American group of regional sports networks
"Sportschannel" redirects here. For the generic concept, see
sports channel
.
Television channel
SportsChannel
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b6/Mid_1990%27s_SportsChannel_Logo.png) SportsChannel logo from 1995 to 2000
|
Country
| United States
|
---|
Broadcast area
| Nationwide
(available in select regions)
|
---|
Headquarters
| New York City
|
---|
|
Language(s)
| English
|
---|
|
Owner
| Cablevision
(1979?1998)
Rainbow Media
(1983?1998)
NBC
(1988?1998)
|
---|
Sister channels
| Prime Network
|
---|
|
Launched
| 1976
; 48 years ago
(
1976
)
(New York Tri-State area; as Cablevision Sports 3)
March 1, 1979
; 45 years ago
(
1979-03-01
)
(launch of SportsChannel brand)
|
---|
Closed
| January 1998
; 26 years ago
(
January 1998
)
(most)
March 2000
; 24 years ago
(
March 2000
)
(Florida)
|
---|
Replaced by
| Fox Sports Networks
Comcast SportsNet
|
---|
SportsChannel
is the collective name for a former group of
regional sports networks
in the United States that was owned by
Cablevision
, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a
joint venture
with
NBC
.
Operating from March 1, 1979, to January 27, 1998, it was the country's first regional sports network, and along with
Prime Network
, was an important ancestor to many of the regional sports outlets in the U.S., particularly
Fox Sports Networks
and
Comcast SportsNet
. At its peak, SportsChannel operated nine networks serving several of the nation's largest cities including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia.
History
[
edit
]
SportsChannel's origins date back to 1976, when Cablevision launched
Cablevision Sports 3
(the "3" referencing its original channel slot on the provider), a sports network carried on the company's
New York City area
system. The network originated the SportsChannel brand on March 1, 1979, when it changed its name to
SportsChannel New York
.
[1]
The network carried games from several New York area sports teams including the
New York Yankees
and
New York Mets
Major League Baseball
franchises and the
NBA
's
New Jersey Nets
. One of the notable accomplishments from the channel's early days was inking one of the earliest cable deals with a pro sports team when they signed a contract to broadcast games on cable for the
National Hockey League
's
New York Islanders
in 1978 while still known as Sports 3.
SportsChannel logo, used from 1979 to 1995.
The network expanded to other regions with the launches and purchases of additional networks throughout the 1980s; the first expansion occurred when Cablevision signed a deal to televise the
Chicago White Sox
in 1981.
[2]
However, this new network would be short-lived as the White Sox launched
SportsVision
the following season. Cablevision's subsidiary
Rainbow Media
's purchased
Boston
-based
PRISM
New England in 1983, relaunching the network as
SportsChannel New England
. Shortly after, Cablevision formed a partnership with
The Washington Post
which gave the Post a 50% interest in SportsChannel.
[3]
By the end of the year, the Rainbow/Washington Post partnership purchased
Philadelphia
-based
PRISM
and SportsVision, affiliating them with SportsChannel (although the SportsChannel Chicago brand would not reappear until 1989).
[4]
[5]
The White Sox returned to Cablevison, now with the addition of the
Chicago Blackhawks
and
Chicago Bulls
. In 1984,
CBS
entered the partnership in a deal that gave each of the three companies a one-third interest in three of the four networks and a one-sixth interest in SportsChannel New England (the other 50% was owned by the
Celtics
and the
Whalers
). The same deal would also give CBS a 50% interest in Rainbow's other networks, then-premium services
Bravo
and
American Movie Classics
.
[6]
The partnership with the Washington Post and CBS would end in 1987 when both companies sold their shares back to Cablevision, citing delays in the deployment of cable television service in New York and other cities as the reason for exiting the partnership.
[7]
Also, in 1987
SportsChannel Florida
was launched, initially with programming from local college teams and out-of-market
MLB
games that SportsChannel already had rights to through its other networks. While the Florida network got off to a slow start, this proved to be a great move as it gained rights to several
expansion teams
in the years that followed.
The NHL and partnership with NBC
[
edit
]
In 1988, SportsChannel would make its largest television deal, gaining national television rights for the
National Hockey League
from
ESPN
. The three-year $51 million agreement also included rights to
playoff
games.
[8]
A national network
SportsChannel America
(also the new name for the group of networks) was also launched on October 6, 1988, to make the games available to cable subscribers in areas without a SportsChannel affiliate.
