FS1 Canceling "Fox Sports Live," Will Not Renew Contracts Of Onrait And O'Toole

FS1 canceled the studio show “Fox Sports Live” and will not renew the contracts of the show’s hosts, Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole, which expire at the end of March. The news-and-highlights show debuted in August ’13 on the same day that Fox Sports relaunched Speed as FS1 and was the most publicized show at launch. The Canadian hosts were marketed as having the same kind of camaraderie as popular '90s “SportsCenter” hosts Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick. The show's final episode was last night, and staffers were told in a meeting on the Fox lot this morning that the show is being canceled. FS1 will put “MLB Whiparound” in the 11:00pm ET time slot formally occupied by “Fox Sports Live” once MLB season starts. For the next month, it will have a mixture of programming in the time slot, from “College Hoops Extra” to UFC programming. “Fox Sports Live” went through several format changes since its launch, but Onrait and O’Toole remained consistent as the show’s hosts throughout the nearly four-year run. The show focused mainly on highlights and depended on Onrait and O’Toole’s wit to drive audiences, which stayed well south of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” franchise. Since Fox hired Jamie Horowitz as National Networks President last spring, “Fox Sports Live” fell outside of the network’s studio strategy of focusing more on opinion-based shows with polarizing hosts like Skip Bayless and Colin Cowherd. The network reportedly also will not renew Katie Nolan's "Garbage Time" in its current format. In a statement emailed to THE DAILY, FS1 and FS2 Exec VP/Content Charlie Dixon said, "We’ve been committed to creating programming that resonates with sports fans. As part of that commitment, we are constantly assessing all of FS1’s studio offerings, and despite changes to the format of ‘Fox Sports Live’ and the popularity of Jay and Dan as individuals, we’ve made the difficult decision to move forward with other projects."

