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FSN Florida, formerly Fox Sports Net Florida and SportsChannel Florida, is a television channel that shows local sports coverage in the state of Florida. It is owned by News Corp along with Sun Sports and is a member of Fox Sports Net. It was launched on July 1, 1987 as SportsChannel Florida. It was relaunched as Fox Sports Net Florida on March 1, 2000, making it the last SportsChannel Network to do so.
[edit] Programming
The channel has the rights to the Tampa Bay Rays (MLB), Florida Marlins (MLB), Florida Panthers (NHL), Orlando Magic (NBA) plus local coverage of the following college sports conferences: Big East, Atlantic Sun, Conference USA, and Atlantic Coast. Parts of southern Alabama and Georgia receive the channel, in addition to all of Florida.
[edit] Bright House Networks Conflict
The channel is not available to most cable subscribers in the Orlando area due to the regions' largest cable operator, Bright House Networks, refusing to air the channel. The conflict began when the cable outlet was called Cablevision (not affiliated with the modern Cablevision), and continued through acquisition by Time Warner Cable and, later, Bright House. This issue did not change when Sun Sports, which is carried by Bright House Networks, was acquired by FSN. It is expected that some resolution towards carriage of FSN Florida on Bright House Networks will have to occur due to the Orlando Magic moving 35 games from Channel 65 to FSN Florida.
As of October 31, 2007 a deal has not been reached and FSN Florida is not available on Bright House Networks in Orlando. Although Bright House Orlando does not carry FSN Florida, the Bright House outlets in Tampa Bay[1] and Wellington, Palm Beach County[2] do carry FSN Florida in their Standard Cable packages.
It was also not available to Comcast cable subscribers in the Sarasota and Tallahassee areas until it was added in 2006. While it is available to Jacksonville subscribers, Magic games are not shown on its feed either.
[edit] Sun Sports
Through Sun Sports, South Florida can view Miami Heat basketball, as Central and Northern Florida can view Orlando Magic basketball. Ultimately however, Sun Sports and FSN Florida are sister channels, and games can air on either channel depending on who is playing at what time (particularly with the Marlins and Rays, since both teams routinely play at the same time). The two channels do not focus on one region of Florida (it was long rumored that Sun Sports would carry only the North/Central Florida teams, while FSN Florida would carry Miami-area teams) so that the Lightning, Heat, Marlins, Magic[3], and Florida Panthers are all cable-exclusive. Some Rays games are available on over-the-air stations.
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