Fox Sports Networks

Beginnings

At the dawn of the cable television era, many regional sports networks (RSNs) vied to compete with the largest national sports network, ESPN. The most notable were the SportsChannel networks, which first began operating in 1976 with the launch of the original SportsChannel (now MSG Plus) in the New York City area and later branched out into channels serving Chicago and Florida; Prime Network, which launched in 1983 with Home Sports Entertainment (now Fox Sports Southwest) as its charter member network and later branched out onto the West Coast as "Prime Sports"; and SportSouth, an RSN operated by the Turner Broadcasting System.

On October 31, 1995, News Corporation, which ten years earlier launched the Fox Broadcasting Company, a general entertainment broadcast network that formed its own sports division in 1994 with the acquisition of the television rights to the National Football Conference of the National Football League, entered into a joint venture with TCI's Liberty Media, acquiring a 50% ownership interest in the company's Prime Sports affiliates. On July 3, 1996, News Corporation and Liberty Media/TCI announced that the Prime Sports networks would be rebranded under the new "Fox Sports Net" brand; the Prime Sports-branded affiliates were officially relaunched as Fox Sports Net on November 1 of that year. That same year, Fox purchased SportSouth from Turner and rebranded that network as Fox Sports South.

On June 30, 1997, the Fox/Liberty joint venture purchased a 40% interest in Cablevision's sports properties including the SportsChannel America networks, Madison Square Garden, and the New York Knicks and New York Rangers professional sports franchises, a deal worth $850 million; the deal formed the venture National Sports Partners to run the owned-and-operated regional networks. In early 1998, SportsChannel America was integrated into the Fox Sports Net family of networks; SportsChannel Florida, however, remained as the lone SportsChannel America-branded network before it joined FSN as well in 2000 after News Corporation and Cablevision purchased Florida Panthers owner Wayne Huizenga's controlling interest in that network.

On July 11, 2000, Comcast purchased a majority interest in the Minneapolis-based Midwest Sports Channel and Baltimore-based Home Team Sports from Viacom. News Corporation, a minority owner in both networks, wanted to acquire them outright and integrate the two networks into Fox Sports Net. The company filed a lawsuit against Comcast ten days later on July 21, in an attempt to block the sale. On September 7, 2000, as part of a settlement between the two companies, Comcast traded its equity interest in Midwest Sports Channel (which became Fox Sports Net North) to News Corporation in exchange for exclusive ownership of Home Team Sports (which subsequently joined competing regional sports network Comcast SportsNet as Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic).

Ownership realignments

In September 2004, Fox Sports Net became known simply as "FSN"; however the former name remained in common use until 2010, when "Fox Sports Local" was adopted for use in referencing its regional networks. On February 22, 2005, Fox's then-parent company, News Corporation, acquired full ownership of FSN/Fox Sports Local, following an asset trade with Cablevision Systems Corporation, in which Fox sold its interest in Madison Square Garden and the arena's NBA and NHL team tenants in exchange for acquiring sole ownership of Fox Sports Ohio and Fox Sports Florida. Cablevision simultaneously gained sole ownership of Fox Sports Chicago and Fox Sports New York, and a 50% interest in Fox Sports New England (with Comcast retaining its existing 50% stake); Fox and Cablevision, however, retained joint ownership of Fox Sports Bay Area.

Fox Sports Chicago ceased operations in June 2006, after losing the regional cable television rights to local professional teams (including the Chicago Bulls, Blackhawks, Cubs and White Sox) two years earlier to the newly launched Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

On December 22, 2006, News Corporation sold its interest in four Fox Sports regional networks – FSN Utah, FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Northwest and FSN Rocky Mountain – as well as its 38.5% ownership stake in satellite provider DirecTV to Liberty Media for $550 million in cash and stock, in exchange for Liberty's 16.3% stake in News Corporation. On May 4, 2009, DirecTV Group Inc. announced it would become a part of Liberty's entertainment unit, with plans to spin off certain properties into a separate company under the DirecTV name, which would operate the four acquired FSN-affiliated networks through DirecTV Sports Networks, a new division formed on November 19, 2009, upon the spin-off's completion.