[9]
Maryland
-based
Home Team Sports
and
Minneapolis
-based
Midwest Sports Channel
(independently owned and operated despite the similar sounding name) would also sign-up as affiliates. Later that year, Cablevision would also gain a new partner. In December 1988, NBC and Cablevision announced that they would form a joint venture to operate their respective cable networks, including SportsChannel.
[10]
Through this partnership, SportsChannel launched five additional networks in the
Bay Area
,
Cincinnati
,
Cleveland
,
Philadelphia
, and
Los Angeles
. The partnership also produced the
Olympics Triplecast
, a
pay-per-view
service providing additional coverage of the
1992 Summer Olympics
.
In 1991, the one year-old San Francisco-based SportsChannel Bay Area merged with rival
TCI
's Pacific Sports Network to become SportsChannel Pacific. This would become the second regional sports network to affiliate both with SportsChannel and the
Prime Network
(Home Team Sports had done so since 1988). SportsChannel Los Angeles later ceased operations at the end of 1992 due to financial issues, with all of its sports broadcast contracts being acquired by the competing
Prime Ticket
.
Joint-venture with Prime and merger with Fox Sports Net
[
edit
]
In 1993, Rainbow and
Liberty Media
formed
Prime SportsChannels America
, a venture in which the companies pooled programming and advertising sales between SportsChannel and Liberty's Prime Network regional sports group. Through this partnership, the two companies formed the sports news service
NewSport
, replacing SportsChannel America.
On April 25, 1995, NBC sold its 50% interest in SportsChannel New York to Rainbow Media for US$93 million; NBC cited that "owning a piece of SportsChannel New York made less sense" after Cablevision and ITT purchased competing regional sports network,
MSG Network
. NBC retained its ownership in the other networks.
[11]
On June 30, 1997, Fox/Liberty Networks, a joint venture between
News Corporation
and
Liberty Media
, purchased a 40% interest in Rainbow's sports properties including the SportsChannel networks,
Madison Square Garden
, the
New York Knicks
and the
New York Rangers
. Through the deal, the SportsChannel networks would be integrated into
Fox Sports Net
, a group of regional sports networks launched in November 1996 through News Corporation's purchase of Liberty's
Prime Network
group; SportsChannel New York would also be rebranded as Fox Sports New York, with Cablevision-owned MSG also becoming a separately branded FSN outlet.
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
Weeks after the deal was announced, SportsChannel would discontinue its national programming in favor of Fox's programming and simultaneously discontinued NewSport, replacing it with
American Sports Classics
, a network focusing on replays of past sporting events and historical sports documentaries.
National Sports Partners, the venture formed through Cablevision's entry into the News Corporation/Liberty partnership to operate the existing and newly acquired owned-and-operated regional networks, later announced that it would relaunch the other SportsChannel networks under the "Fox Sports Net" banner.
[16]
SportsChannel New York was the first to rebrand, as Fox Sports New York, on January 27, 1998. Five of the seven other remaining SportsChannel networks relaunched as member networks of Fox Sports Net later that week.
Two of the SportsChannel networks would not become part of FSN, one of them not immediately, while a third was unable to carry FSN's national programming. After Comcast acquired a majority stake in Philadelphia-based entertainment company Spectacor to form
Comcast Spectacor
in 1996 and announced plans to create its own regional sports network, Rainbow Media decided to shut down SportsChannel Philadelphia and sister premium service PRISM on October 1, 1997, with both networks' NBA and NHL contracts with the
Philadelphia 76ers
and
Flyers
being acquired by the new
Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia
(which replaced SportsChannel Philadelphia on local cable systems and additionally became an FSN affiliate; PRISM was replaced by then-Liberty owned premium movie network
Starz
). SportsChannel Florida was also unable to join Fox Sports Net at the same time as its sisters as
Wayne Huizenga
, owner of the NHL's
Florida Panthers
, owned a 70% controlling interest in the channel (with Rainbow Media as minority partner). Cablevision repurchased Huizenga's share of the network in November 1999, relaunching it as Fox Sports Net Florida on March 1, 2000, formally dissolving the SportsChannel brand two years after the national group effectively ceased operations.
[17]
Though SportsChannel New England became known as Fox Sports New England in 1998, it was unable to broadcast FSN's national programming for a further two years because of a pre-existing contract Fox had signed with rival sports network
NESN
back in 1996; Fox hoped to persuade NESN to break the contract early, but this did not occur. The contract expired on January 1, 2000, enabling Fox Sports New England to become a full FSN affiliate.
