Fox Sports Networks

Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, is the collective name for a group of regional sports networks in the United States that are primarily owned and operated by the Fox Entertainment Group division of 21st Century Fox. 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 multiple FSN networks within a particular team's designated market area), along with regional and national sports discussion, documentary and analysis programs.

Depending on their individual team rights, some Fox Sports Networks maintain overflow feeds available via digital cable, telco and satellite providers in their home markets, which may provide alternate programming when not used to carry game broadcasts that the main feed cannot carry due to scheduling conflicts. Fox Sports Networks is headquartered in Houston, Texas, with master control facilities based in both Houston and Los Angeles; FSN also maintains production facilities at Stage 19 at Universal Studios Florida (which formerly served as home of Nickelodeon Studios until its closure in 2005).

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, News Corporation acquired a 49% stake in the YES Network, the regional sports network in the New York metropolitan area co-owned by Yankee Global Enterprises. It was also in that year that FSN/Fox Sports Local relocated its headquarters from the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles to Houston, Texas, and then 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 January 25, 2014, 21st Century Fox then became the YES Networks' majority owner by purchasing an additional 31% share of it, increasing the company's ownership interest from 49% to 80%. YES later began carrying Fox Sports-sourced programming in September 2013, remaining branded as "YES".

On December 14, 2017, The Walt Disney Company announced their intent to acquire 21st Century Fox for $52.4 billion after the spin-off of certain businesses to a "New Fox" company, but particularly the 20th Century Fox film studio and entertainment cable networks. While the acquisition was originally slated to include Fox Sports' regional operations, the Justice Department ordered their divestment under antitrust grounds, citing Disney's ownership of ESPN. Disney's deal was accepted but Disney must sell all of the regional sports networks within 90 days of the deal closing. Fox then invoked a clause to give the Yankee Global Enterprises the rights to buy their stake of the YES Network back following the acquisition from Disney. The Yankees have a right of first refusal on buying Fox’s stake, while Allen & Company and JPMorgan Chase have also asked that all bids include YES in their offers.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has been mentioned as the most likely buyer for the other FSN networks, but would need the assistance of a private equity firm to help raise the cash needed for the purchase. Over 40 parties are interesed in buying these networks, including Silver Lake Partners and William Morris Endeavor in a joint deal, Charter Communications, Discovery Communications, Amazon, Apollo Global Management, The Blackstone Group, CVC Capital Partners, Ice Cube, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, LL Cool J, Providence Equity Partners, and YouTube. Allen & Company and JPMorgan Chase are handling the sale for Disney.

"New Fox" did not bid for the channels in the first round, but may return in future rounds. On November 20, 2018, Amazon, Sinclair and CVC in a joint deal, Apollo, KKR and Tegna officially bid for the networks.

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. , 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:
 * FCS Atlantic: Fox Sports South, Fox Sports Carolinas, Fox Sports Tennessee, Fox Sports Southeast, Fox Sports Florida, Fox Sports Sun, MSG Plus and AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh;
 * FCS Central: Fox Sports Detroit, Fox Sports Southwest, Fox Sports Oklahoma, Fox Sports North, Fox Sports Wisconsin, Fox Sports Midwest, Fox Sports Kansas City, Fox Sports Indiana and Fox Sports Ohio;
 * FCS Pacific: Fox Sports Arizona, Fox Sports West/Prime Ticket, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain and Root Sports Northwest.

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. FSN networks also purchase sports and outdoors programming from outside producers in their region to fill out their schedule further, with Fox Sports purchasing additional programming for national airing. Finally, low-trafficked late night and early morning timeslots are programmed locally with paid 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

 * Big 12 college football and women's college basketball
 * Conference USA college football, and men's and women's college basketball
 * Pac-12 college football, and men's and women's college basketball
 * UEFA Champions League soccer (selected Tuesday and Wednesday matches)
 * UEFA Europa League soccer
 * Formula One (1998–2000)

Other sports

 * Association of Volleyball Professionals (pro beach volleyball)
 * Indian Wells Masters and Miami Masters tennis tournaments
 * Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Classic
 * Red Bull Air Race

Other shows
In addition, FSN airs an extensive lineup of poker shows, including Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament and MansionPoker.net PokerDome Challenge. The World Poker Tour began broadcasting its on FSN with its seventh season. It recently concluded airing its 15th season.
 * Amazing Sports Stories (2007-2011) – a weekly half-hour re-enactment series illustrating various sports-related human interest stories (among those recounted included those on Bert Shepard's only game as a major-league pitcher, in which he made history as the first Major League Baseball player to play wearing a prosthetic device (it replaced one of his legs); Jackie Mitchell, a female pitcher who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game; Lawrence Lemieux, a Canadian Olympic yachtsman who sacrificed his chance at a medal to save the life of two fellow competitors from Singapore; and Ben Malcolmson, a writer for the University of Southern California newspaper The Daily Trojan who walked onto the USC Trojans football team).
 * Boys in the Hall (2011-2012) – a documentary series, narrated by Tom Brokaw, chronicling notable baseball players.
 * In Focus on FSN (2006–2009) – a half-hour series, hosted by Dick Enberg, taking a look at the impact of a particular sports event, mostly told through still photography.
 * Mind, Body & Kickin' Moves (2007-2009) – a re-edited version of the British martial arts show Mind, Body & Kick Ass Moves.
 * NASCAR This Morning (2001-2004) – a morning program featuring analysis and news around the NASCAR circuit.
 * Totally NASCAR (2001–2004 and 2010) – a daily program featuring news around the NASCAR circuit, interviews and race highlights (including those not permitted for carriage by the similarly formatted ESPN2 program RPM 2Night). Many FSN affiliates now carry Around the Track, a similarly formatted version of the program.
 * Toughest Cowboy (2007-2008) – a series of weekly competitions in which rodeo cowboys attempt to ride in bareback, saddle bronc, and bull riding. Each of those three disciplines is a round in the event, and this show tours arenas throughout the United States.