On April 30, 2007, Cablevision sold its 50% interests in the New England and Bay Area networks to Comcast for $570 million; both networks became part of Comcast SportsNet, with FSN New England relaunching as Comcast SportsNet New England in July 2007 and FSN Bay Area relaunching as Comcast SportsNet Bay Area March 2008. Despite Cablevision's sale of the networks, the channels continued to use "Fox Sports Net/National Sports Partners" in its copyright tag until 2008 (the copyright used has since changed to "National Sports Programming").

On April 1, 2011, DirecTV Sports Networks rebranded its FSN regional affiliates under the Root Sports brand. In 2012, FSN/Fox Sports Local relocated its headquarters from the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California to Houston, Texas. It was also in 2012 when FSN/Fox Sports Local was re-branded to its current branding. The FSN owned-and-operated networks were spun off along with most of News Corporation's U.S. entertainment properties into 21st Century Fox on July 1, 2013.

On-screen graphics

FSN has often served as the testing ground for innovations in sports broadcast graphics developed by Fox and the source of inspiration for the graphical appearances adopted by other networks. The Fox Sports Networks were the first U.S. sports channels to introduce a banner graphic to display the game's score and remaining length placed on the top of the screen (initially known as the FoxBox). Since FSN implemented with the top-screen banner graphic, many other major networks have abandoned the corner box graphic in favor of the bar.

2001–2005

FSN first used the scoring banner for most of its broadcasts beginning in 2001, using a simpler layout than the versions used in more recent years. It was designed as a transparent black rectangle, with abbreviations of the participating teams displayed in white and scores placed in yellow boxes (the white boxes for scores were used on some broadcasts until 2002), and the quarter or inning, time or number of outs, and a horizontal version of the Fox Sports Net logo (with the "FOX" in the logo rendered in a white box until sometime in 2004, later changing to blue) on the far right. For baseball broadcasts, a baseball diamond graphic was placed on the far left with the pitch count/speed on the right side. In mid-July 2003, Fox Sports Net adopted new graphics for its baseball broadcasts, which were later expanded to college football, hockey and basketball broadcasts, despite retaining the banner. Early in 2004, the logo was changed to reveal the FSN pillbox logo and "FOX SPORTSNET" in black; in July of that year, the "FOX SPORTSNET" logo was replaced with the region branding of the individual FSN channel. Fox Sports Net would formally become known as FSN in September 2004.

The score banner used for FSN telecasts was also used by Fox Sports for its Major League Baseball broadcasts on the Fox Broadcasting Company, albeit with a different graphics package, from 2001 until the 2004 postseason, with modifications to the banner in 2003 to more closely mirror the version used by FSN.

2005–2008

In mid-June 2005, the banner was given a cosmetic upgrade, although it otherwise continued to use the graphics introduced in July 2003. The team abbreviations were rendered in white or black text in the team's main color (depending on color contrast); the scores were also placed in white boxes, accompanied by a flash effect and a futuristic computer sound effect when one of the teams scored. During baseball telecasts, a flash effect was also used for the far-left diamond graphic (itself altered in 2006), to represent the bases being circled with an underside "HOME RUN" graphic below the banner and the team or player name in electronic lettering. The FSN logo at far right was also rendered in a black ovular shape with the region name rendered in white.

2008–2011

For the 2008 college football season, the scoring banner reverted to a box design at the top-left portion of the screen (with no FSN branding, other than the logo bug of the local network in the top-right corner), featuring a Collegiate-style typeface, with similarities to Fox's current graphic styling and the text style used by Big Ten Network. The box changes to the colors of the team in possession of the ball, with down information in the top portion and a text box with information such as punt hangtime extending from the bottom; the box flipped to indicate a score and the size of the possessing team's scoring area expanded with the possession arrow. Variations of the package were later implemented for professional sports events televised by FSN affiliates, beginning with NHL telecasts on October 11, 2008, NBA telecasts on October 28 (initially using a smaller score box placed at the bottom-right for the 2008–09 season, before switching to a horizontal "strip" design for the 2009–10 season), and Major League Baseball games on both FSN and Fox in April 2009.

