Fox Sports Detroit

Fox Sports Detroit
Launched September 17, 1997 (1997-09-17)
Network Fox Sports Networks
Owned by Fox Entertainment Group
(21st Century Fox)
Picture format 720p (HDTV)
480i (SDTV)
Slogan Detroit Sports, We've Got You Covered
Country United States
Language English
Broadcast area Michigan
Northeastern Indiana
Northwest Ohio
Northeast Wisconsin
Nationwide (via satellite)
Headquarters Southfield, Michigan
Formerly called Fox Sports Detroit (first tenure; 1997–2000)
Fox Sports Net Detroit (2000–2004)
FSN Detroit (2004–2008)
Sister channel(s) Broadcast:
WJBK Detroit (Fox 2)
Fox Network
Cable/satellite:
Fox Sports 1
Fox Sports 2
Fox Soccer Plus
Big Ten Network
Fox College Sports
Fox Deportes
Website www.foxsports.com/detroit
Availability
(Some events may air on overflow feed Fox Sports Detroit Plus due to event conflicts)
Satellite
DirecTV 663 Fox Sports Detroit (SD/HD)
663-1 Fox Sports Detroit Plus (SD/HD)
Dish Network 430 Fox Sports Detroit (SD/HD)
Fox Sports Detroit Plus channel varies by date
Cable
Available on most cable systems within designated broadcast area Consult your local cable provider or program listings source for channel availability
IPTV
AT&T U-verse Fox Sports Detroit:
737 (SD)
1737 (HD)
Fox Sports Detroit Plus:
738 (SD)
1738 (HD)
Streaming media
Fox Sports Go www.foxsportsgo.com/
(U.S. cable internet subscribers only; requires login from participating providers to stream content; some events may not be available due to league rights restrictions)
Sling TV Internet Protocol television

Fox Sports Detroit is an American regional sports network that is owned by Fox Cable Networks, a unit of the Fox Entertainment Group division of 21st Century Fox, and operates as an affiliate of Fox Sports Networks. It provides coverage of local sports teams in the state of Michigan, primarily focusing on those in the Metro Detroit area. The network airs exclusive broadcasts of games involving the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Pistons and Detroit Red Wings, and state college and high school sports.[1]

Fox Sports Detroit is available on cable television throughout Michigan, as well as in northeastern Indiana, northwest Ohio and some portions of northeastern Wisconsin and nationwide on satellite via DirecTV and Dish Network. The network's production facilities and offices are based in Southfield, Michigan,[2] with master control operations based at the headquarters of Fox Sports Networks in Houston, Texas. The network also maintains a dedicated remote set in the concourse of Comerica Park, and will do so at the Little Caesars Arena, which is still under construction but set to open in the fall of 2017.

History

Beginnings

Fox Sports Detroit traces its origins to 1996, when News Corporation purchased 50% of the Prime Network, a group of regional sports networks owned by Liberty Media, and immediately rebranded them under the "Fox Sports Net" banner.[3] At the time of the purchase, Post-Newsweek Stations (owners of Detroit NBC affiliate WDIV-TV, channel 4) owned the Detroit-based Pro-Am Sports System (PASS Sports), which served the local affiliate of the Prime Network. News Corporation announced plans to launch a Fox Sports Net affiliate in Michigan by 1998, and made a surprise bid for, and won, the local cable television rights to NBA games involving the Detroit Pistons.

When PASS Sports' respective National Hockey League and Major League Baseball broadcast rights to the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers franchises came up for renewal, Fox Sports Net made a bid for the contracts and won them both. Fox Sports decided to push the launch date of the new channel forward in time for the beginning of the 1997–98 NHL season and 1998 MLB season; Fox Sports Detroit began broadcasting on September 17, 1997. Post-Newsweek, meanwhile, concluded that its coverage area was not large enough to support two RSNs and sold the remainder of its Tigers and Pistons contracts, and the contract of sportscaster John Keating, to Fox Sports Detroit. Post-Newsweek shut down PASS Sports on October 31, 1997, leaving Fox Sports Detroit as the sole regional sports network in Michigan.[4]

Studios

From its launch until January 16, 2008, Fox Sports Detroit broadcast its studio shows out of FSN Northwest's facilities in Bellevue, Washington.[5] On October 1, 2009, the network unveiled a new all-digital high definition-capable studio in its Southfield headquarters dubbed the "Call Sam Studio", named after its sponsor, the Sam Bernstein Law Firm. It serves as the production base of the pre-game/post-game shows Tigers Live, Pistons Live and Red Wings Live, as well the magazine shows of all three teams and all of the channel's other local programming. It was expected that 80% of the shows produced from the studio would be produced and broadcast in HD. The first program to originate from the new studio was Wingspan, a special previewing the 2009-10 Red Wings season, on October 1.[2]

Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings switch to cable full-time

The channel shared professional team coverage rights with some Detroit area broadcast television stations until the spring of 2008. In March 2008, the channel signed new long-term contracts with the Pistons, Red Wings and Tigers to broadcast more games than in previous years, becoming the exclusive local home of all three teams for the first time until at least 2018.[1] This leaves only the NFL's Detroit Lions as the only local professional sports team in Detroit to have all of its games on broadcast television.

