Regional sports network


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In the United States of America, a regional sports network, or RSN, is a cable television station that presents sports programming to a local market. The most important programming on an RSN consists of live broadcasts of professional and college sporting events, as those games generate an overwhelming percentage of an RSN's advertising income. During the rest of the day, these stations show other sports and recreation programming. These channels are often the source content for out-of-market packages.

Most regional sports networks in the United States are either affiliated with Fox Sports Net or Comcast SportsNet, with supplemental programming from networks such as America One or ESPNEWS.

In Canada, Rogers Sportsnet operates four regional sports networks.

Contents

Fox Sports Net

For years, the default RSN for many markets was owned by Fox Sports Net, but an increasing trend is for the teams whose games make up the lucrative programming to own the RSN themselves. This serves two purposes: First, the teams make more money operating an RSN than they would collecting a licensing fee from, for example, Fox Sports Net.

Second, by owning their own RSN, teams that must share revenues with other members of their league can mask its broadcast-related profits. Under the old model, a team collects a large fee for licensing its games to the RSN. That fee would then be disclosed and shared with the other teams in the league. Under the new, team-owned RSN model, the team demands only a nominal fee, so the profits for local broadcasting stay with the team. In Fall 2008, Fox Sports Net reverted to its original name Fox Sports

Current Fox Sports affiliates

The current Fox Sports affiliates are:

Former Fox Sports affiliates

Some current networks were once Fox Sports affiliates, and they all still show national Fox Sports programs, since the markets they serve have no FSN affiliate. They are:

Fox Sports sister channels

Some channels are owned by Fox Sports and split local sports coverage with the Fox Sports affiliate in their market. They are:

Fox Sports in Los Angeles and Southern California

Since The Los Angeles Area and the rest of Southern California have so many sports teams, it has 2 Fox Sports affiliates which split coverage of local sports: Fox Sports Prime Ticket and Fox Sports West. It is the only market that has two 24 hour, full time Fox Sports affiliates. Fox Sports Prime Ticket is also the only Fox Sports affiliate not named after the city, state or region it serves, as well as the only affiliate that contains the name of its old incarnation (The original Prime Ticket).

Fox Sports Subfeeds and Alternate feeds

Some Fox Sports affiliates have subfeeds to eliminate conflicts when 2 teams that they have rights to are playing at the same time, so they can air both games at once. They are:

Some Fox Sports affiliates have alternate (or overflow) feeds for the same purpose, named after the host network with "Plus" after it (i.e. Fox Sports Detroit Plus).

Subfeeds and alternate (overflow) feeds are only used during live games, and are turned off the rest of the time.

Comcast SportsNet

Seeing an opportunity to serve sports fans on a more local level and generate profits, cable giant Comcast began creating their own RSN -- Comcast Sportsnet -- in the 1990s.

  • Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia in Philadelphia. Formed in the late 1990s to take the place of SportsChannel Philadelphia, which first aired in the late 1980s. Has rights to Phillies, 76ers, and Flyers games. This is the only CSN affiliate that is only available on Comcast, and not other cable systems or satellite.
  • Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS), based in Atlanta with sub-regional feeds available. Airs regional college and high school games and other sports. Owned jointly by Comcast and Charter Communications, and only distributed to cable systems. The Comcast 'crescent C' logo is used for the channel's logo despite Charter's co-ownership.

Alternate feeds on Comcast SportsNet

Just like FSN, most Comcast SportsNet affiliates have alternate (or overflow) feeds to avoid conflicts when 2 teams they have rights to are playing at the same time, so they can show both games at once. They are named after the host network with "Plus" after it (i.e. Comcast SportsNet Chicago Plus). The alternate (or overflow) feeds are only used during live games and are turned off the rest of the time.

Comcast SportsNet in The San Francisco Bay / Oakland Area

Since The San Francisco Bay / Oakland Area and the rest of Northern California have so many sports teams, it has 2 Comcast SportsNet affiliates which split coverage of local sports: Comcast SportsNet California and Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. It is the only market that has two 24 hour, full time Comcast SportsNet affiliates.

Rogers Sportsnet

Main article: Rogers Sportsnet

Rogers Sportsnet, owned by Rogers Communications, is an RSN network serving Canada. It consists of four regional networks, and a national HD network:

  • Rogers Sportsnet Ontario, which serves all of Ontario excluding the Ottawa region (the HD network for the most part mirrors the Ontario feed).
  • Rogers Sportsnet HD, which is a high definition rebroadcast of the Ontario feed with regional variations when necessary.

Other RSNs

Other Current Regional Sports Networks

  • Madison Square Garden Network or (MSG) - The first regional sports network in The United States. It was launched in 1969 and serves the New York City Metropolitan Area. Its new sister channel is MSG Plus. The alternate (or overflow) feeds of MSG and MSG Plus are called MSG 2 and MSG Plus 2.
  • Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), owned by the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals, televises every available game of both teams (320 games annually). Official Network of the Baltimore Ravens, Georgetown Hoyas, George Mason Patriots, UNC Wilmington Seahawks. Partnerships with Big South conference, BB&T Classic. Regional provider of the Big East Game of the Week (football, men's basketball). Televises more than 520 live major sporting events annually. MASN's alternate (or overflow) feed is called MASN2.
  • Columbus Sports Network (CSN), broadcasting events, features, highlights and news on professional, collegiate, scholastic and amateur sports teams in the Columbus, OH area

One Conference College Networks

The Southeastern Conference explored starting its own network [1], but a recent deal by the University of Florida with Sun Sports, [2] and a long term deal between the SEC and the ESPN family of networks [3] have ended its likelihood.

Defunct networks

High Definition

Some RSNs broadcast select content in High Definition. These channels are usually available as part of a cable company's service, however on satellite services such as DirecTV, HD games are available on dedicated channels, most the time free as part of an out of market package. Fox Sports Net affiliates have dedicated HD channels, but since FSN produces very little content in HD (live games, both regional and national, and national shows like FSN Final Score and The Baseball Report are the only thing FSN does produce in HD), the HD channels are left blank when the program being shown is not available in HD.

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ SEC explores launching its own TV Network
  2. ^ Florida rights deal may rule out SEC channel
  3. ^ ESPN scores 15 year SEC rights deal






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