New wordmark logos for each FSN owned-and-operated affiliate also debuted with the graphics package, featuring a bold "FS" abbreviation, followed by the region name (or a team name during professional sports events, also colored in the respective team's colors); the word "Net" was also dropped from the names of each channel. FSN affiliates owned by DirecTV Sports Networks retained the previous "pillbox" logo despite also adopting the new graphics; however, FSN New York and the Comcast-owned FSN affiliates were relaunched under the respective MSG Plus and Comcast SportsNet brands prior to the adoption of the new FSN package.

In 2010, FSN affiliates also began to increase their use of the standard Fox Sports brand through various means, including the use of the standard Fox Sports microphone flags, the introduction of localized versions of the Fox Sports frontcap before live broadcasts, and the incorporation of the Fox Sports logo into a new logo animation for the network's bug. In 2011, some FSN networks also followed the lead of the Fox network by framing its graphics for the 16:9 aspect ratio (which resulted in the logo bug being shifted farther to the right outside of the 4:3 safe area, and the corner score box to the far left) and converting its standard definition feeds to broadcast HD content in a letterboxed format.

2011–present

At the start of the 2011 Major League Baseball season, Fox's regional sports networks and national programming began using an on-air presentation identical to that used for national Fox Sports telecasts aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company. It also phased in a graphics package designed by Troika Design Group – however, in-game graphics still used the previous, metallic FSN designs until 2012.

Fox Sports introduced an updated logo across all of its properties on September 1, 2012, with its regional networks dropping the "FS" wordmark entirely and adopting individual logos combining the Fox Sports logo and the name of each channel's regional name (or team name in bugs shown during game broadcasts).

Comcast SportsNet

From its inception in 1997 until July 31, 2012, Comcast maintained an agreement to carry select programming sourced from Fox Sports Net on its six Comcast SportsNet regional networks: Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, Comcast SportsNet California, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, Comcast SportsNet New England and Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.

From September 2012 to September 2013, Fox syndicated select college football games produced by the Fox Sports regional networks to broadcast television stations in some of these markets. Comcast Sports Net Mid-Atlantic resumed airing select Fox Sports-produced ACC games in 2013; however, Fox Sports programming has not returned to any other CSN network. As of 2015, most of Fox Sports Networks' other programming is presently carried in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. markets on MASN2 and in the Boston market on the New England Sports Network (NESN), however Fox Sports does not have distributors for its national RSN programming in the Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco markets.

Fox College Sports (FCS)

Fox Sports Networks also operates Fox College Sports (FCS), a slate of three digital cable channels (Fox College Sports Atlantic, Fox College Sports Central, and Fox College Sports Pacific) featuring programming divided by region (primarily collegiate and high school sports, as well as minor league sports events) from each individual FSN network; the FCS networks also carry each affiliate's regional sports news programs and non-news-and-event programming (such as coaches shows, team magazines, and documentaries). The three networks are, more or less, condensed versions of the 22 FSN-affiliated networks (including Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic), though the channels also show international events that do not fit within the programming inventories of FSN or Fox Soccer Plus (and prior to 2013, the latter's now-defunct parent Fox Soccer), such as the Commonwealth Games, World University Games and the FINA World Swimming Championships.

The three FCS channels offer FSN feeds from the following channels, including live Big 12 Conference football, Pac-12 Conference football and basketball and Atlantic Coast Conference basketball games. The channels also rebroadcast shows originally produced by and shown on the following listed networks:

Fox College Sports also broadcasts high school and Independent Women's Football League games, and college magazine and coach's shows. Fox College Sports formerly partnered with Big Ten Network to provide programming.

High definition

All of the Fox Sports Networks regional affiliates maintain high definition simulcast feeds presented in 720p (the default resolution format for 21st Century Fox's broadcast and pay television properties). All sports programming broadcast on each of the networks (including most team-related analysis and discussion programs, and non-event amateur sports programs) is broadcast in a format optimized for 16:9 widescreen displays, with graphics now framed within a widescreen safe area rather than the 4:3 safe area, intended to be shown in a letterboxed format for standard definition viewers.

