UEFA Champions League, Mexican Liga MX, and U.S. Major League Soccer. Some global media rights Fox Sports has inherited in the past were in fact negotiated through Fox International Channels, which oversees different Fox Sports networks operating in different continents. Some of the exclusive streams in USA may be available via online streaming service Fox Soccer Match Pass, whereas FoxSports.com and the official Fox Sports app serve to add to the viewers’ experience by providing more ways of watching the games telecast by the linear TV networks. Action from Fox Sports Regional Networks has a different digital home, nevertheless, and subscribers may enjoy their favorite regional teams’ games live and on demand on the Fox Sports GO platform. OTT services operated by Fox Sports in USA are usually available on the web for PC and Mac, on tablets and smartphones running Android and iOS, in addition to a wide range of smart TVs.