The Westminster Kennel Club is abandoning the home provided to its annual dog show by NBC Universal’s USA network for more than three decades and taking up instead with Fox Sports, which will air the event on Fox Sports 1 and Nat Geo Wild.
Fox Sports and the Westminster Kennel Club said they reached a ten-year worldwide that encompasses global rights across a variety of media venues to bring the Club’s confirmation show to its two networks, starting in 2017. USA has broadcast the canine championship since 1984.
The deal spotlights again the growing importance to TV networks of live competition of all stripes. Rights for such content as National Basketball Association games and a block of Thursday-night NFL games currently on CBS bring out the highest dollar amounts from big media companies, but a dog show can be appealing as well.
When Fox Sports begins broadcasting the event, it will have the 141st edition of the contest, which is the second-longest continuously held sporting event in the United States, behind only the Kentucky Derby. Fox Sports 1 will become the first new primary television home for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show since it first aired on USA Network in 1984. In recent years, NBCU has also put some of the event on a sister cable outlet, CNBC.
