Comcast SportsNet
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| Comcast SportsNet | |
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| Launched | 1997 |
| Owned by | Comcast |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | American English |
| Broadcast area | Regional through several affiliates |
| Website | Comcast SportsNet |
Comcast SportsNet (or CSN) is a group of regional sports networks. The group is primarily owned by the Comcast cable television company.
The channels, CSN Chicago, CSN Philadelphia, CSN New England, CSN Mid-Atlantic (serving Baltimore/Washington), CSN Northwest (serving Portland, OR), CSN Bay Area and CSN West (both serving Northern and Central California) and SportsNet New York have rights to carry some or all of the local professional teams in baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer. They also air nightly sports-news and talk shows, post-game shows and other shoulder programming related to local National Football League teams, and a variety of college sports programming.
CSN Chicago, CSN Philadelphia, CSN Mid-Atlantic, CSN Bay Area, CSN West and SportsNet New York air SportsNite, a nightly sports news program which has a format that is very similar to ESPN's SportsCenter.
Contents |
[edit] Networks
| Name | Region served | Home to | Former Name | Notes |
| Bay Area | Northern and central California, northwestern Nevada (including the Lake Tahoe-Reno-Carson City region), and parts of southern Oregon. | San Francisco Giants (MLB), Oakland Athletics (MLB), San Jose Sharks (NHL), Golden State Warriors (NBA), San Jose Earthquakes (MLS), San Jose Stealth (NLL), San Jose SaberCats (AFL) and local coverage of the Pacific 10, West Coast, Mountain West, and Western Athletic conferences. | Pacific Sports Network (PSN), SportsChannel Bay Area, SportsChannel Pacific, FSN Bay Area |
Renamed from FSN Bay Area to CSN Bay Area on March 31, 2008.[1] Owned 45% by Comcast, 30% by the Giants and 25% by Fox. Due to NBA territorial restrictions, Warriors games are blacked out in the Sacramento area. The graphics are much different than the other CSN networks. |
| Chicago | Illinois, northwestern Indiana, Iowa, non-Milwaukee market areas of southern Wisconsin | Chicago Bulls (NBA), Chicago Cubs (MLB), Chicago White Sox (MLB), Chicago Blackhawks (NHL), Chicago Fire (MLS), coverage of local women's college basketball games, as well as softball (the Chicago Bandits), arena football (mainly the Chicago Rush), and the Chicago Shamrox, a National Lacrosse League team. | Replaced FSN Chicago. Owned 20% by Comcast, as well as 20% each by the Bulls, Blackhawks, White Sox, and Cubs . | |
| Mid-Atlantic | Delaware, Maryland, Central Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia | Washington Capitals (NHL), Washington Wizards (NBA), Washington Mystics (WNBA), D.C. United (MLS) and local coverage of the Atlantic Coast Conference and Colonial Athletic Association. | Home Team Sports | Carried Baltimore Orioles through 2006 |
| New England | Connecticut (except southwestern areas), Maine Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont | Boston Celtics (NBA), Boston Cannons (MLL) | FSN New England, SportsChannel New England | Renamed to CSN New England in October 2007[2] |
| SportsNet New York (SNY) | New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Northeast Pennsylvania | New York Mets (MLB), Big East, Sun Belt and other athletic conferences. | Carried Big Ten Conference games prior to the launch of the Big Ten Network | |
| Northwest | Oregon, Washington | Portland Trail Blazers (NBA), Vancouver Canucks and other NHL games, Oregon Ducks and other college sports programming, assorted local sports | Created in conjunction with the Trail Blazers after they were unable to come to an agreement to stay on FSN Northwest. Currently available mostly to Comcast customers. Neither Dish Network nor Directv has picked up this channel. Canby Telecom has accused Comcast of being inflexible in its negotiations.[3] The Oregonian newspaper has reported that CSN Northwest is seeking $2 per month per subscriber, more than what is being paid to the well-established FSN Northwest.[4] | |
| Philadelphia | Philadelphia, eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, Delaware | Philadelphia Phillies (MLB), Philadelphia Flyers (NHL), Philadelphia 76ers (NBA), Philadelphia Phantoms (AHL), Philadelphia Wings(NLL), college sports. | PRISM & SportsChannel | Flagship of the Comcast regional sports networks. Not available via satellite, unlike the other CSN networks |
| West | Northern and central California | Sacramento Kings (NBA), Sacramento Monarchs (WNBA), San Jose Earthquakes (MLS), California Golden Bears (NCAA), other local sports coverage. | Created in conjunction with Maloof Sports & Entertainment (owners of the Kings and Monarchs), after not renewing its previous contract with FSN Bay Area. Due to NBA territorial restrictions, Kings games are blacked out in the San Francisco Bay Area. |
[edit] FSN on Comcast SportsNet
CSN Chicago, CSN Philadelphia, CSN Mid-Atlantic, CSN New England and CSN Bay Area carry FSN programming in lieu of an FSN affiliate. This offers the regions access to a variety of college sports, notably ACC men's and women's basketball on Sundays, Pac-10 basketball on various nights, plus Big 12 and Pac-10 football on Saturdays during their respective seasons. They also air studio shows, such as The Best Damn Sports Show Period, and the FSN Final Score. This arrangement is to secure national coverage for its collegiate lineup of games. CSN New England does not carry ACC basketball; those games are on New England Sports Network because this TV package is sold market-by-market within the ACC regional footprint).
