Fox Sports World will distribute 17 games from the upcoming
Copa America soccer series via pay-per-view.
Unlike previous Copa America tournaments, the championship
game will not be part of the PPV package -- Fox Sports World Español will telecast it.
Still, Fox and industry executives believe that the soccer series will draw significant
PPV buys.
The tournament, which runs from June 29 through July 18,
will retail at a suggested price of $14.95 per game, or $99.95 for the 19-game package,
Fox Sports World vice president and general manager Dan Casey said. The PPV games will
feature both English and Spanish feeds.
Casey said he hopes that this year's version of the
games can match the average 330,000 buys that each prior Copa America PPV event has
generated. He added that he doesn't expect a major drop-off in PPV interest due to
the championship game appearing on basic cable.
Fox decided to maintain carriage of nine games, including
the finals, to help increase distribution of Fox Sports World Español's 23
million-subscriber service.
"We're trying to be more aggressive and increase
the penetration of the network, and we thought that keeping the championship game would
help," Casey said. "We'd still like to do better on the performance this
time out, especially with the packages."
Viewer's Choice senior vice president of programming
Michael Klein said interest in the early round contests will help to push buys for those
games and, hopefully, offset the loss of the championship contest.
"We would have preferred to have the finals, and we
tried hard to get them, but our affiliates still expressed interest in distributing the
games," he said. "There will be strong interest in the early round games, so we
should do well."
Fox Sports World will support the PPV package with heavy
print, radio and TV ads in major Hispanic markets, according to the network's
marketing manager, Veronica Alvarez.
In addition, the network will offer a sweepstakes
surrounding Copa America that will net the winner a $10,000 cash grand-prize award.
Casey said Fox Sports World will also get cross-promotional
support from the regional sports networks that are owned by and affiliated with Fox Sports
-- particularly those in strong soccer markets such as Boston and Florida.
