ESPN has become a terrific national institution, but it has become a habit almost. The chief difference between the two sports broadcasting companies is how they chase their audiences. Whereas ESPN focuses on national broadcasts, the emphasis at Fox is on local sports. Fox Sports Net was launched less than three years ago as a partnership between Fox and TCI, the largest cable provider in the country. In the meantime, Fox Sports Net has aggressively bought the local TV rights to U.S. professional sports teams.
All sports is local.
Most fans do in fact prefer watching their local teams on TV to a national broadcast. For example, the Detroit-area telecasts of Red Wings hockey games regularly beat out all competition on cable and broadcast. During baseball season ESPN will show a national game on Sunday nights, while Fox Sports Net may show up to 10 regional games during the same time period. The aggregate ratings for those baseball games on Fox Sports Net were about three times higher last year than were ratings for the ESPN national game. The problem for Fox Sports Net has been that after local telecasts, viewers tend to switch over to SportsCenter at 11 p.m.