The decision not to launch Fox Sports in Brazil means the Libertadores Cup soccer tournament, its flagship product, will be carried by Canal Fox. Two matches will be aired each week in the first round, making a total of 30 matches on Canal Fox starting in February. TV Globo, which plans to air one match per week, has first choice and will exhibit the playoff it considers most attractive to its mass audience. A fourth match will be available for pay-per-view. This is particularly interesting for operators outside the Net system, given the narrow range of options open to them in sport. The rights to the Libertadores Cup formerly belonged to the defunct PSN, which had about 25% of Fox?s current market share.
Two feeds
Abel Puig, regional director of Fox in Brazil, says Canal Fox will offer two feeds, one with soccer and the other without. Operators who want to carry the channel will negotiate the two separately. Hernán Lopez, managing director of Canal Fox for Latin America, says Fox has no intention of phasing out series and movies to focus on sport. The Libertadores deal is simply another attraction offered by an entertainment channel. ?This is important because in Brazil people like pay-TV channels with plenty of variety in their lineup, similarly to the most popular broadcast channels,? he says. This won?t be the first time Canal Fox exhibits an item from the Fox Sports stable. Early in 2002 it aired the Superbowl, for example. Local sponsorship opportunities will be sold by Fox?s advertising sales department in Brazil. A new institutional campaign is to be launched with the slogan ?Fox – Esse é o canal? (?Fox: this the channel!?).
