Sort of.

Rich Goldner, hired this spring as news director at the new Fox 5 San Diego (which is the current KSWB 5/69), plans to take a different approach to sports when the station begins producing its own hour-long newscast Aug. 1.

In one sentence: “You're not going to miss anything,” Goldner said, “but we're not going to be 'SportsCenter,' either.”

Goldner's belief – and I don't think he's off base here – is that most sports fans get their highlights from ESPN, the Internet or even their cell phones. A local station “can't do highlights like ESPN can,” he said.

So instead of taking four minutes at the end of the newscast and doing a localized (and much smaller) version of “SportsCenter,” Goldner wants to do sports stories only when events dictate.

“My belief is that people who really care about the Padres are watching the Padres, or they're getting it on their PDAs,” said Goldner, who previously worked at KTLA in Los Angeles. “They know the score. They've seen the highlights. And if it's something way out of the ordinary, then we'll show it.”

It won't be in a “sportscast,” though, because the station will offer a traditional sportscast, anchored by Troy Hirsch, only on the weekends. If it's important enough, it will be part of the news. Maybe it will be at 10:12, 10:28, pick a time. But it won't be the same time every night. And there will be nights when there is no sports news on the telecast.

“You're not going to make everybody happy,” Goldner said, “but the thing I can say is that if there's a story that transcends, that people in San Diego need to know about in sports because it's information, then they're going to get it. And they might not have to wait until 10:52.

“A lot of the sports stories that people cover now are really, in essence, news stories, whether it's a Michael Vick situation or even the Brett Favre situation. It goes beyond the sports page. If you do it right, there are people that don't necessarily watch 'SportsCenter' but can relate to the Brett Favre incident. We're going to take stories that are relatable to people, that they could sink their teeth into, not just the highlights.”

Hirsch will do features, and the station plans to seek out experts to comment on stories – perhaps from a newspaper, radio station or a former player who lives here.

“If there are people that know this market, I would go after them and have them on,” Goldner said. “I would use Troy Hirsch as well to do packages. I want to go to the sources and the people that really know the stories, rather than just sort of glance over it and regurgitate articles.”

Interestingly, while Goldner takes Channel 5/69 in that direction, the current Fox affiliate, XETV Channel 6, will offer a five-minute sportscast every weeknight at 11:13, according to Richard Doutre Jones, the station's general manager. The sportscast will be part of a new-look half-hour that Channel 6 will debut at 11 p.m. on Aug. 4.