Country United States Founded 1 April 2011 | Language English | |
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Launched April 1, 2011 (2011-04-01) Owned by AT&T Sports Networks
(AT&T Inc.) Picture format 720p (HDTV)
480i (SDTV) Broadcast area Nationwide (through regional affiliates) Headquarters Seattle, Washington, United States Parent organizations AT&T, AT&T Sports Networks Profiles | ||
Root sports main theme
Root Sports (stylized as ROOT Sports) is the collective name for a group of regional sports networks in the United States that are primarily owned and operated by the AT&T Sports Networks division of AT&T Inc. Each of the networks carry regional broadcasts of sporting events from various professional, collegiate and high school sports teams (with broadcasts typically exclusive to each individual network, although some are shown on more than one Root Sports network within a particular team's designated market area).
Contents
- Root sports main theme
- Penguins hockey on root sports intro
- History
- Networks
- Root Sports HD
- Root Sports Plus
- References
In addition to carrying team and conference-related magazine, analysis and discussion programs exclusive to each region, most of the networks (with the current exception of Root Sports Southwest) also broadcast nationally distributed sports events, documentary and entertainment programs through a programming agreement with Fox Sports Networks, a remnant of their former ownership under their previous corporate parents.
While previously operating under FSN branding, these four networks relaunched under the Root Sports name on April 1, 2011, coinciding with the start of the Major League Baseball regular season. Collectively, the Root Sports networks serve 8.3 million cable and satellite subscribers in 18 states. Root Sports maintains business and master control operations are based in San Francisco, California.
Penguins hockey on root sports intro
History
On December 22, 2006, Liberty Media acquired four Fox Sports regional networks – FSN Utah, FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Northwest and FSN Rocky Mountain – as part of a deal with News Corporation, which exchanged the networks and its controlling 38.5% ownership interest in satellite provider DirecTV for US$550 million in cash and stock, in exchange for the 16.3% stake in News Corporation that had been owned by Liberty. These three FSN affiliates became part of the Liberty Entertainment division, which also owned a stake in the Game Show Network.
On May 4, 2009, DirecTV Group Inc. announced it would become a part of Liberty Entertainment, and spin off certain properties into a separate company under the DirecTV name, in a deal in which Liberty would increase its share in DirecTV from a minority 48% to a controlling 54%, while Liberty owner John Malone and his family would own a 24% interest. DirecTV would then 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.
In December 2010, DirecTV announced that it would rebrand its FSN affiliates collectively under the "Root Sports" brand. The new brand was created to emphasize connections between the network and fans who passionately support (or "root" for) their local teams. The networks would, according to Mark Shuken, president and chief executive officer of DirecTV Sports Networks at the time, have a "mindset" that "enables us to go from simply covering teams and games to providing an immersive experience as a fan and for the fan." The introduction of Root Sports was also intended to signify a form of independence from FSN; however, the Root Sports networks will maintain their current affiliations with the group through a programming agreement. The Root Sports brand was phased in on the networks during the first quarter of 2011, and officially replaced the channels' FSN branding (FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Northwest, FSN Rocky Mountain and FSN Utah) on April 1, 2011. The launch of Root Sports coincided with the opening weekend of the 2011 Major League Baseball season, as Root Sports holds broadcast rights for all of the MLB teams in their respective regions.
On August 6, 2014, DirecTV and AT&T acquired Comcast SportsNet Houston – which had earlier been granted a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection placement through an involuntary petition filed by Comcast and NBCUniversal in September 2013 – as a 60/40 joint venture (with DirecTV as majority owner). The network was subsequently rebranded as Root Sports Southwest on November 17, 2014, becoming the first Root Sports network to not be a rebranded Fox Sports Networks affiliate.
On April 8, 2016, DirecTV Sports Networks rebranded under the AT&T name as AT&T Sports Networks.
Networks
The Root Sports group consists of four FSN-affiliated and one former CSN-affiliated sports network(s):
Root Sports HD
Root Sports HD is a high definition simulcast feed of select programs from Root Sports including live sports events, studio shows and Fox Sports Networks-distributed national programming. Each regional channel (and in some cases, their alternate feed) has its own separate high-definition feed, with their own set schedules of programming that are made available in HD.
Root Sports Plus
Currently, Root Sports Northwest, Root Sports Pittsburgh and Root Sports Southwest maintain alternate (or overflow) feeds under the Root Sports Plus brand (with the network's regional name suffixed preceding the "Plus" title) for the broadcast of two or more events involving teams that the respective networks hold the broadcast rights to carry. These overflow feeds are available via digital cable, telco and satellite providers in their home markets, which may provide alternate programming when not used to carry conflicting scheduled game broadcasts.