Fox College Football
| Fox College Football | |
|---|---|
 Former Fox CFB logo. | |
| Genre | College football game telecasts |
| Presented by | (see section) |
| Theme music composer | Scott Schreer |
| Opening theme | "NFL on Fox theme music" |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 15 |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 180 minutes or until game ends |
| Production company | Fox Sports |
| Original release | |
| Network | Fox (1999–present) Fox Sports Networks (1999–present) Fox College Sports (2006–present) Fox Sports 1 (2013–present) FX (2011–2012) |
| Release | January 1, 1999 – present |
Fox College Football (or Fox CFB for short) is the branding used for broadcasts of NCAA Division I FBS college football games that are produced by Fox Sports.
Through its broadcast deal with NCAA, Fox Sports holds the rights to televise games from the Pac-12 Conference, the Big 12 Conference and Conference USA; these telecasts are televised on broadcast television through the Fox network, and on cable via Fox College Sports, the Fox Sports Networks regional channels, FX, Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2.[1]
Coverage history
The Fox network acquired its first college football telecast in 1998, when it obtained the broadcast rights to the annual Cotton Bowl Classic held each January on (eventually, the day after) New Year's Day; the first game to be shown on the network as part of the deal was held on January 1, 1999. Fox renewed its contract to carry the game in 2010, in a four-year agreement that ran through the 2014 NCAA college football season. Fox lost the rights to the Cotton Bowl to ESPN for the 2015 edition, as the cable network holds the television contract to all six bowl games that encompass the College Football Playoff system under a twelve-year deal worth over $7.3 billion. The Cotton Bowl was the only game among the six that was not already broadcast by ESPN.[2][3]
From the 2006 through the 2009 seasons, Fox held the broadcast rights to most of the games comprising the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) – including the Sugar Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl and the Orange Bowl, as well as the BCS Championship Game. Fox paid close to $20 million per game for the rights to televise the BCS games.[4] The network's contract with the BCS excluded any event in the series that was held at the Rose Bowl stadium, such as the Rose Bowl Game and the 2010 BCS National Championship Game, as ABC already had a separate arrangement with the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association to serve as the broadcaster for the games.
ESPN, which is majority owned by ABC's corporate parent The Walt Disney Company and serves as the producer for all of ABC's sports coverage, would displace Fox outright as the broadcaster of the BCS beginning in the 2010-11 season. This left the Fox network with only the Cotton Bowl Classic as the sole college football game to which it held the television rights until the 2011-12 season.[5]
Beginning with the 2011 season, sister cable channel FX began airing a "game of the week" on Saturdays featuring matchups from three of the major collegiate football conferences: the Pac-12, the Big 12 and Conference USA.[6] The Fox network also obtained the rights to air the Big Ten Conference's new championship game beginning that season and running through 2016, as part of Fox Sports' involvement with the Big Ten Network.[7] Additionally, Fox broadcast the inaugural Pac-12 Football Championship Game – future editions of the game would alternate between ESPN and Fox.[8]
Beginning with the 2012 season, Fox added regular season games on Saturdays to its lineup; it broadcast eight afternoon games and twelve nighttime games throughout the season, with the latter telecasts airing as part of a new strategy by the network to carry more sports programming on Saturday nights during prime time.
Commentators
The following are weekly regular season college football broadcast teams for the 2015 season on Fox, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports Networks and Fox College Sports (FCS).
Production
Graphics
College football game telecasts aired on Fox have always used variants of the graphics used for the NFL on Fox telecasts at that time (along with a red variant of its logo for BCS games, which were branded as BCS on Fox), while telecasts on Fox Sports Net had used the current graphics package used for the family of regional sports networks. Telecasts began to use the new standard Fox Sports graphics that were first introduced by NFL on Fox in 2010 (albeit with a scoreboard displaying the names of the teams playing in the game, instead of team logos) beginning with the broadcast of the 2011 Cotton Bowl Classic, with the Fox Sports Networks following suit for the 2011 regular season. Fox Sports' college football and NFL broadcasts would use a new logo bug with text abbreviations in 2012 and 2013.
In 2014, a new graphics package was introduced that utilizes abbreviations on both the NFL and college football broadcasts, however the bug seen during NFL broadcasts display the scores in a stacked fashion, while the version used for the college football telecasts shows the score to the right of each team's name.
Theme music
From 1999 to 2004, Fox's broadcasts of the Cotton Bowl used a marching band arrangement of the Scott Schreer-composed instrumental theme used for NFL on Fox broadcasts. Telecasts on Fox Sports Net used their own distinct theme music; however, the FSN theme was used for the Cotton Bowl telecasts on Fox from 2004 to 2006. From 2007 to 2010, FSN retained its own separate music package, while Fox's BCS and Cotton Bowl broadcasts used a new and distinct instrumental theme. During the 2010-11 season, when Fox reverted to showing only the Cotton Bowl, the Fox Sports Networks telecasts maintained their separate theme, while Fox used the NFL on Fox theme music for the bowl broadcast. In 2011, when Fox began airing regular season college football games, telecasts on Fox and FX used the NFL on Fox instrumental, while FSN continued using its classic theme.
