Fox Sports Net

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The Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net, are cable TV networks that were originally owned by separate companies. In addition, Fox Sports Net broadcasts sports news and talk across a range of radio affiliates. The most notable were the SportsChannel networks, which went on the air in 1977 with the original SportsChannel (now FSN New York), and Prime Network, which went on the air in 1983 with the charter member being Home Sports and Entertainment (now FSN Southwest). Fox also purchased SportSouth (now FSN South) from Turner Broadcasting in 1995.

In 1997, News Corporation, which launched the Fox Broadcasting Company in 1986, took over the Prime Network affiliates and renamed them all "Fox Sports Net." In 1997, SportsChannel America joined the Fox Sports Net family (except for the Florida affiliate, which joined in 2000).

Starting in September 2004, Fox Sports Net became known simply as FSN, but the name Fox Sports Net is also still in common use.

Fox Sports Net is headquartered in Los Angeles, just south of Westwood. In February 2005, NewsCorp (Fox) became 100% owner of FSN, after swapping assets with Cablevision Corporation, but is still identified in its copyright tag as "Fox Sports Net/National Sports Partners"

In addition to regional programming, Fox Sports Net has some national prime time programming such as The Best Damn Sports Show Period and Chris Myers Interviews. FSN has tried to compete with ESPN in original programming, most notably in 1996, when FSN debuted the Fox Sports National Sports Report, a 30 minute sports news program designed to compete with ESPN's SportsCenter. The program originally began as a two hour program, but was steadily cut back as ratings dropped and costs increased. The last edition of the National Sports Report aired in February 2002. In some markets, FSN airs the Regional Sports Report, usually headlined with the name of the region covered, such as the Southern California Sports Report or Southern Sports Report. The regional reports began in 2000 to complement the national sports report, but many regional reports were cut in 2002 due to increasing costs. [1]

1 Regional networks
- 1.1 FSN networks
2 Fox College Sports (FCS)
3 Separate networks
4 Logos
5 See also
6 External links

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Regional networks

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FSN networks

Arizona: territory includes Arizona, New Mexico and southern Nevada. Home to the Phoenix Suns (NBA), Arizona Diamondbacks (MLB), Phoenix Coyotes (NHL), Phoenix Mercury (WNBA), plus local coverage of the Pacific 10, Western Athletic, Big Sky, and Mountain West conferences.

Formerly Prime Sports Arizona. The Arizona Sports Report is produced in Atlanta at FSN South.

Bay Area*: territory includes northern and central California, northern Arizona, northwestern Nevada (including the Lake Tahoe-Reno-Carson City region), and parts of southern Oregon. Home to the San Francisco Giants (MLB), Oakland Athletics (MLB), San Jose Sharks (NHL), Golden State Warriors (NBA), San Jose Stealth (NLL), and local coverage of the Pacific 10, West Coast, Mountain West, and Western Athletic conferences. 40% owned by Fox, 60% owned by Cablevision.

Formerly SportsChannel Pacific. The defunct Bay Area Sports Report was produced in Chicago at the former Fox Sports Net Chicago facility.

Chicago*: territory includes northern Illinois, northern Indiana, and eastern Iowa. Offers live local and national collegiate sports, including those from FSN Detroit. Home station of Chicago Rush (Arena Football League). Cablevision recently took 100% ownership soon after cable broadcast rights of the Blackhawks (NHL), Bulls (NBA), Cubs (MLB), and White Sox (MLB) migrated to the new Comcast Sportsnet Chicago in 2004.

FSN Chicago was originally founded as on-air subscription-TV station Sportsvision by Jerry Reinsdorf, Eddie Einhorn, and Bill Wirtz (owners of Bulls/White Sox and Blackhawks respectively) and was sold to Cablevision in 1987. Sportsvision migrated to cable television and was subsuquently carried on Direct Broadcast Satellite and became SportsChannel Chicago. Became Fox Sports Net Chicago in 1998. FSN Chicago's facility at 350 North Orleans Street in downtown Chicago was also the production and origination point of the Chicago, Ohio, and Bay Area Sports Report programs (all 50% owned by Rainbow Sports/Cablevision). FSN Chicago also offered commercial studios, post-production services, and Ku-Band transportable uplink truck services as secondary businesses until the Chicago facility ceased operation in 2004. Comcast SportsNet Chicago now occupies the former FSN Chicago facility.

