Network Fox Sports Networks Language English | Country United States | |
Launched October 29, 2008 (2008-10-29) Owned by Fox Entertainment Group
(21st Century Fox) Picture format 720p (HDTV)
480i (SDTV) | ||
Fox Sports Oklahoma is an American regional sports network that is owned by Fox Cable Networks, a unit of the Fox Entertainment Group division of 21st Century Fox, and operates as an affiliate of Fox Sports Networks. The channel provides statewide coverage of sports events within the state of Oklahoma, namely the Oklahoma City Thunder, the state's major college sports teams, and high school sports.
Contents
Fox Sports Oklahoma is available on cable providers throughout Oklahoma, and nationwide on satellite via DirecTV.
Background
Fox Sports Oklahoma launched on October 29, 2008 as a spinoff of Fox Sports Southwest. It was created order to serve as the cable broadcaster of the Oklahoma City Thunder, after Fox Sports Southwest acquired the broadcast rights to the NBA franchise following its relocation to Oklahoma City that year from Seattle.
It initially split the rights to Thunder game telecasts with independent station KSBI (channel 52, now a MyNetworkTV affiliate), under an agreement in which Fox Sports Oklahoma would produce a limited schedule of regular season games (most of which aired on weekends) for the station; the Thunder signed a new multi-year broadcast agreement with Fox Sports Oklahoma on August 3, 2010, rendering the team's games cable-exclusive beginning with the 2010-11 season.
Programming
In addition to holding the regional television rights to Thunder's regular season and any early-round playoff games, Fox Sports Oklahoma also broadcasts sporting events from the Oklahoma Sooners and the Oklahoma State Cowboys, including basketball, baseball and football telecasts. The channel also holds exclusive broadcast rights to state football, basketball and baseball championships held by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association. Fox Sports Oklahoma has broadcast Class A-6A Football Championship games and periodically runs OSSAA Championship Spotlight, a magazine program that highlights various high school sports depending on the time of year.
Fox Sports Oklahoma also broadcasts pre-game and post-game shows for the Oklahoma City Thunder (under the Thunder Live banner), and Oklahoma Sooners and Oklahoma State Cowboys-related programs (such as coaches' shows and team magazine programs). Outside of programming exclusive to Fox Sports Oklahoma, the channel runs various programs supplied by Fox Sports Southwest (including sports interview, magazine and analysis programs focusing on Texas sports) as well as some game telecasts including Texas Rangers baseball, Dallas Stars hockey.
Fox Sports Oklahoma Plus
Fox Sports Oklahoma Plus (also branded as "FOX Sports Oklahoma +" or FS OKLAHOMA +") is an alternate feed of Fox Sports Oklahoma used to broadcast select events within the designated market that cannot air on the main feed due to scheduling conflicts.
Fox Sports Oklahoma Plus primarily serves an overflow feed in the event that teams whose games Fox Sports Oklahoma has the right to broadcast play conflicting games simultaneously, mainly those that are televised on Fox Sports Southwest that may otherwise also air on Fox Sports Oklahoma (such as Texas Ranger Baseball or Dallas Star Hockey) are scheduled to be held at the same time as the scheduled telecast of a Thunder, Sooners or Cowboys game, or a high school or collegiate sporting event involving an Oklahoma team.