Fox Sports 1 makes its debut Saturday night at 11 pm Eastern. If you are looking for the channel on your cable system, Fox Sports 1 is taking over the Speed Channel. Chances are you'll have to find the Speed Channel on your cable system.
If you do get the channel, you might want to tune in to see the U.S. debut of Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole. Canadians know Onrait and O'Toole from working at TSN on SportsCentre since 2003.
Onrait and O'Toole will anchor Fox Sports Live Monday-Friday at 11 pm Eastern with the sample on Saturday night. A little surprised that the schedule wouldn't run Sunday-Thursday since Friday night is a poor night for TV viewing.
Onrait and O'Toole have been compared to Keith Olbermann (returning to ESPN2 on August 26) and Dan Patrick, though they are more physical than the classic ESPN duo.
Fox Sports 1, and possibly Fox Sports 2, offer another potential landscape for sports. Maybe the CFL will make a move where they might get more games on the air, or free up NBCSN to carry more games.
Whether Onrait and O'Toole will be able to be as Canadian as they have been (i.e., content in the video) is a significant concern. They are moving from late-night in Canada to prime time (sports news wise). There was talk that Onrait and O'Toole might throw in some CFL highlights. That would help the transition.
Fox Sports 1 will have an assorted group, including Regis Philbin (seriously). But two Canadians have been hired to be the faces and voices of a new sports channel in the United States. And they start Saturday night.
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