Detroit: territory includes Michigan, northwestern Ohio, and northeastern Indiana. Home to the Detroit Tigers (MLB), Detroit Pistons (NBA), Detroit Red Wings (NHL), Detroit Shock (WNBA), and local coverage of the Big Ten and Horizon League athletic conferences.

Formerly Pro-Am Sports Systems (PASS Sports).

Florida: territory includes Florida, and parts of southern Alabama and southern Georgia. With co-owned Sun Sports, they are the home to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (MLB), Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL), Orlando Magic (NBA), Miami Heat (NBA), Florida Marlins (MLB), Florida Panthers (NHL), plus local coverage of the Big East, Atlantic Sun, Conference USA, and Atlantic Coast athletic conferences.

Formerly SportsChannel Florida.

Midwest: territory includes Missouri, southern Illinois, Indiana, eastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, and western Kentucky. Home to the Indiana Pacers (NBA), Indiana Fever (WNBA), St. Louis Cardinals (MLB), St. Louis Blues (NHL), and local coverage of minor league baseball and collegiate sports featuring the Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA, Southeastern, Western Athletic, Missouri Valley, and Horizon League conferences.

A separate feed for Indiana, still officially called FSN Midwest (but sometimes called FSN Indiana in TV listings), is sometimes in place to show Indiana Pacers games to Hoosiers while the main feed shows St. Louis Blues games to those in Missouri & southwestern Illinois on occasions when both teams are playing simultaneously.

The Midwest Sports Report is produced at FSN Pittsburgh. Formerly Prime Sports Midwest. Starting in 2006, selected St. Louis Cardinals games will be televised on FSN South, into parts of Kentucky, Tenneesee, and Mississippi.

New England*: territory includes Massachusetts, eastern and central Connecticut, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Home to the Boston Celtics (NBA), New England Revolution (MLS), and local college sports. 50% owned by Comcast, 50% owned by Cablevision.

Formerly SportsChannel New England.

New York*: territory includes New York, northern New Jersey, northeast Pennsylvania, southern Connecticut. Home to the New York Islanders (NHL), New Jersey Devils (NHL), plus local coverage of the Big East, Northeast, and Metro Atlantic athletic conferences. Co-owned with Madison Square Garden Network, which carries the New York Knicks (NBA), Buffalo Sabres (NHL), New York Rangers (NHL), New York Liberty (WNBA), Red Bull New York (MLS), plus regional collegiate football and basketball.

Formerly SportsChannel New York.

North: territory includes Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota. Home to the Milwaukee Brewers (MLB), Milwaukee Bucks (NBA), Minnesota Twins (MLB), Minnesota Timberwolves (NBA), Minnesota Wild (NHL) and Minnesota Lynx (WNBA), plus local coverage of the Big Ten, Conference USA, and Horizon League athletic conferences.

There are split feeds for the Minnesota/Dakotas region and for the state of Wisconsin, except for the Wisconsin portion of the Minneapolis-St. Paul market. Formerly WCCO II (was a secondary cable outlet for CBS' WCCO-TV, before expanding into Wisconsin), then Midwest Sports Channel. The Wisconsin version began as the Wisconsin Sports Network, a gametime-only network created by Time Warner Cable Milwaukee and Group W in 1996 before operations and programming were merged into MSC in time for the 1998 Brewers season.

Northwest: territory includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, parts of Wyoming, and parts of northern Nevada. Home to the Seattle Mariners (MLB), Seattle SuperSonics (NBA), Seattle Storm (WNBA), Portland Trail Blazers (NBA), plus local coverage of the Pacific 10, Western Athletic, Big Sky, West Coast and Mountain West conferences.

Formerly Prime Sports Northwest. In an interesting note, the Seattle-based FSN Northwest is the homebase of FSN Detroit's nightly Detroit Sports Report.