[18]
[19]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
On February 22, 2005, Cablevision acquired News Corporation's ownership interests in Fox Sports Chicago and Fox Sports New York, and a 50% interest in Fox Sports New England (with
Comcast
retaining its existing 50% stake), in a trade deal in which News Corporation sold its interests in Madison Square Garden, the Knicks and Rangers in exchange for acquiring sole ownership of Fox Sports Ohio and Fox Sports Florida. However, News Corporation and Cablevision retained joint ownership of Fox Sports Bay Area.
[20]
[21]
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
.
[22]
In April 2007, Cablevision sold its interest in the New England and Bay Area networks to Comcast (the
San Francisco Giants
later acquired part-ownership of the San Francisco-based network in February 2008); 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 in March 2008. Cablevision later rebranded Fox Sports New York as MSG Plus on March 10, 2008. Cablevision formally exited the regional sports business when it spun-off all of its sports assets (including MSG and MSG Plus) into the
Madison Square Garden Company
. This was new company was (and still is) headed by
James L. Dolan
, the then-current CEO of Cablevision and son of Cablevision founder
Charles Dolan
. While Cablevision was sold to
Altice
in 2016, Dolan still runs the two New York-area sports networks to this day.
Networks
[
edit
]
Owned-and-operated
[
edit
]
Channel
|
Region served
|
Year joined/launched
|
Current owner/status
|
Notes
|
SportsChannel Chicago
|
northern
Illinois
northern
Indiana
eastern
Iowa
|
1984
|
defunct; became Fox Sports Chicago; network ceased operations in 2006 after losing professional sports contracts to Comcast SportsNet Chicago (now
NBC Sports Chicago
, owned by
NBCUniversal
).
|
Acquired as SportsVision in 1984 and rebranded in 1989; An earlier version of SportsChannel Chicago also existed in 1981 but quickly folded when it lost rights to the
White Sox
.
|
SportsChannel Cincinnati
|
southern Ohio
Kentucky
|
1990
|
Bally Sports Ohio
, owned by
Diamond Sports Group
|
replaced with subfeed of Fox Sports Ohio
|
SportsChannel Florida
|
Florida
southern
Alabama
southern
Georgia
|
1987
|
Bally Sports Florida
, owned by Diamond Sports Group
|
Continued to operate as SportsChannel until 2000
|
SportsChannel Los Angeles
|
Southern California
|
1989
|
defunct, closed in 1992
|
Replaced
Z Channel
which was acquired a few months before launch
|
SportsChannel New England
|
Massachusetts
eastern
Connecticut
central
Connecticut
Vermont
Maine
New Hampshire
Rhode Island
|
1983
|
NBC Sports Boston
, owned by
NBCUniversal
|
Acquired as PRISM New England and rebranded in 1983
|
SportsChannel New York
|
New York
northern
New Jersey
northeast
Pennsylvania
southern
Connecticut
|
1976
|
MSG Sportsnet
, owned by
MSG Networks
|
|
SportsChannel Ohio
|
Ohio
eastern
Indiana
|
1989
|
Bally Sports Ohio, owned by Diamond Sports Group
|
The Dolan family later established another Ohio RSN, SportsTime Ohio (now
Bally Sports Great Lakes
), which was later acquired by Fox
|
SportsChannel Pacific
|
northern and central
California
northwestern
Nevada
parts of southern
Oregon
|
1990
|
NBC Sports Bay Area
, owned by NBCUniversal
|
Launched in 1990 as SportsChannel Bay Area. Merged with
TCI
's Pacific Sports Network in 1991, rebranded as SportsChannel Pacific and ran as a joint-venture of the two companies.
|
SportsChannel Philadelphia
|
southeastern Pennsylvania
southern
New Jersey
|
1990
|
defunct; sports contracts acquired by Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia (now
NBC Sports Philadelphia
, owned by
NBCUniversal
)
|
shared rights with co-owned PRISM
|
PRISM
|
southeastern Pennsylvania
southern
New Jersey
|
1983
|
defunct; sports contracts acquired by Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia (now NBC Sports Philadelphia, owned by NBCUniversal)
|
Carried SportsChannel programming until launch of SportsChannel Philadelphia; continued a sports/movies format after acquisition
|
Affiliates
[
edit
]
SportsChannel America
[
edit
]
SportsChannel America
was a national version of SportsChannel that launched in 1988 when SportsChannel gained rights to the NHL. The network was available to cable subscribers in areas that did not have a regional SportsChannel affiliate. At its peak it had 12 million subscribers nationwide.
[24]
It was replaced with
NewSport
in 1993. The name SportsChannel America was sometimes also applied to the group as a whole.
Notable programming
[
edit
]
SportsChannel broadcast several
Canadian Football League
regular season games produced by SportsChannel Pacific during the 1993 season, later losing the broadcast rights to the upstart
ESPN2
(at the time devoted most of programming to extreme sports) through a four-year contract in 1994.
