Premiere, News Corp. Plan Sports Network

Premiere Radio Networks Inc., syndicator of talk shows for Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura Schlessinger, is joining forces with News Corp.’s Fox Sports to launch a sports radio network.

The network, which will be called the Fox Sports Radio Network, is set to start by September. It aims to provide 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week sports programming to as many as 20 stations by 2001.

The venture by Fox and Premiere Radio, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications Inc., which is set to become the No. 1 radio company, represents a challenge to Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN and its No. 1 sports radio network.