In a scheduling quirk, both Fox Sports Net and ESPN Classic will have repeat presentations of last Saturday’s USC-Fresno State college football thriller airing on Wednesday night at the same time in many markets.
FSN is making available a two-hour, cut-down version of the game Wednesday at both 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. local time in each market (where a regional sports net is not showing local programming at the time).
The repeat presentation will be under the Best Damn Sports Show Period banner and will feature interviews with players and coaches reviewing the game.
ESPN Classic has set aside a three-hour window for the game, which it will show under its Instant Classic banner, at 9 p.m. ET.
FSN retained rights to re-air the game as part of its contract for the original airing, while ESPN secured the rights from USC (which holds the copyright to the game).
Both Fox and ESPN said the decision was made independently to repeat the game, which featured USC coming back to win 50-42 in the fourth quarter and their Heisman Trophy candidate Reggie Bush amassing 513 all-purpose yards. "What FSN does doesn’t [determine] our programming decisions," said an ESPN spokesperson.
FSN’s live telecast of the game Saturday was the most-watched nationally-televised event in its history, seen by a FSN-record 2.8 million people. ESPN will follow the USC-Fresno State game Wednesday night with another re-air from last weekend at 12 a.m. ET, a game between Ohio State and Michigan
