live event

Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corp. has largely stayed on the sidelines of the streaming wars.

That ends next week.

Fox, which owns the most-watched cable news channel Fox News and has TV rights to major sporting events such as the NFL and MLB post-season baseball, has remained committed to the declining pay TV business.

But with 65 million households no longer hooked up to cable or satellite services, the company making its channels available to non-pay TV customers for the first time with Fox One, a new streaming platform that will launch Aug. 21.

“There is a growing audience outside of cable,” said Pete Distad, chief executive of direct-to-consumer for Fox Corp., who previewed the service Thursday at a press briefing at the company’s New York headquarters. “We need to give to give those cord-cutters and cord-nevers access to our content.”

For $19.99 a month, Fox One will provide subscribers with their local Fox TV affiliate that carries a package of NFL games, plus two Fox Sports cable channels. A full year subscription will cost $199.

Fox One will also carry Fox News Media’s channels, which include Fox News, Fox Weather and Fox Business. It will provide replays of Fox programming on demand, with access to current seasons of entertainment programs and DVR capabilities with unlimited storage.

But the main selling point of Fox One will be the company’s array of live events, which include next year’s FIFA World Cup. The service will be promoted with the marketing tag line, “We Live For Live.”

Fox Sports’ Kevin Burkhardt talks with NFL broadcast partner Tom Brady before a 2024 preseason game at So-Fi Stadium.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Sports is the driver for the service. Fox Corp. and Walt Disney Co. have already agreed to offer a package deal for Fox One and the upcoming ESPN direct-to-consumer service also launching next week, for $39.99 a month, a savings of $10. ESPN will charge subscribers $29.99 on its own.

Distad said his company will look at more opportunities to bundle Fox One with other streaming services.

Until now, Fox’s biggest investment in streaming was the acquisition of Tubi, an ad-supported free streaming service that has grown to capture 1% of all U.S. TV viewing according to Nielsen.

Fox Corp. sold its TV and movie studio assets to Disney in 2019, partly because the company did not believe it could compete with deep-pocketed tech firms such as Amazon and Apple, which have spent freely on producing content for their streaming platforms.

But Amazon and Netflix — which acquired NFL rights in recent years — have shown that they can draw large audiences for live sports events, an area where Fox Corp. is already deeply entrenched.

The real test for the new streaming product will be the appetite for Fox News. The conservative-leaning news channel dominates its competitors in the TV ratings. Whether consumers who have cut the cable cord will be willing to pay to stream the channel’s live feed is an open question.

“Nobody knows how many news fans are outside of the pay TV universe,” Distad said.

Distad is encouraged by the reach of Fox News content online after it airs live on the TV network. Fox News scored 1.5 billion views on YouTube and 3.7 billion views on social media platforms in the last quarter.

Fox News Media’s existing streaming channel, Fox Nation, will be offered as a $5 add-on for Fox One for a total of $24.99 a month. The service has documentaries, true crime shows and movies that appeal to the Fox News audience.

Bret Baier, anchor of “Special Report” on Fox News.

(Fox News)

Fox Corp. executives are keeping their expectations low. It’s priced high enough so that the consumer who is currently happy with their current cable TV subscription is not likely to cancel.

But Distad said profit projections are “aggressive” as the platform will not spend money to create original programming. All of the content is being provided from its existing networks.

Investment in original programming has been the main obstacle to profitability for the streaming services that have proliferated in recent years.

Distad said the company is considering putting podcasts on the Fox One platform. Fox Corp. company recently acquired Red Seat Ventures, a media company that specializes in providing business support and technical services for right-leaning podcasts.

The victims may be dead, but NBC’s “Dateline” is going live.

NBC News announced Tuesday that the cast of its popular long-running true crime newsmagazine will gather onstage Sept. 28 at the Pinnacle, a new music venue in Nashville.

Ticket-holding fans will see correspondents Josh Mankiewicz, Blayne Alexander, Keith Morrison, Dennis Murphy, Andrea Canning and anchor Lester Holt in panel discussions and Q&A sessions. There will also be criminal justice experts on hand for onstage demonstrations.

The Nashville session — which will also commemorate the 3,000th episode of the program first launched in 1992 — will be a test run, according to Liz Cole, senior executive producer for “Dateline.” A strong turnout could lead to more dates and become additional source of revenue for the program. (NBC News has not revealed prices for tickets, which go on sale Aug. 5.)

“We realized that the anniversary was coming up, and it’s such a big number we wanted to do something special to mark the occasion,” Cole said in an interview. “This seemed like a great way to experiment with the format and go out and meet with our ‘Dateline’ community in real life.”

The television news audiences are shrinking as viewers move from traditional appointment viewing to on-demand streaming. But on-air personalities, whether they are covering politics or true crime, have devoted fans willing to pay to see them up close.

The revenue news shows can generate from live events is probably limited as journalists and anchors need the time to report stories or prepare a nightly program, making it challenging to book lengthy tours. (The “Dateline” correspondents are frequently on the road for their stories.)

“It’s quite an accomplishment getting everyone in one place at one time,” Mankiewicz said in a recent interview. “That usually only happens here when we’re taking the team picture or we’re kicking off the new season.”

Networks with well-known franchises are looking for ways to expand their reach beyond the viewers tuning in each day. Every little bit helps. “Dateline” has been doing it with podcasts — one of which will carry an audio version of the Nashville show — which have attracted younger viewers who don’t watch on TV as often. Podcast versions of “Dateline” TV episodes regularly populate the Apple rankings.

But live events can help create a deeper connection with viewers, as other outlets have discovered.

MSNBC, which will soon be leaving the NBC News family to be a part of the Comcast spin-off company Versant, sold out a 4,000-seat venue in Brooklyn last year for its first “MSNBC Live” gathering.

“MSNBC Live 25” will return in October with a top ticket price of $1,086.05 for an evening session at the Manhattan Center’s Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. The price includes an orchestra seat and a VIP dinner event with hosts Rachel Maddow, Jen Psaki and Stephanie Ruhle in conversation with special guests.

Conservative-leaning Fox News has tapped into its loyal audience annually with its Patriot Awards show that features Sean Hannity and other anchors honoring citizens who “dedicate themselves to their communities with inspirational acts of courage and patriotism.”

A Fox News representative said the event, which is streamed on the network’s Fox Nation site, has sold out every year since its inception in 2019. In the fall last year, the program honored President Trump at the 2,242-seat Tilles Center in Long Island, N.Y., where the top ticket price was $669.

In March, NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo joined ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith and former Fox News star Bill O’Reilly for an event billed as “Three Americans Live.” The trio regularly debate on Cuomo’s prime-time program for the Nexstar-owned news channel. No further dates have been booked since their one appearance in Westbury, N.Y.

Cole has seen evidence that the “Dateline” crew can draw a crowd on their own. The correspondents are a top attraction when they appear at CrimeCon, an annual gathering of true crime fanatics.

Many of those fans drive hours from around the country for the weekend event, which will be held in Denver later this year. The $1,800 Platinum VIP level tickets are sold out. (The dress code is “respectful casual” to discourage cosplaying.)

“I love the viewers because they always have questions and observations that I was not expecting, and I see that every year at CrimeCon,” Mankiewicz said. “I also experience it regularly at America’s airports, and I’m expecting that in Nashville.”