Network Fox Sports Networks | Country United States | |
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Launched March 17, 2012 (2012-03-17) Picture format 720p (HDTV)
480i (SDTV) Slogan We Are Fox Sports. We Are San Diego. Language English
Spanish (via SAP) Owned by Fox Entertainment Group, San Diego Padres | ||
Fox Sports San Diego is an American regional sports network that is owned as a joint venture between Fox Cable Networks, a unit of the Fox Entertainment Group division of 21st Century Fox (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the San Diego Padres (which owns the remaining 20% stake), and operates as an affiliate of Fox Sports Networks.
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The channel broadcasts local coverage of sports events within the San Diego market. Fox Sports San Diego is available on cable providers throughout San Diego County, neighboring Imperial County, as well as the Coachella and Las Vegas Valleys, Southern Arizona and Hawaii; it is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV. Within the San Diego market, Cox Communications and Spectrum provide an alternate Spanish play-by-play feed during Padres games via a second audio program feed from the team's Spanish radio network.
History
The network was established after Fox Sports reached a 20-year broadcast agreement for the regional cable television rights to carry games from the San Diego Padres Major League Baseball franchise, displacing previous rights holder 4SD, a local cable channel owned by Cox Communications. Henry S. Ford, an executive who previously ran operations at Fox's regional sports networks in Detroit and Ohio, was appointed as president and general manager of Fox Sports San Diego.
Fox Sports San Diego launched on March 17, 2012, with a San Diego Padres spring training game against the Kansas City Royals. The network started operations with a minimal presence and no dedicated editing facilities or studio; during its first season, Padres game broadcasts were produced from a high-definition production truck inherited from 4SD. Pre-game and post-game shows were also produced from the same truck, and broadcast from a semi-permanent stage in the "Park at the Park" area of Petco Park, using a set inspired by a similar staging area used by Fox for major sports events televised nationally. Resources have been shared with other FSN outlets – editing facilities were initially based out of Los Angeles, and master control is co-located alongside Fox's other regional sports networks at a facility near Houston, Texas.
San Diego Padres
The network was created as a result of the Padres and Fox Sports signing a 20-year broadcast deal, in which Fox would pay $28 million for rights in the first year and would likely escalate topping out at a potential $75 million in the final year of the contract. The commentary team of Dick Enberg and Mark Grant remained intact upon the move to the new network, as they are employed by the Padres themselves.
Professional
In addition to the Padres, the channel airs telecasts of professional sports teams (with the exception of baseball) from the neighboring Los Angeles-Orange County market, including the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers and the NHL's Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings, simulcasting those televised games by its sister network Fox Sports Prime Ticket (blacked out in the Imperial County). Fox Sports San Diego also airs Arizona Coyotes games in the Imperial County, simulcasting from its sister channel Fox Sports Arizona. Until the team folded in 2014, the network also carried simulcasts of MLS' Chivas USA games from Prime Ticket for the 2012 MLS Season. As of 2016, the channel serves as the TV partner of the Ducks' AHL affiliate San Diego Gulls.
College
Fox Sports San Diego has also been engaged in discussions with many of the area's college athletic programs including the University of San Diego, San Diego State University, University of California, San Diego, California State University, San Marcos and Point Loma Nazarene; and Los Angeles area universities including UCLA and the University of Southern California.
Current
Former
Availability
Cox Communications and DirecTV have carried the channel since its launch. Initially, DirecTV only carried Fox Sports San Diego as a part-time feed for live game broadcasts; it later added the dedicated, 24-hour feed on April 1, 2013. AT&T U-verse reached a carriage deal in September 2012, on the final day of the Padres regular season. Dish Network reached an agreement to carry Fox Sports San Diego on February 7, 2013, adding the channel to its lineup two months later on April 1.
Of the five major television providers serving the San Diego region, Time Warner Cable (which is now known as Spectrum that serves roughly 22% of the market) was a notable holdout in carrying the network on launch; by contrast, during the Padres' later tenure with the channel, TWC did carry 4SD (which was also, by contrast, not offered by U-verse or on satellite providers, leading to complaints filed by AT&T to the Federal Communications Commission that eventually led to the removal of the "terrestrial loophole" in 2010). In March 2013, the San Diego City Council held a hearing approving a symbolic resolution pressuring Fox and Time Warner Cable to reach a deal by the opening of the 2013 season, citing "the importance of professional baseball in San Diego." On February 10, 2014, Fox announced that they had finally reached an agreement with TWC to carry Fox Sports San Diego; the provider began carrying the channel on March 30, 2014, in time for the 2014 season.