Empire Sports Network
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Empire Sports Network was a regional cable television network which served upstate New York from Buffalo to Albany, parts of northern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. The network ended its 14 years of service due to the bankruptcy of Adelphia Communications, which owned the network, in March of 2005.
[edit] Programming
The network was the flagship station for Buffalo Sabres National Hockey League games, but also aired collegiate sports (particularly of Syracuse University), and several sports news and talk shows. Empire also aired a significant amount of programs covering the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League, the Buffalo Destroyers of the Arena Football League, as well as AAA baseball (mostly involving the Buffalo Bisons, AHL hockey, and NCAA basketball. Games of the Toronto Raptors of the NBA also aired for several seasons until January 2005, when all original and live programming was canceled.
Some of Empire's programs included Fan TV, a daily two and a-half hour sports news and call-in program hosted by Howard Simon and Jim Brinson and its successor, The SimonCast, the Empire Sports Report, a nightly sportscast hosted by Mike DeGeorge, Josh Mora and Jason Bristol, and Hockey Hotline, the Sabres' postgame report hosted by NHL veteran Mike Robitaille. Other popular shows were Fan Forum which aired from 1991 to 1998 and Pros and Cons, which ran from 1992 to 1996. Former Bills punter and ESPN NFL analyst Paul Maguire also hosted Sportsline on the network during the NFL season.
Between October 2000 and March 2004, Empire, under VP/GM Bob Koshinski, operated radio station WNSA 107.7 FM in Wethersfield Township, NY (between Rochester and Buffalo). The purpose of WNSA's existence was to challenge WGR, Buffalo's often antagonistic sports talk station. Simon was recruited to host morning drive, longtime Buffalo sports talker Art Wander hosted during lunch, and radio newcomer Mike Schopp launched "Sports Talk for Smart People" during the afternoon drive. Later additions would include Brinson and Zig Fracassi, who had been a nationally syndicated host until the dissolution of the Sports Fan Radio Network. WNSA carried much of the same sporting events as Empire, including Sabres and Destroyers games, and WNSA consistently outperformed WGR in the ratings. Eventually, Wander would retire, Schopp would defect to WGR and take part-time work at ESPN Radio, and Adelphia Communications, thrown into bankruptcy, began to slash WNSA's budget. Simon's show was moved to drive time, began simulcasting on Empire, and was dubbed The SimonCast. The end of WNSA came when the station was sold to WGR's owner, Entercom Communications in May 2004 for $10.3 million. Entercom turned it into classic rock "107.7 The Lake." Simon's show, however, would continue on WLVL 1340 in Lockport until November 2004, when he was recruited to host WGR's morning show.
[edit] Collapse
Empire Sports thrived until March 2002 when the Adelphia bankruptcy scandal broke. With Adelphia Communications in freefall and under temporary bank appointed management, Empire was unable to renew affiliate agreements in the fall of 2002 with Time Warner Cable, its largest non-Adelphia customer. The network continued to operate, but was dealt another severe blow in 2003 when Adelphia's board of directors appointed a new chief executive officer, William Schleyer, and chief operating officer, Ron Cooper. It became apparent that Adelphia was no longer interested in the regional sports business and, that summer, the company laid off more than 30 full-time employees and all part-timers, freelancers, and interns. The staff cuts forced Empire to cancel Fan TV but the network itself was still able to survive for another eighteen months.
The NHL lockout that would wipe out the entire 2004-05 NHL season actually benefited the network because it was not required to pay the Sabres its annual rights fee of $9.5 million a year. Still, Empire was without its core programming, and viewer interest diminished. Howard Simon's radio/TV simulcast show was among the last local programs (other than the nightly sports report) that aired on the station.
Adelphia resisted offers from outside interests to purchase Empire. Despite concerns from viewers and local political leaders, Adelphia chose to eliminate Empire altogether on January 19, 2005. All programming was released by a continuous tape loop, showing highlights from the network's history, before finally signing off for good on March 7, 2005.
Adelphia itself was acquired by Time Warner Cable and Comcast which completed the asset transfer on August 1, 2006.
MSG Network now currently airs Buffalo Sabres games to Upstate New York customers, though the broadcasts are still produced by the Sabres organization as they were during the days of Empire. Syracuse University has an agreement with Time Warner Cable for extensive local coverage of its teams, while the Big East Conference has sold football and basketball packages to various regional sports networks.
Rumors of Empire's revival had been spread in 2006 as the window for an "out clause" in the Sabres-MSG contract opened, combined with Time Warner Cable's acquisition of the Buffalo market, thereby uniting all of upstate New York under one cable provider. Those rumors, however, were squashed when a 10-year contract extension between the Sabres and MSG was announced.