CSN Northwest and SNY do not carry any FSN produced material because they are in competition with FSN Northwest and MSG Network, which have been part of FSN ever since FOX owned all or part of those channels.
[edit] Other channels
Comcast is part owner (with St. Louis, Missouri-based Charter Communications) of CSS (Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast), a regional network serving the southeastern portion of the nation, based in Atlanta. CSS carries primarily collegiate and high school sports in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and South Carolina. CSS is not directly related to Comcast SportsNet.
Comcast also co-owns (with NewsCorp) the Sun Sports cable television network based in Orlando, Florida (Sun Sports and FSN Florida are operated and programmed together by FOX, the latter channel being entirely NewsCorp-owned). In April 2007, Comcast bought 60 percent of FSN Bay Area and 50 percent of FSN New England from Cablevision's Rainbow Media Holdings LLC subsidiary (which had partnered with FOX to create FSN). As a result, Comcast took over control of what is now CSN New England.[5], and Comcast has announced plans to increase the amount of local programming on the channel[6]. Also, with Comcast having assumed full management control, FSN Bay Area was renamed CSN Bay Area on March 31, 2008 and is being run alongside the already-launched CSN West.
Comcast also helped form MountainWest Sports Network (the mtn.), with CSTV (now CBS College Sports Network) and The Mountain West Conference. This was the first regional sports network dedicated strictly to a single NCAA Division 1 conference[7].
Similarly, Comcast owns local channels, branded CN8, based in the Philadelphia and Boston metropolitan areas. CN8 is aired on most Comcast cable systems along the East Coast from Boston to Richmond, Virginia, and is sometimes carried on other cable operators. The CN8 channels are primarily local news/information channels, but carry some regional sports programming, including Eastern League baseball, and some Phillies games within the Phillies' designated market.
Comcast also owned a local sports network in Detroit and available across Michigan and central Indiana, CL Comcast Local. CL carried collegiate and high school sports from their area, as well as minor league sports throughout its broadcast area. CL ceased operations at the end of February 2008 as every major pro or college team in the region had its programming tied to FSN Detroit and/or the Big Ten Network.[citation needed]
[edit] Comcast SportsNet HD
Comcast SportsNet HD is a high definition simulcast of select programs from Comcast SportsNet including live sports & series. Each regional channel has its own separate HD feed and decides what will be broadcast in HD.
[edit] References and footnotes
- ^ Same channel, but new name for local telecasts
- ^ http://www.telegram.com/article/20070920/COLUMN08/709200699/1009/SPORTS September 20, 2007 news articles from Worcester Telegram & Gazette Bill Doyle (Must scroll down about half a page for citation)
- ^ Comcast Sportsnet and NFL Network (Canby Telcom)
- ^ Comcast's sports channels fuel bidding war - OregonLive.com: Silicon Forest
- ^ Worcester Telegram & Gazette Bill Doyle
- ^ Comcast plans to beef up Fox Sports New England - The Boston Globe
- ^ http://themtn.cstv.com/about/
HD
[edit] External links
- CSN Bay Area
- CSN Chicago
- CSN Mid-Atlantic
- CSN New England
- CSN Northwest
- CSN Philadelphia
- CSN West
- CSS (Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast)
- CL (Comcast Local)
- Comcast Network (Chicago)
- CN8 New England
- CN8 Philadelphia
- SportsNet New York
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