Fox gets ready to rejig Jay and Dan's excellent adventure again as ratings decline

Canada's gifts to witty sports repartee have received received plenty of accolades since taking their act to the United States, but their show isn't getting as much love.

According to SI.com's Richard Deitsch, Fox Sports Live is on life support and being retooled -- again. But that won't be the end of Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole, the TSN products who were the centrepiece of Fox Sports 1's new show.

The Canadians have both signed new contracts and are almost certainly to continue in their roles as co-hosts of the late-night sports highlight show, according to Deitsch. That makes sense since Fox has made a significant investment in O'Toole and Onrait, who became stars on TSN's SportsCentre before heading south in 2013.

Since then, they have garnered many followers and favourable reviews. But the show has struggled to find an identity and is now in the midst of a significant downward spiral.

Fox Sports spokesman Dan Bell said the network was not commenting at this time.

When Fox Sports Live debuted in August of 2013, it averaged 476,000 viewers -- a pretty impressive number for a new channel and half of what long-established ESPN SportsCenter drew. But the show didn't maintain that number -- mainly because it was fuelled by a strong UFC lead-in -- and was averaging about 150,000 viewers a year ago. (To put that into perspective, 150,000 in the U.S. would be equivalent to about 20,000 here -- a number that would almost surely result in cancellation. Both Sportsnet Central and TSN SportsCentre average more than 100,000 viewers in a country with one-tenth the population.)

Fox rejigged the show several times, with Onrait and O'Toole always at the centre, but the ratings decline continued. They hit bottom in January, averaging only 87,000 viewers, according to Sports TV Ratings.

While their return to Canada is always a possibility, it's highly unlikely at this point, even if they aren't part of the rejigged show. Fox has had nothing but praise for the pair and the prospect of eating their contracts is probably too much to swallow at this point.

Last May, Fox Sports president Eric Shanks told SI.com he had long-term plans for the pair.

“I think they are unique voices and personalities and solid at what they do," Shanks said. "One of the hardest things to do in this business is to create chemistry, and they have it built in. So whatever the format of that show is, Jay and Dan are pros, they like each other and it comes through.”