Regis Philbin Returns, This Time on Fox’s Answer to ESPN

Regis Philbin sat beside Michael Strahan on Tuesday in a Manhattan hotel ballroom but it was not a gathering of Kelly Ripa’s past and present co-hosts of the morning show formerly called “Live! with Regis and Kelly.”

Instead, it was the announcement by the Fox Sports Media Group that on Aug. 17 it will start a new national sports cable network, Fox Sports, that will carry live sports, news programs, documentaries and a weekday afternoon panel show to be hosted by Mr. Philbin.

“I never in a million years expected to be thought of as a sportscaster,” Mr. Philbin, a prominent Notre Dame fan, said during the event at the Marriott Marquis Hotel.

He was not contemplating a comeback to live television, just over a year since he left “Regis and Kelly.” But Rick Rosner, a friend and producer, introduced him to Eric Shanks, the co-president of the Fox Sports Media Group. Mr. Philbin, in turn, impressed David Hill, Mr. Shanks’ former boss in the sports division of News Corporatin, who has returned from another job at News Corporation to help start Fox Sports 1.

“I honestly think that when this show gets on the air, people will say, `Why didn’t this happen before’” Mr. Shanks said.

Mr. Philbin’s show, “Rush Hour” will compete from 5 to 6 p.m. Eastern against two of ESPN’s established talk programs, “Around the Horn” and “Pardon the Interruption.” “We originally talked about a once-a-month special, but then it came to this,” Mr. Philbin said. “I didn’t even realize they were starting a network until they called me.”

He laughed that at 81, he is being asked to appeal to the coveted sports audience of men 18 to 49.

Bill Wanger, an executive vice president of the Fox Sports Media Group, said, “When Regis was on with Kelly it was No. 1 in syndication among viewers 18-to-34. Regis has appeal across young and old.”

Fox Sports 1 will be filled with college basketball and football; a 26! -week slate of Major League Baseball, including some postseason division series and league championship games, starting in 2014; Nascar Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series races; UEFA Champions League soccer and future men’s and women’s World Cup games, and mixed martial arts fights from the UFC.

The network will also carry “Fox Sports Live,” a nightly news program and a daily football show, “Fox Football Daily,” which will be hosted by Mr. Bradshaw. The network has been in the works, on and off, for 15 years, and is intended to compete with ESPN’s live sports, news and studio programming. Indeed, Fox is challenging ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”

“That really is the big megillah,” Mr. Hill said, who politely added that ESPN has “no weaknesses,” and that Fox Sports 1 will face a “long slog” before it will be a strong rival to the 34-year-old sports media giant. Said Mr. Wanger: “We’ll have to scratch and claw our way to the top.”

Fox executives believe hat the personalities and style it brought to broadcast sports - it has long used the slogan, “Same Game, New Attitude” â€" will help sell sports fans on the network. But, Mr. Shanks added, “we have the games people want to watch.”