Comcast SportsNet

Comcast SportsNet
Launched	1997
Network	NBC Sports Group
Owned by	Comcast
Picture format	1080i (HDTV); 480i (SDTV)
Country	United States
Language	American English
Broadcast area	Regional through several affiliates
Sister channel(s)	NBC Sports; NBC Sports Network; Golf Channel; Universal Sports; Universal HD
Website	www.comcastsportsnet.com

Comcast SportsNet (CSN), also known as the NBC Sports Regional Networks or Comcast Sports Group, is a chain of regional sports networks owned by the Comcast cable television company, and as of 2011, operated through the NBC Sports Group following Comcast's acquisition of a majority stake in (and later full control) of NBC Universal.

As part of the chain, Comcast operates 8 CSN-branded sports networks, along with stakes in SportsNet New York alongside Time Warner Cable and the New York Mets, CSS (a joint venture with Charter Communications).

History [edit]

Former Comcast SportsNet logo (2008–2012).

The first Comcast SportsNet network was formed in Philadelphia after Comcast acquired a majority stake in Spectacor, the owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and Philadelphia Flyers. Comcast used their ownership in the teams to take over their broadcast rights and move them to a new basic cable channel known as Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. The launch of the new network effectively shuttered the two local premium networks that had formerly carried their games; PRISM and SportsChannel Philadelphia.^[1]

CSN began to expand with a series of acquisitions and new establishments: in 2000, Comcast acquired a majority stake in Baltimore-area network Home Team Sports from Viacom, and re-launched it as Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic the following year.^[2]^[3]^[4] In June 2007, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in FSN Bay Area, and re-branded it as Comcast SportsNet Bay Area on March 31, 2008.^[5] The newest CSN affiliate, Comcast SportsNet Houston, launched in October 2012 as part of a new joint venture between the Houston Astros and Rockets—who vacated Fox Sports Houston.^[6]

Alternate logo of Comcast SportsNet, used as a corporate logo by the NBC Sports Group.

As the result of the acquisition of a majority share in NBC Universal by Comcast in February 2011, the operations of CSN, along with sister national sports channels (Versus) and Golf Channel, were assumed by the NBC Sports division. Plans were made to eventually incorporate NBC-related branding into CSN, although plans to drop the Comcast SportsNet name entirely in favor of NBC Sports were shelved in favor of keeping the CSN brand.^[7]^[8] In late 2012, the CSN networks began adopting the current NBC Sports graphics design, and the CSN logo was updated to incorporate the NBC peacock.^[9]

In April 2012, NBC Owned Television Stations began to sell national advertising on behalf of several CSN networks (New England, Mid-Atlantic, Northwest and Philadelphia). For "unwired sales", the Group will be continue to be represented by Home Team Sports. The arrangement is an extension of one it had established with New England Cable News in 2011.^[10]

In markets that didn't have an affiliate, CSN also carried the national programming of competing regional sports network chain FSN (which included various college sports and UEFA Champions League soccer). However, CSN quietly dropped all FSN programming on August 1, 2012, claiming they could no longer reach an agreement with Fox.^[11] In the Philadelphia, Boston, Bay Area, and Washington, D.C./Baltimore markets, FSN programming airs on local broadcast stations.

Networks [edit]