Former programming

 * 2Xtreem Motorcycle TV (2008) – a renovation series focusing on motorcycle customizing, hosted by four-person team of current and former AMA licensed racers and mechanics. The show remains in production and was offered to FSN and its other networks in a brokered programming arrangement.
 * 54321 (November 2002 – November 2003) – a short-lived action sports news and variety program hosted by Leeann Tweeden, Chad Towersey, Kip Williamson and Jason "Wee-Man" Acuña.
 * Baseball's Golden Age (July 6 – September 28, 2008) – a 13-episode documentary series profiling the history of baseball from the 1920s to the 1960s, illustrated partly using archived film footage.
 * BCS Breakdown (September 2006 – 2011) – a preview of the week's top college football games, with analysis on their potential influence on the Bowl Championship Series standings; the program was hosted by Tom Helmer, with Gary Barnett and Petros Papadakis as analysts. The program was created through Fox Sports' acquisition of the television rights to the Bowl Championship Series (with the exception of the Rose Bowl Game) that ran until the 2011 series.
 * The Best Damn Sports Show Period (July 23, 2001 – June 30, 2009) – a late-night panel discussion program featuring analysis of sports headlines and interviews.
 * Beyond the Glory (January 7, 2001 – January 1, 2006) – a biographical program focusing on events and notable athletes in sports.
 * The Chris Myers Interview (2008–2011) – an interview program featuring one-on-one discussions with sports figures, hosted by Chris Myers.
 * The Dan Patrick Show (October 25, 2010 – October 17, 2012) – a simulcast of the sports talk radio program hosted by Dan Patrick; the program moved to NBC Sports Network (now NBCSN), Root Sports, and the Audience Network in 2012.
 * FSN Across America (2003–2004) – a newsmagazine program featuring in-depth stories and interviews. Original co-host Carolyn Hughes was released by FSN citing a violation of a morals clause in Hughes's contract following the discovery of her affair with Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Derek Lowe in 2004; the show was cancelled shortly afterward.
 * The FSN Baseball Report (2006–2008) – a daily baseball analysis program aired during the Major League Baseball season.
 * FSN Final Score (2006–2011) – a half-hour national sports news program (later retitled as simply Final Score on April 23, 2008) strictly focusing on game highlights that ran from July 3, 2006, to 2011; the program was originally anchored by FSN veterans Van Earl Wright, Barry LeBrock and Andrew Siciliano, later joined by newcomers Greg Wolf and Danyelle Sargent.
 * FSN Pro Football Preview (2005–2010) – a weekly analysis program featuring previews of the week's upcoming National Football League games.
 * Goin' Deep (2000–2001) – an hour-long newsmagazine series focusing on contentious issues in sports; the program was originally hosted by Joe Buck and later by Chris Myers.
 * I, Max (May 10, 2004 – February 18, 2005) – a talk show hosted by Max Kellerman; the program was cancelled due to multiple factors, including Kellerman taking time away from the sports television industry after his brother's murder and creative differences regarding the show's future direction.
 * The Last Word (March 1998,–May, 2002) – a nightly sports analysis and discussion program originally hosted by Wallace Matthews (in New York City) and Jim Rome (in Los Angeles), the latter of whom later took over as the program's sole host.
 * The Official BCS Ratings Show (October 15, 2006 – 2011) – The weekly program announcing the current Bowl Championship Series standings (equivalent to ESPN's current College Football Playoff standings show); the program was hosted by Tom Helmer, with Gary Barnett and Petros Papadakis as analysts. The program aired on FSN as a result of Fox Sports' acquisition of the television rights to the Bowl Championship Series (with the exception of the Rose Bowl Game that ran until the 2011 series.
 * Shaun Alexander Live (2001) – a short-lived variety show that ran for several months in 2001; the program poked fun of host Shaun Alexander's lack of recognition despite his accomplishments.
 * Sport Science (September 9, 2007 – October 20, 2009) – a weekly program explaining various athletic skills and techniques through scientific methods, many of which analyzed for the program in a performance laboratory at an airport hangar set up by FSN. The concept then moved to ESPN, where Sports Science is a regular SportsCenter segment with some 'best-of' compilation programs.
 * Sports Geniuses (March–June 2000) – a sports trivia game show, hosted by Matt Vasgersian.
 * The Sports List (August 1 – September 7, 2004) – a daily sports news program featuring a countdown of ten stories based on sports topic, hosted by Summer Sanders.
 * TNA Impact! (June 2004 – May 2005) – a professional wrestling program featuring matches from the Total Nonstop Action promotion; the program has since moved to several different networks.
 * Totally Football (2000–2001) – a weekly football analysis program.
 * The Ultimate Fan League (1998–1999) – a sports trivia game show, hosted by Bil Dwyer.
 * You Gotta See This (1998–2007) – a video compilation series featuring unusual and amazing highlights from the world of sports.

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.