Fox Television, the upstart network that gave viewers offbeat shows like "The Simpsons" and "Married . . . With Children," outbid CBS for the NFC television package and will begin broadcasting games next season, the NFL said Friday night.
League spokesman Joe Browne confirmed the deal, but would not say how much Fox paid for the package. However, WTEM Radio in Washington, D.C., reported that Fox had outbid CBS by $100 million for the rights to the games. By switching, the NFL ends a relationship with CBS that goes back to the 1950s, and gives Fox its first regular sports programming."We can confirm that Fox has the NFC package on a multiyear contract," Browne said, the NFL vice president of communications and development. "We expect to have further announcements regarding the remainder of the 1994 TV package in the next couple of days."
Locally, this gives Fox-owned KSTU Channel 13 its first sports package since giving up the Utah Jazz to KJZZ Channel 14.
"We're ecstatic," said KSTU general manager Steve Carlston. "Once again, Mr. (Fox chairman Rupert) Murdock has managed to secure one of the plum packages in the entertainment industry. It will give us the chance to tap into sports advertising, which we haven't had before, and to showcase our newscast and other programming."
Browne didn't say whether CBS was bidding for another portion of the NFL television contract. CBS has televised NFL games since the 1950s and took the NFC when the NFL and AFL merged in 1970. NBC took the AFC and ABC got "Monday Night Football."
The package was expanded recently to include ESPN and TNT, both cable networks, which share Sunday night games.
The NFC contract has been the most lucrative because it includes more major broadcast markets than the AFC. Among the cities: New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Dallas and Washington. CBS has also been helped by the fact that NFC teams have won the last 10 Super Bowls.
The Fox Television Network started in 1987 with a nucleus of seven stations, built from independent outlets and relying heavily on cable systems.
"The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers" was its first show, starting in October 1986. The Fox moved into Sunday prime time with "Married . . . With Children" and later added "The Simpsons" and "In Living Color." It then expanded with a stable of generally youth-oriented programming including the hit "Beverly Hills 90210" and "21 Jump Street." It now programs in 15 of the 22 prime time hours and reaches well over 90 percent of the country.
Television contracts between pro football and CBS, NBC, ABC, TNT and ESPN - all negotiated at pre-recession prices - expire at the end of this season. Negotiations have been ongoing since September.
CBS spokesman Susan Kerr said the network had no comment. Betsy Hoffman, vice president of publicity at Fox network, also declined comment.
The NFL had been vigorously negotiating deals to replace the package that generated $3.652 billion from CBS, NBC, ABC, TNT and ESPN. In the current cost-cutting environment, network sources had predicted that new deals would be worth no more than 75 percent of the expiring agreements.
CBS paid $1.06 billion for the NFC package. TNT and ESPN, which split the Sunday night package, paid $450 million apiece for those rights.
Dick Ebersol, president of NBC Sports, has said his network would lose $88 million on NFL football this season, the final year of its $792 million contract. Unless the league reduced its revenue demands, he said NBC was prepared to drop the property.
According to Ebersol, the three major networks will lose more than $200 million on football this season. Other estimates have raised that figure to $300 million.
"If we don't think we can make a profit in our next NFL arrangement, we won't be in it, period," he said. "We will negotiate and force lower rights fees or we will get out, because nobody can afford this kind of money. We're not a charity."
ABC Sports president Dennis Swanson, whose network paid $925 million for Monday night games, echoed that position. "We lost money on the present contract, and we'd like to change that," he said. "We never want to make a deal that loses money because that's not the business we're in."