Name	Region served	Year Joined/ Launched	Home to	Former Name	Notes
SportsNets
Bay Area	Northern and central California, northwestern Nevada (including the Lake Tahoe-Reno-Carson City region), and parts of southern Oregon.	2008	San Francisco Giants (MLB), Golden State Warriors (NBA), San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) and local coverage of the Pacific-12, West Coast, Mountain West, and Western Athletic conferences.	Pacific Sports Network (PSN), SportsChannel Bay Area, SportsChannel Pacific, FSN Bay Area	Acquired majority share from Cablevision in April 2007. Comcast owns 45%, the Giants own 25%, and Fox owns 25%.^{[citation needed]} While previously branded as an FSN affiliate, it switched to the Comcast SportsNet branding in March 2008.^[5]
California	Northern and central California.	2004	Oakland Athletics (MLB), Sacramento Kings (NBA), San Jose Sharks (NHL), San Jose Earthquakes (MLS), San Jose SaberCats (AFL), California Golden Bears (NCAA), other local sports coverage.	CSN West	Created in conjunction with Maloof Sports & Entertainment, owners of the Kings and Monarchs, after they did not renew their previous contract with FSN Bay Area. Originally launching as CSN West, the channel was renamed CSN California on Sept. 4, 2008 to serve as a compliment to CSN Bay Area.^{[citation needed]}
Chicago	Illinois, northwestern Indiana, Iowa, non-Milwaukee market areas of southern Wisconsin	2004	Chicago Bulls (NBA), Chicago Cubs (MLB), Chicago White Sox (MLB), Chicago Blackhawks (NHL), Chicago Fire S.C. (Major League Soccer), coverage of local women's college basketball games, as well as softball (the Chicago Bandits), and arena football (mainly the Chicago Rush).		Created in conjunction with the Bulls, Blackhawks, White Sox, and Cubs (who own 20% each) in order to effectively replace FSN Chicago by giving them better editorial control over their broadcasts.^{[citation needed]}
Houston	Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, & New Mexico^[12]	2012	Houston Rockets (NBA), Houston Astros (MLB), Houston Dynamo (MLS), regional college football and basketball	Fox Sports Houston	Only reaches 40% of Houston market, unavailable to Comcast customers in Pearland, Texas
Mid-Atlantic	Delaware, Maryland, south-central Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia	2001	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 the Baltimore Orioles through 2006. Online coverage is split into Comcast SportsNet Baltimore and Comcast SportsNet Washington.^{[citation needed]}
New England	Connecticut (except southwestern areas), Maine Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont	2007	Boston Celtics (NBA), Boston Cannons (MLL), New England Revolution (MLS)	FSN New England, SportsChannel New England	Acquired majority share from Cablevision in April 2007. Renamed CSN New England in October 2007.^[13] Does not air ACC programming as rights to ACC games are sold regionally within its area, these rights are owned by NESN
Northwest	Oregon, Washington	2007	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 (now known today as Root Sports Northwest). Currently available mostly to Comcast customers. Neither Dish Network nor DirecTV has picked up this channel. Canby Telcom has accused Comcast of being inflexible in its negotiations.^[14] 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.^[15]
Philadelphia	Philadelphia, eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, southern and central New Jersey	1997	Philadelphia Phillies (MLB), Philadelphia Flyers (NHL), Philadelphia 76ers (NBA), Philadelphia Union (MLS), Philadelphia Wings (NLL), and college sports.	PRISM & SportsChannel Philadelphia	Flagship of the Comcast regional sports networks. Originally a joint venture between Comcast, the Phillies, and Spectacor (owner of the Flyers and 76ers), controlling interest in Spectacor was acquired by Comcast in 1996. Due to its re-use of the infrastructure from PRISM (which does not use any satellite uplinks to distribute programming to providers), it was legally exempt from requirements to offer its programming to satellite broadcasters. Despite the FCC regulation closing the terrestrial loophole in 2010, CSN Philadelphia is still exclusive to Comcast Cable and Verizon FiOS. The approval of Comcast's majority shareholder purchase NBC Universale by the FCC in 2011 contained provisions requiring Comcast to make Regional Sports Programming available to competing satellite providers. Comcast showed blatant disregard to these provisions by blacking out NBC branded [NBC-SC] nationally televised Round 1 Playoff Games between the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins for Philadelphia area DirecTV & DISHNetwork subscribers [in lieu of the game being broadcast on the [unavailable] CSN Philadelphia Regional station] during the 2012 NHL Playoffs. As of February 2013, Philadelphia Sports programming is still not available to DirecTV or DISHNetwork subscribers. Philadelphia Market area DirecTV and DISHNetwork subscribers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey are provided with the New York based sports programming [MSG] while Philadelphia market area subscribers in Delaware receive the out-of-market CSN Regional Sports Network airing Baltimore and Washington DC based sports programming.
Other Networks
SportsNet New York (SNY)	New York City, New York state, Connecticut (except northeastern areas), northern and central New Jersey, northeastern Pennsylvania	2006	New York Mets (MLB), Big East, Sun Belt and other athletic conferences.		Owned jointly by the New York Mets, Time Warner Cable, and Comcast SportsNet.
Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast	Southeastern US	1999	Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference games (NCAA), Atlanta Dream (WNBA)		Launched in lieu of a regional CSN affiliate, with ownership and the channel name split with Charter Communications and is only available over terrestrial cable. CSS carries primarily collegiate and high school sports in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and South Carolina. Although not branded as Comcast SportsNet, CSS is treated as a sister network to the CSN networks.
Comcast Sports Southwest	Houston area	2009	select games from Sun Belt Conference, Southeastern Conference, and Conference USA, particularly those of the University of Houston and Rice University (all NCAA)		On September 1, 2009, Comcast launched Comcast Sports SouthWest (also referred to as CSS) in the Houston area. The network is home to the Houston Cougars and Rice Owls and also covers Houston-area high school sports.^[16]
Comcast Network	Mid-Atlantic States and southern Pennsylvania	1996		CN8	Based in the Philadelphia and Baltimore/Washington metropolitan areas. The network, formerly called CN8, is aired on most Comcast cable systems along the East Coast Philadelphia to Richmond, Virginia, and is sometimes carried on other cable operators. The channels served as primarily local news/information channels, but carry some regional sports programming, including Eastern League baseball, CAA football, and some Phillies games within the Phillies' designated market. Originally expanded into the Boston market, the New England operations ceased in 2009.
Former Networks
MountainWest Sports Network (The Mtn.)	National, based in Denver, Colorado	2006	Air Force Falcons (NCAA), Boise State Broncos (NCAA), Colorado State Rams (NCAA), New Mexico Lobos (NCAA), SDSU Aztecs (NCAA), TCU Horned Frogs (NCAA), UNLV Rebels (NCAA), Wyoming Cowboys (NCAA).		Launched on September 1, 2006 as a joint-venture of the Mountain West Conference (MWC), CBS Sports (through the former CSTV) and Comcast. The Network was shut down on June 1, 2012 due to the Mountain West Conference's ongoing realignment

Other channels [edit]

Comcast also co-owns (with Fox Entertainment Group) the Sun Sports cable television network based in Orlando, Florida (Sun Sports and Fox Sports Florida are operated and programmed together by Fox, the latter channel being entirely Fox-owned). In April 2007, Comcast bought 60 percent of FSN Bay Area and 50 percent of FSN New England from Rainbow Media, then a subsidiary of Cablevision (now the independent company AMC Networks) who had partnered with Fox to create FSN. As a result, Comcast took over the network and re-aligned it with CSN instead.^[17]^[18] Also, with Comcast having assumed full management control, FSN Bay Area was renamed CSN Bay Area on March 31, 2008 (though Fox still owns a 25% stake in the network) and is being run alongside the already-launched CSN West.

Comcast also owned a local sports network in Detroit and available across Michigan and central Indiana, Comcast Local (CL). 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]}