Fox CEO James Murdoch Blames Bad NFL Ratings on ‘Over Saturation,’ Not Anthem Protests

Murdoch spoke at the Paley International Council Summit in New York on Thursday and blamed falling ratings on “how they’re licensing” the NFL, according to AdWeek.

In particular, Murdoch felt that the large number of games scheduled for Thursdays is too much viewing to ask of fans.

“So I do think the proliferation of Thursday availability — and the proliferation of football generally — does mean that you’re asking a lot from customers to watch Thursday,” Murdoch said. “And then they watch a lot more college football games on Saturdays, and then on Sundays, and then on Monday Night Football, etc. It’s a lot. So I do think that preserving the scarcity value of those events and that audience is something that is worth thinking about.”

Murdoch echoed the worries over the number of Thursday games heard recently from several other TV executives who were seen suggesting that the number of Thursday Night Football games should be cut from 18 per season to only eight.

NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart, though, discounted Murdoch’s statement by pointing out that Fox does not have broadcast rights to Thursday games, Pro Football Talk reported.

“That may be one of the reasons why he pointed to Thursday night,” Lockhart said.

Indeed, Lockhart insisted that the whole argument of over saturation is not an issue. “We are not oversaturated, though we will always look at that,” he said.

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