Since the 2012-13 season, college football telecasts aired on any Fox-owned networks other than the Fox Sports Networks slate of regional channels (Fox, FX, Fox Sports 1 or Fox Sports 2) have used a slightly updated version of the marching band variant of the NFL of Fox theme, which essentially utilizes the same arrangement. Meanwhile, telecasts on the Fox Sports Networks (which had its coverage reduced to a regional basis beginning with the 2013 season), continue to use the theme that has now been used by the regional networks since 1999.
Game schedules
2012
| Date | Kickoff | Away | Home |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 1 | 7:30 | Hawaii 10 | #1 USC 49 |
| September 8 | 7:30 | #16 Nebraska 30 | UCLA 36 |
| September 15 | 7:30 | #2 USC 14 | #21 Stanford 21 |
| September 22 | 7:30 | #15 Kansas State 24 | #6 Oklahoma 19 |
| September 29 | 7:30 | #12 Texas 41 | Oklahoma State 36 |
| October 6 | 3:00 | Arizona 48 | #18 Stanford 54 (OT) |
| October 6 | 7:00 | #8 West Virginia 48 | #11 Texas 45 |
| October 13 | 3:00 | Utah 14 | UCLA 21 |
| October 13 | 7:00 | #11 USC 24 | Washington 14 |
| October 20 | 3:00 | #22 Stanford 21 | California 3 |
| October 20 | 7:00 | #4 Kansas State 55 | #17 West Virginia 14 |
| October 27 | 3:30 | #15 Texas Tech 24 | #4 Kansas State 55 |
| November 3 | 3:00 | TCU 39 | #21 West Virginia 38 (2OT) |
| November 3 | 7:00 | #4 Oregon 62 | #17 USC 51 |
| November 10 | 3:00 | #11 Oregon State 23 | #14 Stanford 27 |
| November 10 | 7:00 | #2 Kansas State 23 | TCU 10 |
| November 17 | 3:00 | #18 USC 28 | #17 UCLA 38 |
| November 17 | 7:00 | #12 Oklahoma 50 | West Virginia 49 |
| November 23 | 3:30 | #25 Washington 28 | Washington State 31 (OT) |
| November 24 | 2:30 | Baylor 52 | Texas Tech 45 (OT) |
| November 24 | 6:30 | #8 Stanford 34 | #17 UCLA 17 |
2013
| Date | Kickoff | Away | Home |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 7 | 7:00 | West Virginia 7 | #16 Oklahoma 16 |
| September 14 | 7:00 | #4 Ohio State 52 | California 34 |
| September 21 | 7:00 | #23 Arizona State 28 | #5 Stanford 42 |
| September 28 | 7:00 | Arizona 13 | #16 Washington 31 |
| October 5 | 7:00 | TCU 17 | #11 Oklahoma 20 |
| October 12 | 3:30 | #15 Baylor 35 | Kansas State 25 |
| October 19 | 12:00 | TCU 10 | #21 Oklahoma State 24 |
| October 26 | 3:30 | #10 Texas Tech 30 | #15 Oklahoma 38 |
| November 2 | 7:00 | #18 Oklahoma State 52 | #15 Texas Tech 34 |
| November 9 | 3:00 | USC 62 | California 28 |
| November 9 | 7:00 | Texas 47 | West Virginia 40 (OT) |
| November 16 | 3:30 | #12 Oklahoma State 38 | Texas 13 |
| November 16 | 7:00 | #5 Baylor 63 | Texas Tech 34 |
| November 23 | 7:00 | #17 Arizona State 38 | #14 UCLA 33 |
| November 29 | 3:30 | Washington State 17 | Washington 27 |
| November 30 | 7:00 | #25 Notre Dame 20 | #8 Stanford 27 |
| December 7 | 3:30 | #25 Texas 10 | #9 Baylor 30 |
Nielsen ratings
Seasonal
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Fox College Football Night on Fox.
| Season | Episodes | Timeslot | Season Premiere | Season Finale | TV Season | Season Rank |
Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 13 | Saturday 8:00 | September 1, 2012 | December 1, 2012 | 2012–2013 | #140 | 3.24 |
| 2nd | TBD | Saturday 8:00 | September 7, 2013 | December 7, 2013 | 2013–2014 | TBD | TBD |
See also
- College football on television
- Bowl Championship Series on television and radio
- The Official BCS Ratings Show
References
- ^ "Fox Sports announces Fox Sports 1". Fox Sports. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
- ^ "ESPN to televise college football playoff in 12-year deal". ESPN. April 24, 2013. Retrieved April 26, 2013.
- ^ John Ourand and Michael Smith (November 9, 2012). "ESPN homes in on 12-year BCS package". Sports Business Daily. Retrieved July 24, 2013.
- ^ Steven Zeitchik (December 28, 2007). "Fox faces BCS contract challenges". The Hollywood Reporter.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ Chris Dufresne (June 13, 2009). "Rose Bowl game moving to ESPN in 2011". Los Angeles Times.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|newspaper=(help) - ^ Jon Lafayette (March 27, 2011). "FX Tackles College Football". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved March 27, 2011.
- ^ "Fox To Air New Big Ten Football Championship Game - Broadcaster Secures Rights To Conference's Title Tilt From 2011-16". Multichannel News. November 17, 2010.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ "ESPN, Fox Tie Up Pac-12 Rights For $3 Billion: Reports". Multichannel News. Retrieved September 8, 2012.