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Cable networks launching shows with Florida flavor
By ERNEST HOOPER © St. Petersburg Times, published July 15, 2000 TAMPA -- Fox Sports Net and Sunshine Network will try to outdo each other with competing regional sportscasts, resulting in more information for fans than ever before. But the networks are taking different approaches. Fox Sports Net debuts the Regional Sports Report at 11 p.m. Monday. It is a 30-minute show devoted to Florida sports. Fox has hired three full time reporters and three videographers to blanket the state. Sage Steele of WFTS-Ch. 28, will cover Central Florida. The show is based on a model being used by the other 21 Fox regional networks, and will rely on a cooperative effort. If the Gators are playing in Alabama, Fox Sports South reporters familiar with the Crimson Tide will file reports. "We have a tremendous sports news partnership we've put together nationally, and Sunshine is not a part of that any longer," Fox Sports Net vice president Rod Mickler said. "Quite honestly, a regional sports news program is difficult, if not impossible, to do as an independent." Naturally, Sunshine disagrees, and is espousing a bigger is better approach with a 60-minute show. Having broadcast Sunshine Network Live at 10 p.m. for the past two years, it will retool that production as Florida Sports News in September. Although Fox Sports Net will supplement its full-time reporters with freelancers, Sunshine officials are convinced it will outman Fox with seven full timers and their own army of correspondents, many culled from being the rights holder to the Gators, Seminoles, Magic and Heat. "This should be a wipeout," said Bill Fay, who will help coordinate Sunshine's sports news programs. "It will be a joke -- their's compared to ours." Sunshine also criticizes the Fox effort because of its location. Longtime South Florida sportscaster Ned Smith will be a co-host, but the Fox show will originate from a network hub in Dallas. Sunshine Network Live will be based in Tallahassee. "Our competitor can talk about that, but I don't think the fan at home will have any idea this show is not being done in Florida," Mickler said. "At the end of the day, the viewers at home will decide (who's better) and I certainly like our chances as a partner with these national regional sports networks."
 © St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved. 
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