Detroit Lions

On May 21, 2015, the Detroit Lions announced a multi-year broadcast partnership with Fox Sports Detroit and WJBK (Fox 2). Fox Sports Detroit produces the preseason game broadcasts with Fox 2 producing the pre-game and post-game segments. The games air live on Fox 2 and the rest of the Detroit Lions Television Network, with re-airings on Fox Sports Detroit. [6] Fox Sports Detroit also airs Lions Live after regular season games, and Monday head coach press conferences.

Programming

Local team coverage

Professional teams

College coverage

High school sports

Weekly shows

Former programs

Specials

National programming

Notable on-air staff

Hosts and reporters

Detroit Tigers

Detroit Red Wings

Detroit Pistons

College and high school

Other services

Fox Sports Detroit HD

Fox Sports Detroit HD is a 720p high definition simulcast feed of Fox Sports Detroit. It telecasts all Detroit Pistons, Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers games in HD, their respective pre-game and post-game shows and team magazine shows, as well as all college and high school games and programs. Wingspan became the first locally produced pre-recorded program to be broadcast in HD when it began in 2009.[2] In 2010, Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) and MHSAA games began airing in HD. Nationally televised FSN games and other programs are also broadcast in HD. Like the standard-definition feed, it is available nationwide via DirecTV and Dish Network, and on most cable providers in Michigan and some in Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Fox Sports Detroit Plus

Fox Sports Detroit Plus is a game-time only alternate feed of Fox Sports Detroit.[12] It was launched in 2007 to solve scheduling conflicts, such as those of the Detroit Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings, as well as CCHA games, MHSAA finals for football and basketball, and The Mid-American Conference Basketball Tournament (via Fox Sports Ohio). It is frequently used for live college football, college basketball, college baseball and tennis telecasts and other events distributed nationally by FSN, to avoid conflicts with local coverage.

Fox Sports Detroit Plus has been used for special alternate feeds of local games, such as the annual "¡Fiesta Tigres!" game which celebrates Latin American players, in which alternate announcers conducted Spanish language play-by-play; a "Position-by-position" Tigers game, with the camera isolating on a different defensive player every inning featuring John Keating on play-by-play; as well as a "Social networking" Tigers telecast in which the channel's staff answered viewer questions from Facebook, Twitter, and their own website.

Fox Sports Detroit Plus also has an HD feed which is available on DirecTV, Dish Network, AT&T U-verse, Comcast, WOW! and some smaller regional cable systems.[12]

Fox Sports Detroit On Demand

Fox Sports Detroit On Demand is the video on demand service of Fox Sports Detroit, which is currently available on Comcast. Launched in October 2008, its offerings include the channel's magazine and coach's shows, which are presented commercial-free. On August 7, 2009, Fox Sports Detroit On Demand began carrying full-length presentations of the channel's Tigers game broadcasts.[13]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Mike Reynolds (March 19, 2008). "FSN Detroit Nets Pro Sports 3 pointer". Multichannel News. Archived from the original on June 16, 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 Mike Brudenell (October 2, 2009). "New Fox Sports Detroit HD Studio Unveiled Tonight". Detroit Free Press. Gannett Company. Archived from the original on November 25, 2009. Retrieved January 28, 2010 via CallSam.com.
  3. R. Thomas Umstead (July 8, 1996). "Liberty Sports regionals will become Fox Sports net". Multichannel News. The Walt Disney Company. Retrieved April 7, 2015 via HighBeam Research.
  4. Richard Sandomir (September 1, 1997). "Broadcast Giants Vie for Control of Regional Sports Markets". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved March 31, 2010.
  5. "FSN's York excited to return home". The Detroit News. Gannett Company. Archived from the original on March 24, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2010 via SportscastingJobs.com.
  6. 1 2 "FOX Sports Detroit, FOX2 become Lions' official TV partners". Fox Sports. May 21, 2015. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  7. John Johnson (October 4, 2010). "FOX Sports Detroit To Deliver All MHSAA Championships To Cable & Online Audiences". Michigan High School Athletic Association. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
  8. "2014 Michigan Football Broadcast Information". University of Michigan Athletic Department. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  9. "Men's Basketball Broadcast Information". University of Michigan Athletic Department. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
  10. FS Detroit Staff (August 18, 2011). "FSD enhances prep football coverage". FoxSportsDetroit.com. Archived from the original on July 31, 2012. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
  11. ‘A New Day in Detroit’ Fox Sports Detroit official website April 27, 2017
  12. 1 2 "Fox Sports Detroit Plus information". Fox Sports Detroit. Retrieved November 16, 2010.
  13. Thomas Umstead (August 7, 2009). "Fox Sports, Comcast Put Detroit Tigers Games On Demand". Multichannel News. Archived from the original on August 11, 2009. Retrieved January 28, 2010.

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