There is no denying that ESPN is the 800 pound gorilla of sports TV networks. Executives at Fox Sports know this.

“ESPN, quite frankly, is a machine,” says Billy Wanger, the head of programming for Fox Sports. “We are coming in trying to take on the establishment; it is no different than what happened with Fox News, or Fox Broadcasting back in the 80s. We are going to have to scratch and claw our way all the way to the top.”

Shanks was talking about Fox Sports 1, the upcoming national cable sports channel that News Corp. is launching in August. News Corp. COO Chase Carey called it “the worst kept secret in TV,” but it is no longer a secret. At a lavish upfront for media buyers in midtown yesterday afternoon and evening, executives at News Corp. formally unveiled the channel.

The beating heart of sports TV is live games, and FS1 will be coming out of the gate with the strongest lineup outside of Bristol, CT. Major League Baseball games–including playoff games–will be available on the channel, as will NASCAR races, UFC fights, college football and basketball and UEFA and World Cup soccer.

“We believe that right now the market for sports is–I don’t want to say vast–but it is,” News Corp. senior VP and Fox Sports founding president David Hill says. “There is a huge percentage of the population for whom sports is vitally important, for whom sports is the best entertainment there is.”

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Forbes’ Jeff Bercovici thinks — although we’re not so sure for the very reasons he lays out in his story — that Roger Ailes would be the key to a successful News Corp. challenge to ESPN. “If there’s one person in the television business who could take on the Worldwide Leader and win, it’s Ailes,” writes Bercovici.

If I were [News Corp. chairman Rupert] Murdoch, I would strongly consider putting Ailes in charge of the new network. (As it stands, Fox Sports chairman David Hill is reported to be leading the effort.) Maybe he wouldn’t want the job. Maybe he’d have trouble working up the necessary spittle for something that’s not his primary passion, politics. (The last network he launched, Fox Business, frequently feels more like a political channel than a business channel.) Maybe, at 72, he’s not inclined to undertake a new multi-year campaign. That would be a shame. If there’s one person in the television business who could take on the Worldwide Leader and win, it’s Ailes.

“Bloomberg Game Changers” looks back this week at the rise of a familiar figure in the world of business news: News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch.

The one-hour documentary, which features interviews with former News Corp. president and COO Peter Chernin and Fox Sports chairman David Hill, looks at how Murdoch turned a small family-owned Australian newspaper into the media empire it is today.

“Game Changers” airs tomorrow night at 9pmET. Here’s a preview:

Game 3 of the NBA Finals on ABC between Miami and Boston earned a 11.1 overnight rating, which was down 3 percent from last year (11.5 overnight rating for Boston-Los Angeles).

The Heat’s 88-86 victory was the highest-rated program of the evening in prime time and led ABC to win the night, according to Nielsen.

Locally, the game earned a 32.3 metered market rating in Miami – - the third highest-rated NBA game in Miami. In Dallas, the game earned a 26.7 metered market rating.

You know what’s better than tailgating? Taking pictures of tailgating.

Well, not quite, but it’s still fun. The New York Times knows this and wants your tailgating pictures.

This isn’t just for the crowd at the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party or the regular B.C.S. contenders – or Mississippi State. (Wow! The Bulldogs have dominated the early returns.) We hope to hear from Ivy Leaguers and small schools, too. Alumni and fraternities and sororities. Let us see those special smoked ribs and gourmet meals in addition to painted faces and parking-lot touch-football games. Can’t make it to the game? Let us see how you bring the game home.

So far it’s a pretty weak selection but we have faith it will get better. Maybe you should spend a little time grilling this weekend and snap some photos. Read more