Arnold Is as Good as Gone at FSN, Period

Something you wouldn’t say to Tom Arnold: “Hey, Tom, how are contract prospects looking?”

Word is that Arnold’s contract with Fox Sports Net, which pays him $1.1 million a year and expires in April, will not be renewed.

An FSN spokesman, calling Arnold an asset to the network, said negotiations with Arnold would take place in a few weeks. But a source said Arnold is as good as gone.

What would become of “Best Damn Sports Show Period” without Arnold? Once a show with a huge cast that also included Chris Rose, Bryan Cox, Michael Irvin, Lisa Guerrero and many others, it would be down to a cast of one. And John Salley, fine for a secondary role, could become “Long Gone Salley” the way things are going.

The show lost a lot when Rose was taken off a couple of months ago. As the straight-guy host, he was the one who made it all work.

FSN needs “Best Damn,” or something similar, to fill the gaps when there isn’t a live sports event to televise. And FSN regional networks in NHL markets, such as L.A.’s FSN West and West 2, have a considerable number of gaps these days.

Sure, the 20 regional networks that carry FSN national programming could be asked to produce their own prime-time shows. But it is more cost-efficient to have one national show.

The FSN spokesman, insisting that “Best Damn” is not being dropped, said the network has a contract with boxing promoter Dan Goossen to air six boxing matches through September. There is also a swimsuit contest scheduled for June.

In the meantime, FSN programming is becoming more scant all the time.

The network was primed to take on ESPN at the start of 1999, when it hired Keith Olbermann and Chris Myers as the main hosts of a nightly national news show. But Olbermann and Myers are long gone, and so is the national news show.

More recently “Totally Football” was dropped, although its host, Patrick O’Neal, landed an anchor job on FSN West’s “Southern California Sports Report.”

There are other FSN national shows besides “Best Damn.” For example, the quarterly show “Head to Head With James Brown” returns Monday night at 9, featuring an interview with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

FSN executives say that their network is driven by the local sports on its regional networks. It’s certainly not driven by its national programming, at least not anymore.

Another ESPN Network

While FSN flounders, ESPN is preparing to launch another network, ESPNU. The channel, which goes on the air next Friday, will televise college basketball games that don’t make it on ESPN or ESPN2, plus college sports such as volleyball, wrestling, baseball and softball.

ESPNU also may carry some offbeat sports such as Ultimate Frisbee. That’s the sport Mike Hall played at Missouri. Hall, the ESPN “Dream Job” winner, will be the new network’s main studio anchor.

Zach Selwyn of Studio City, the long-haired “Dream Job” contestant who was runner-up to Hall, is the host of GSN’s “Extreme Dodgeball,” which just concluded its second season, and also is host of “SBC Home Court,” a series of three-minute webcasts called “webisodes.” Available on the Internet through April, they offer tours of NBA players’ homes.

Fox’s Flip Side

It may not be going too well on the cable side of Fox, but at the big brother over-the-air network things couldn’t be going much better. With an estimated 18.7 million watching Sunday’s Daytona 500, Fox Sports has attracted 1.3 billion viewers over a 12-month period that included the World Series and Super Bowl. Fox Sports President Ed Goren called it “one of the greatest years in the history of sports television.”

Fox continues the run with this weekend’s NASCAR races from California Speedway.

Getting Sirius

The five-year, $107.5-million agreement between

NASCAR and Sirius Satellite Radio, which goes into effect in 2007, is an indication of just how serious Sirius is about using sports to compete in the satellite radio business in general and with XM in particular.

While competitor XM has a deal with Major League Baseball, Sirius has deals with the NFL, NBA, soccer’s English Premier League and the NCAA. Sirius, besides carrying regular-season college basketball, will broadcast every NCAA men’s basketball tournament game.

Short Waves

Other indications of the popularity of NASCAR include the success of “NASCAR Nation,” a new Monday-Thursday 7 p.m. show on Speed Channel, and the success of the NASCAR-in-Car digital cable pay package available through In Demand. Jeffrey Pollack, NASCAR’s new marketing director for broadcasting and new media, said the four-year deal with In Demand, now in its third year, was recently extended another year. The package, now priced at $79, goes to $99 after Sunday.

XTRA (570) is carrying Phil Hendrie’s new Premiere Radio Network weeknight show from 7 to 10 when there isn’t a Laker game. Hendrie replaces Carlos Del Valle and Ray Crockett, who are still working for the station in other capacities.

NFL Network is offering daily coverage of the NFL Scouting Combine Saturday through Tuesday from 9-11 a.m. ... Recommended viewing: “The Team That Changed the World,” a documentary about the Harlem Globetrotters, will be televised on Channel 28 Sunday at 4 p.m.