Pay-television operators are battling to defend themselves against so-called cord cutting, or the trend that people cancel their pay-television subscriptions in favor of cheaper streaming alternatives, such as Netflix, YouTube, Amazon and Hulu. Live sports are a valuable defense. About two out of every five adults report that they wouldn’t cancel their pay-television subscription because they want access to live sports, according to a recent Harris Interactive Poll.

And marketers continue to pour escalating sums to advertise next to sports programming. TV ad spending generated by sports increased nearly 50 percent to $12 billion in the United States in 2013, according to the Interpublic Group’s MagnaGlobal ad buying firm. “It is DVR-proof,” said Kevin Collins, head of sports ad buying for MagnaGlobal. “Viewers are not skipping over the commercials.”

Mr. Murdoch has long realized the value of sports. Over the years, Fox has amassed a sizable American sports footprint, buying rights to football, baseball, Nascar and the 2018 and 2022 men’s World Cup. Internationally, his businesses have long profited from a roster of international sports-rich channels in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

To date, Fox Sports 1 has not given ESPN reason for great concern. Over the last 11 months, Fox Sports 1 has averaged 88,000 male viewers 18 to 49 years old in prime time, and 122,000 people of both sexes 18 to 49 years old in prime time, compared with ESPN’s 762,000 and 1,070,000, respectively, according to Brad Adgate, director of research for Horizon Media.

Those ratings translate into affiliate revenue, or the fees cable and satellite companies pay to the entertainment companies to distribute the networks. The average affiliate revenue per monthly subscriber is $6.04 for ESPN, nearly 10 times the fees of Fox Sports 1, according to SNL Kagan. (Time Warner’s TNT generates $1.48 per monthly subscriber, and TBS makes $0.72.)

The expense of taking on the Time Warner rights fees for M.L.B., March Madness and the N.B.A. would delay profitability for Fox Sports 1, which could be somewhat offset by higher affiliate fees, said David Bank, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets.

But Mr. Murdoch has a history of playing the long game when he takes on the establishment. In 1986, he started the Fox Broadcasting Company, which soon became a formidable competitor to the big three broadcasters. A decade later, he started Fox News Channel, rivaling CNN and ultimately attracting more regular viewers than other cable news networks.

Executives at 21st Century Fox have said they expect big losses for Fox Sports 1 for some time.

“Chasing ESPN is a nice aspirational goal, but it’s going to take a generation to get there,” said Michael Nathanson, an analyst with MoffettNathanson.