Ohio: territory includes Ohio, parts of Indiana, Kentucky, western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and extreme western New York. Home to the Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA), formerly the Cleveland Indians (MLB), Cincinnati Reds (MLB), Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL), plus local coverage of the Big East, Southeastern, Atlantic 10, Mid American, Metro Atlantic, Great Midwest, Conference USA, Atlantic Coast, and Missouri Valley athletic conferences.

There are separate feeds of FSN Ohio for each of the Cleveland, Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky, and Columbus markets. Formerly SportsChannel Ohio. The defunct Ohio Sports Report was produced at the former Fox Sports Net Chicago facility. Indians games and related programming will be on its team-owned SportsTime Ohio, beginning with the 2006 Major League Baseball season. Starting in 2006, selected Cincinnati Reds games will be televised on FSN Midwest in parts of Indiana.

Pittsburgh: territory includes western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, western New York, western Maryland and eastern Ohio. Home to the Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL), Pittsburgh Pirates (MLB), Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA—via FSN Ohio), plus local coverage of the Big East, Big Ten, Atlantic 10, and Horizon League athletic conferences, and local minor league baseball from the New York-Penn League.

The network also airs the PIAA District 7 (more commonly known as the WPIAL) Championships for high school sports, in particular the football games, which take place at Heinz Field. Formerly KBL Sports, then Prime Sports KBL.

Rocky Mountain: territory includes Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, western Kansas, western Nebraska, and parts of Nevada and New Mexico. Home to the Colorado Rockies (MLB).

A sub-feed for Utah (FSN Utah) carries the Utah Jazz (NBA), Phoenix Coyotes (NHL—via FSN Arizona), Real Salt Lake (MLS) and local collegiate sports. Among the featured athletic conferences on both the main and Utah feeds, they include Big 12, Big Sky, Western Athletic, Conference USA, and Mountain West. Formerly Prime Sports Rocky Mountain.

South: territory includes Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, northern Mississippi, Alabama, and most of North Carolina. Home to the Atlanta Hawks (NBA), Memphis Grizzlies (NBA), Carolina Hurricanes (NHL), Atlanta Braves (MLB), Nashville Predators (NHL) plus local coverage of Atlantic Coast, Southeastern, Conference USA, Big South, and Southern athletic conferences.

Formerly SportSouth. With Fox buying Turner South from Time Warner the Georgia portion of FSN South may be rebranded as FSN Atlanta.

Southwest: territory includes Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, parts of New Mexico, and Arkansas. Home to the Dallas Mavericks (NBA), Dallas Stars (NHL), Texas Rangers (MLB), FC Dallas (MLS), San Antonio Spurs (NBA), San Antonio Silver Stars (WNBA), plus local coverage of the Southland, Big 12, and Conference USA athletic conferences.

A sub-feed is offered for Southeast Texas (FSN Houston), which operates evenings and weekends, and is home to the Houston Rockets (NBA), Houston Astros (MLB), Houston Dynamo (MLS), Houston Comets (WNBA), and local collegiate sports. Formerly Home Sports Entertainment, then Prime Sports Southwest.

West & Prime Ticket: territory includes southern California, southern Nevada, and Hawaii. Home to the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA), Los Angeles Clippers (NBA), Los Angeles Angels (MLB), Los Angeles Dodgers (MLB), Los Angeles Kings (NHL), Anaheim Mighty Ducks (NHL), Los Angeles Sparks (WNBA), Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS), C.D. Chivas USA (MLS), and local coverage of the Pacific 10, West Coast, Mountain West, Western Athletic, and Big West conferences.

FSN West was formerly Prime Ticket, then Prime Sports West. FSN Prime Ticket was formerly FSN West 2. The Prime Ticket name change from FSN West 2 took place on April 3, 2006. West 2 was (in a way) a descendent of SportsChannel Los Angeles (originally Z Channel, a Los Angeles pay-TV movie channel), where the teams that originally appeared on SCLA (going off the air in December 1993) re-appeared years later on FSN West 2 (now FSN Prime Ticket), which went on the air in January 1997. Studios for the Southern California Sports Report are located at STAPLES Center.