Programming strategy

The programming strategy adopted by most of the Fox Sports Networks is to acquire the play-by-play broadcast rights to major sports teams in their regional market. This does not include NFL games, since the league's contracts require all games to be aired on broadcast television in each participating team's local markets. Therefore, FSN focuses on other major professional leagues, like the MLB, NHL, NBA and WNBA.

In addition to local play-by-play coverage, the FSN networks also broadcast and produce pre-game shows, post-game shows, and weekly "magazine" shows centered on the teams that maintain rights with the individual network. In some markets, FSN competes directly with other regional sports networks for the broadcast rights to team-specific programming.

Also, FSN has competed directly with ESPN in acquiring the conference rights to various collegiate sports events. One notable agreement is that with the Pac-12 Conference, in which packages of football and men's basketball regular season games are broadcast across all FSN networks within the regions served by each Pac-12 member university. Fox Sports Networks broadcasts the majority of the Pac-12 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, except the tournament final, as well as a few Pac-12 matches from other conference-sanctioned sports (such as baseball and volleyball).

Besides play-by-play game rights, FSN provided a common set of programming that was available to all its regional sports networks, most notably The Dan Patrick Show, The Best Damn Sports Show Period and Final Score (TBDSSP and Final Score eventually ceased production, while The Dan Patrick Show later moved to the NBC Sports Network). Until August 2012, in some of regions served by that RSN, member channels of the competing Comcast SportsNet (as mentioned above) carried FSN programming through broadcast agreements with Fox Sports.

Fox Sports Networks' national sports telecasts were formerly marketed under the "FSN" brand; these national programs began to use more generic branding with fewer references to FSN or Fox in 2008, as a result of a number of Fox Sports Net affiliates being rebranded or realigned with other RSN chains (including FSN New England and FSN Bay Area, which both became part of Comcast SportsNet; FSN New York's relaunch as MSG Plus, the sister to MSG Network; and the eventual relaunch of several FSN affiliates acquired by DirecTV Sports Networks under the Root Sports brand), however these networks have since reverted to utilizing Fox branding on their FSN-syndicated broadcasts.

National prime time programming

In addition to regional programming, the Fox Sports Networks carry some prime time programming distributed to all of the regional networks (including past and present series such as The Best Damn Sports Show Period and Chris Myers Interviews). FSN has tried to compete with ESPN in regards to original programming, most notably with the Fox Sports National Sports Report, a daily sports news program designed to compete with ESPN's SportsCenter, which debuted on FSN in 1996. Originally a two-hour program, the running time of National Sports Report was steadily cut back (eventually dwindling to 30 minutes) as its ratings declined and the cost of producing the program increased. FSN hired popular former SportsCenter anchor Keith Olbermann and used him to promote the show heavily; ratings continued to slide, however, leading Fox Sports to cancel the National Sports Report, which aired its last edition in February 2002.

In some markets, FSN aired the Regional Sports Report (whose headline title was usually customized with the name of the region in which the particular program was broadcast, such as the Midwest Sports Report or Detroit Sports Report), a companion news program focusing primarily on regional sports as well as highlights and news on other sports teams that debuted in 2000 to complement the National Sports Report; many of the regional reports were cancelled in 2002 due to increasing costs of producing the individual programs.

Live national play-by-play

Other sports

Other shows

In addition, FSN airs an extensive lineup of poker shows, including Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament and MansionPoker.net PokerDome Challenge. Recently, the World Poker Tour broadcast its seventh season on FSN as well.

Former programming

Pay-per-view

FSN distributed its first pay-per-view event on November 10, 2006, a boxing match in which former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield defeated Fres Oquendo in a unanimous decision at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The fight was also streamed free of charge on the FoxSports.com website outside the United States.

Americans in Focus

In February 2008, FSN launched a public service initiative called "Americans in Focus", with the sponsorship support of Farmers Insurance. This initiative consists of one-minute vignettes profiling persons of non-Caucasian ethnicity, with segments airing on the FSN networks in February 2008 and 2009 during Black History Month, from September 15 to October 15, 2008, for Hispanic Heritage Month and in March 2009 for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The Americans in Focus vignettes and the companion sub-site on the Fox Sports website were discontinued in April 2009.