The network was also notable for providing
live national coverage
of
NASCAR
Busch Grand National
races beginning in 1990, as well as coverage of the
World Basketball League
.
SportsChannel America aired the professional wrestling show
UWF Fury Hour
on Monday nights from 1990 to 1991, and later aired the live
UWF Blackjack Brawl
special in 1994. SportsChannel Philadelphia carried
ECW Hardcore TV
, a
syndicated
wrestling program of the now-defunct
Philadelphia
-based
Extreme Championship Wrestling
promotion from the program's debut in 1993 until the channel shut down in 1997.
[25]
From 1994 to 1997, SportsChannel America also aired
NewSport Talk
, a two-hour sports talk show produced by SportsChannel Chicago for sister network NewSport, that was
syndicated
to most of its SportsChannel-branded sister networks.
National Hockey League
[
edit
]
SportsChannel America was the American rights holder of the National Hockey League from
1988
to
1992
. The logo seen here was used from 1980 to 1995.
SportsChannel America obtained the national cable television rights to the National Hockey League from
ESPN
in
1988
; Rainbow Sports was able to secure the rights by offering the NHL a bid of US$51 million ($17 million per year) over three years, more than double what ESPN had paid ($24 million) for its 1985?1988 contract (a move not unlike the
2005
acquisition of NHL rights by
Comcast
/
OLN
over ESPN); SportsChannel America obtained a fourth year of the contract for just $5 million in 1992.
One problem that arose with the deal was that SportsChannel America was available only in a few major markets and reached only one-third of the households that ESPN covered, limiting the national availability of its NHL coverage. In smaller markets, especially those with cable systems whose
headends
had limited channel capacity, the channel was only made available on a gametime basis as a pay-per-view option and often limited telecast to only
Stanley Cup playoff
games. The NHL terminated its deal with SportsChannel America in 1992 and signed a new broadcast deal with ESPN, leaving SportsChannel America with very little sports content outside of outdoor sports shows and Canadian Football League games.
[26]
The NHL rights deal proved for a disaster for SportsChannel, as even though it helped the national channel expand its coverage to 20 million homes within the first three years, Rainbow Sports lost as much as $10 million on the agreement, and SportsChannel America soon faded into obscurity.
[26]
Some regional SportsChannel networks ? which carried NHL games in their local markets ? were not affected by the national network's loss of league rights.
National Professional Soccer League
[
edit
]
SportsChannel broadcast NPSL games at least as early as the
1992?93 season
.
[27]
This was incidentally, the same year that for the NPSL being the top level of professional indoor soccer in the United States following the collapse of
Major Soccer League
. In February 1993, SportsChannel broadcast the NPSL All-Star Game
[28]
from
Cleveland
. Lee Zeidman,
[29]
Dave Johnson
, and sideline reporter
Keith Tozer
served as the commentators for the occasion.
Besides Lee Zeidman and Dave Johnson, commentators for their
Game of the Week
coverage included
Dave Phillips
and Bob Bishop. For SportsChannel's coverage of the 1993 NPSL Finals between
Cleveland
and
Kansas City
, they employed the broadcast team of Dave Phillips (on play-by-play) and Dave Johnson.
Teams by network
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"About Rainbow Media ? Our Story Timeline 80's"
. Archived from the original on February 22, 2008
. Retrieved
April 10,
2015
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link
)
- ^
"White Sox add cable to lineup"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting Magazine
: 70. December 8, 1980
. Retrieved
April 24,
2021
.
- ^
"The Washington Post Co. announced Friday an agreement in..."
UPI
. February 25, 1983
. Retrieved
April 25,
2021
.
- ^
Mayer, Caroline E. (November 2, 1983).
"Cablevision, Post to Buy Sports Network"
.
Washington Post
. Retrieved
April 25,
2021
.
- ^
"Post, Cablevision Acquire Rights to SportsVision"
.
Washington Post
. December 15, 1983
. Retrieved
April 24,
2021
.
- ^
Wiggins, Phillip H. (November 27, 1984).
"CBS BUYS INTO SPORTS CHANNELS"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
April 25,
2021
.
- ^
Sugawara, S and ra (June 19, 1987).
"POST CO., CBS SELL STAKES IN SPORTSCHANNEL"
.
Washington Post
. Retrieved
April 25,
2021
.
- ^
Chad, Norman (November 26, 1988).
"NHL AND SPORTSCHANNEL MORE IS LESS"
.
Washington Post
. Retrieved
April 25,
2021
.
