After announcing this week that the Dan Patrick Show will no longer be aired on Fox Sports Net, it’s expected that the TV simulcast of the Fox Sports Radio program will be headed to NBC Sports Network. The official announcement will be made Thursday morning.
As of Wednesday, Fox Sports Net stopped airing Dan Patrick. In the interim, FSN will air various college sports and soccer replays to fill the 9 a.m.-noon ET hole left behind by DP’s departure.
Fang’s Bites learned that NBC Sports Group had been negotiating with DirecTV, the distributor of the Dan Patrick Show, since the summer. Back in July, the Comcast SportsNet affiliates dropped all FSN programming, a move that was related to the Dan Patrick talks. The strategy by NBC to lure DP’s show was to establish a firm original sports programming block from 6 a.m. to noon on NBCSN.
The first part of the morning strategy was “The ‘Lights,” the no-frills highlights show that has been airing from 6 a.m. until 9 a.m. since the conclusion of the 2012 Olympics. The second piece of the puzzle is Dan Patrick. A possible third piece could be a morning show that would be a vehicle for Michelle Beadle at 8 a.m. Beadle told Awful Announcing that her NBCSN show could launch sometime in January 2013.
Currently, the time after “The ‘Lights” has been filled with various hunting, fishing and other outdoors shows, something NBC would like to phase out. With Dan Patrick, not only does his show fill three hours of programming, it gives NBC Sports Network some much needed credibility.
We’ll be all over the announcement when it becomes official.
