While the market penetration for Foxtel, the platform Fox Sports is shown on, hovers around the 30 per cent market, Fox Sports' "live and local" strategy has reaped ratings rewards.

In 2016, its coverage of live AFL matches attracted 207,000 viewers per game, up 9 per cent. NRL games were even more watched, up 11 per cent to 244,000 per match while the matches Fox had exclusive coverage of were up 15 per cent to 254,000.

Other sports were also strong, with V8 Supercars coverage increasing 25 per cent from 2015, Formula 1 was up 15 per cent and Australian games of Super Rugby increased 2 per cent. The first 13 rounds of current A-League season were up 24 per cent from the same time of the 2015-16 season as well.

Delany says advertising revenue is up 15 per cent year-on-year, with 75 per cent derived from sponsorship deals for certain sports or shows. The Fox League channel has signed naming rights deals with brands such as Schick Hydro Bundaberg Rum and KFC for the 2017 NRL season that begins on Thursday evening with the clash between defending premier Cronulla and the Brisbane Broncos.

The Fox Sports CEO says Fox League undertook about 12 months of research to find out what fans and the sport would want to see on the new channel, including qualitative and quantitative research and focus groups.

What he hopes is ratings for the channel outside the live matches increase as has been the case for Fox Footy, which enjoyed an overall 8 per cent ratings increase last year for live panel shows such as AFL360.

"What we found with Fox Footy in creating a place that is just for fans of AFL and built around a brand that has personality can create an x-factor. The engagement with Fox Footy fans is astronomical. We see it in ratings, time spent viewing, you see it in peak ratings when the games are on but an unbelievably high ratings during the week."

Other opportunities


Another opportunity could be in cricket, the rights for which come up on the market later this year. Fox Sports lost the Big Bash to Network Ten four years ago and are keen to get back in the game with rumours of a dedicated cricket channel as part of the mix.

"We are still going through what we think is good for us," says Delany. "The golden thing is what Cricket Australia is prepared to give us, because we clearly we have the biggest cheque book [Fox Sports' pre-tax earnings were said to be about $50 million in the last six months of 2016]. So that will be interesting."

Delany constantly talks about the tribal nature of sports fans, and is almost evangelical in the way he urges sports and fans themselves to do a better job of promoting themselves.

On rugby union and its troubles with making Super Rugby relevant to Australian fans given its spread across South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina and Japan, Delany says: "In this country the Australian public has appetite for live and local sport. Other local sports are stepping up to the plate in that regard and union needs to re-examine the way they do things."

Of course, Delany himself and Peter Tonagh at Foxtel also have to stay relevant in a time of so-called "cord-cutting" and the rise of streaming services such as Netflix and Stan.

Delany says Fox Sports will win if it can keep its current cable and satellite subscribers and win more via the cheaper Foxtel Play online streaming service and via bundled offers with News Corp newspaper subscribers.

That is a big ask, with Foxtel revealing a 15 per cent customer churn rate in the first six months of the 2017 financial year. There are also rumours of a merger with Foxtel itself swirling.

But Delany believes Fox Sports will stay relevant as long as Australian sports fans keep their tribal nature.

"I think Australians have a huge propensity to love sport and want to be part of a tribe."