- ^
"SportsChannel America to launch Oct. 6"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting Magazine
: 54?55. September 19, 1988
. Retrieved
June 25,
2021
.
- ^
Geraldine Fabrikant (December 23, 1988).
"THE MEDIA BUSINESS; NBC and Cablevision Plan Joint Programming Venture"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
"NBC SELLS OFF ITS SHARE OF SPORTSCHANNEL NEW YORK"
.
Sports Business Journal
. April 26, 1995
. Retrieved
April 10,
2015
.
- ^
"Fox putting together national Sports Net // Changes ahead for SportsChannel"
.
Chicago Sun-Times
. June 24, 1997. Archived from
the original
on September 24, 2015
. Retrieved
April 10,
2015
.
- ^
John M. Higgins
(June 30, 1997).
"National net keys regional deal. (Fox Sports, Liberty Media Corp. challenge ESPN with stake in SportsChannel)"
.
Broadcasting & Cable
. Archived from
the original
on September 10, 2015
. Retrieved
April 10,
2015
.
- ^
"SPORTS LANDSCAPE ALTERED WITH FOX/LIBERTY-CABLEVISION DEAL"
.
Sports Business Journal
. June 23, 1997
. Retrieved
April 10,
2015
.
- ^
John M. Higgins (June 23, 1997).
"TCI/News Corp. $850M SportsChannel deal close. (Tele-Communications Inc, proposed acquisition of cable sports network)"
.
Broadcasting & Cable
. Cahners Business Information. Archived from
the original
on September 10, 2015
. Retrieved
April 10,
2015
.
- ^
"About Rainbow Media ? Our Story Timeline 90's"
. Archived from the original on January 11, 2008
. Retrieved
March 10,
2008
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link
)
- ^
Steve Donohue (November 15, 1999).
"Rainbow, Fox Deal for Florida Net"
.
Multichannel News
. Cahners Business Information. Archived from
the original
on September 24, 2015
. Retrieved
April 10,
2015
.
- ^
"Fox Sports Networks Inc 1998 Annual Report S-K Item 405 10-K405"
.
SEC.gov
. UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION. March 31, 1999
. Retrieved
July 3,
2021
.
- ^
"Fox Sports Networks Inc 2000 Annual Report S-K Item 405 10-K405"
.
SEC.gov
. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION. September 28, 2000
. Retrieved
July 3,
2021
.
- ^
Richard Sandomir (February 23, 2005).
"Cablevision Locks Up Garden"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
Leon Lazaroff (February 23, 2005).
"News Corp. exits Chicago Fox sports station"
.
Chicago Tribune
. Retrieved
April 10,
2015
.
- ^
"No need for FSN Chicago"
.
The Daily Journal
. June 27, 2006
. Retrieved
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2015
.
- ^
Chad, Norman (November 26, 1988).
"NHL AND SPORTSCHANNEL MORE IS LESS"
.
Washington Post
. Retrieved
April 3,
2021
.
- ^
Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook
(PDF)
. New Providence, NJ: R.R. Bowker. 1993. p. G-91
. Retrieved
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2021
.
- ^
"History of the National Wrestling Alliance"
.
Angelfire
.
- ^
a
b
"Welcome to the New Jersey Devils forums!"
.
New Jersey Devils
. Retrieved
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.
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Knowles, Joe (December 20, 1992).
"4 GOALS BY KRAFFT DRIVE POWER PAST MILWAUKEE; MARGETIC HURT"
.
Chicago Tribune
.
- ^
Summers, Robert J. (February 19, 1993).
"THREE TO REPRESENT BLIZZARD IN NPSL ALL-STAR GAME"
.
The Buffalo News
.
- ^
Chad, Norman (April 21, 1989).
"LUCKILY, OUR CABLE CUP RUNNETH OVER"
.
The Washington Post
.
|
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Owned
RSNs
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Affiliate RSNs
| |
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Programming
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Related television networks
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Owners
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Related articles
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Broadcast Networks
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Cable Networks
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Pro league affiliated
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College specific
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Sport specific
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Sports betting
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Outdoor
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Occasional coverage
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Streaming Services
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Pro league affiliated
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Sport specific
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Sports betting
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Outdoor
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Ring sports
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Occasional coverage
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National
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Regional
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Syndication
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Out-of-market
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Current broadcast partners
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Secondary broadcast partners
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Specialty broadcast partners
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Former broadcast partners
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General media
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Commentators by network
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Broadcasters by event
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Other
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Owned
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Affiliates
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Related
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Owned
RSNs
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Affiliates
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Predecessors
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