Fox Sports 1 Schedule Starts Saturday: 24-Hour Network Debuts With NASCAR, UFC and ESPN SportsCenter Challenger "Fox Sports Live"

Aug 17, 2013 10:00 AM EDT

The 24-hour live sports broadcast world will be shaken up a bit on Saturday, as Fox Sports 1 officially launches as an alternative to ESPN, the self-called "worldwide leader in sports" and while they are just that, the new network FS1 is looking to carve their own niche in the game and the channel will make its debut on August 17.

According to the official Fox Sports website, the network will launch on the 17th of August with nearly 17 hours of programming on the first day and it is estimated that the channel will reach up to nearly 100 million homes at its launch. Saturday will mark the debuts of Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole hosting the "SportsCenter"-like "Fox Sports Live" at 11:00 PM. The company made a big splash when it hired anchors Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole from TSN in Canada, where they were the very popular anchors on "SportsCentre" and they have been compared to the mid-90's team of Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann on ESPN.

The first day will start off at 6:00 AM with FOX College Football Kickoff and will be followed at 8 AM with the first big broadcast of NASCAR from Michigan. UFC Fight Night will also debut and that will run until the first broadcast of "FOX Sports Live", which will go daily against "SportsCenter" on ESPN at 11:00 PM. Fox has a number of sports properties that they will air on Fox Sports 1, including NASCAR, Major League Baseball games, golfing events as well as Pac-12 college football and Big 12 games. The network has also hired a number of high-profile studio members, including Andy Roddick, Regis Philbin and Gary Payton.

Sunday will have more NASCAR coverage during the morning and afternoon before UFC Unleashed in the evening and then Fox Sports Live will air at 10 PM. Monday will have a slew of premieres on the channel, including FOX Soccer Daily, NASCAR Race Hub, Crowd Goes Wild and Fox Football Daily, which is expected to be one of the best performing shows. Fox executives have tried to play up the fact that the channel will be "fun" and more easygoing than other coverage on television and that is one reason why they hired Onrait and O'Toole.

Click here for the full schedule for Fox Sports 1 on Saturday.

Saturday 8/17/2013

FOX College Football Kickoff 6am ET
Fantastic Finishes 7am ET
NASCAR Live, Michigan Live - 8am ET
NCWTS Qualifying, Michigan Live - 9:30am ET
NASCAR Sprint Cup Practice, Michigan Live - 11am ET
NCWTS Racing, Michigan Live - 12:30pm ET
FOX Sports 1 on 1: Tom Brady 2:30pm ET
UFC Fight Night Prefight: Shogun vs Sonnen Live - 5pm ET
UFC Fight Night Prelims: Shogun vs Sonnen Live - 6pm ET
UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs Sonnen Live - 8pm ET
FOX Sports Live [Premiere]

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