Asterisk denotes stations owned by Cablevision through Rainbow Media Group.

In its recent parting of ways with Cablevision, Fox now has 100% ownership of the FSN national programming feed as well as National Advertising Partners (NAP) which sells national advertising.

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Fox College Sports (FCS)

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FSN also offers Fox College Sports (formerly Fox Sports Digital Networks) for digital cable subscribers. These are three channels (each marked Atlantic, Central, and Pacific) that provide programming (primarly colleigate sports, plus minor league sports) that would be carried from each individual FSN network, as well as each affilliate's regional sports reports and individually-produced programming (such as coaches shows, team magazines, and documentaries). More or less, these three networks are condensed versions of the 22 FSN-affiliated networks, including Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, though the channels also show international events that fit too oddly on FSN or Fox Soccer Channel, such as the Commonwealth Games and the FINA World Swimming Championships.

The FCS Channels offers the FSN feeds on the following channels:

Atlantic: New England, New York, Pittsburgh, South, Florida, Sun Sports, CSN Mid-Atlantic and MSG Network

Central: Chicago, Detroit, Southwest, North, Midwest, and Ohio.

Pacific: Bay Area, Arizona, Rocky Mountain, Northwest, West, and Prime Ticket.

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Separate networks

The major regional sports networks that are not part of Fox Sports Net are:

Turner South, owned by Time Warner. Broadcasts Thrashers, Hawks, and Braves games. Fox Cable Networks has agreed to buy Turner South.

Sun Sports (Florida, although owned by Fox). Broadcasts Orlando Magic and Miami Heat basketball and Tampa Bay Lightning hockey, as well as sporting events from the University of Florida, Florida State University, and the University of Central Florida.

New England Sports Network (NESN), which is owned by the Boston Red Sox (80%) and Boston Bruins (20%).

Empire Sports Network (Upstate New York). Ceased broadcasting March 7, 2005 upon the collapse of its parent company Adelphia Communications and the sale of their principal customer, the Buffalo Sabres.

Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES), which is owned by Yankee Global Enterprises LLC with 40% owned by Goldman Sachs.

Madison Square Garden Network (MSG) (New York). Owned by Cablevision as MSG Networks alongside FSN New York, through Rainbow Media Group. Believed to be the first of the regional sports networks in the United States (first went on the air in October, 1969).

Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia. Formed in the late 1990s to take the place of SportsChannel Philadelphia, which first aired in the late 1980s.

Comcast SportsNet Mid Atlantic, formerly known as Home Team Sports (HTS), based in Washington, D.C.; Fox and Comcast acquired this network from Viacom in 2000 along with Midwest Sports Channel in Minneapolis and Milwaukee. Fox later purchased 100% of MSC in a swap with Comcast for HTS and renamed it FSN North.

Comcast SportsNet Chicago, based out of FSN Chicago's former studios at 350 N Orleans Street. Gained rights to Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks and Bulls from FSN Chicago. Also owns rights to the Chicago Fire (MLS).

Comcast SportsNet West, based in the Bay Area with rights to Sacramento Kings games.

Charter Sports Southeast (CSS), based in Atlanta with sub-regional feeds available.

Altitude Sports and Entertainment, owned by Stan Kroenke. Airs Colorado Avalanche hockey, Denver Nuggets basketball, Colorado Rapids soccer, Colorado Springs Sky Sox minor league baseball and other Denver and Rocky Mountain area sports & general interest programming.

Royals Sports Television Network (Kansas City, western Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Iowa), owned by the Kansas City Royals.

Channel 4 San Diego (4SD), based in San Diego with rights to San Diego Padres and Mountain West and West Coast Conference games. Owned by Cox Communications.

Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), newly formed as part of the settlement between Major League Baseball and the Baltimore Orioles as part of the relocation of the Montréal Expos to Washington, D.C., MASN began broadcasting Washington Nationals games in 2005 and will broadcast the Orioles in 2007 - supposedly replacing or suplanting CSN Mid Atlantic. Reports state that Orioles owner Peter Angelos has negiotated a large share of the ownership of the new network, perhaps as high as 90%.