Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket

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Fox Sports West
Prime Ticket
FSNWest & Prime Ticket Logo.png
Launched FS West: October 1985 (as Prime Ticket)
Prime Ticket: January 1997 (as Fox Sports West 2)
Network Fox Sports Net
Owned by Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation (1996-present)
Picture format 480i (SD)
720p (HD)
Country United States
Language American English
Broadcast area Southern California, Central California, Southern Nevada, Hawaii
Headquarters Los Angeles
Formerly called Fox Sports West: Prime Ticket (1985–1994)
Prime Sports West (1994–1996)
Fox Sports West (1996-2000, 2008-present)
Fox Sports Net West (2000-2004)
FSN West (2004-2008)
Prime Ticket: Fox Sports West 2 (1997-2000)
Fox Sports Net West 2 (2000-2004)
FSN West 2 (2004-2006)
Replaced SportsChannel Los Angeles
Sister channel(s) KTTV Los Angeles
KCOP Los Angeles
Fox Sports San Diego
Website foxsportswest.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV 692 Fox Sports West (SD/HD)
693 Prime Ticket (SD/HD)
Dish Network 411 Prime Ticket (SD/HD)
417 Fox Sports West (SD/HD)
Cable
Available on select cable systems Check local listings for channels

Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket are Los Angeles-based regional sports networks serving Southern California, Central California, southern Nevada, and Hawaii. They are owned by Fox Cable Networks, a subsidiary of News Corporation's Fox Entertainment Group.

Fox Sports West/Prime Ticket's general and sales offices are located in downtown Los Angeles, across from Staples Center.

Contents

[edit] Team coverage

Team League Number of telecasts
(per season)		 Announcers
Anaheim Ducks NHL 50 John Ahlers (play-by-play), Brian Hayward (color)
C.D. Chivas USA MLS 16 Christian Miles (play-by-play), Bernardo Osuna (color)
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim MLB
American League		 125 Victor Rojas (play-by-play), Mark Gubicza (color)
Los Angeles Clippers NBA 75 Ralph Lawler (play-by-play), Mike Smith (color)
Los Angeles Dodgers MLB
National League		 100 Vin Scully (play-by-play, home & NL West road games, road games at Angels), Eric Collins (play-by-play, other road games), Steve Lyons (color, other road games)
Los Angeles Kings NHL 65 Bob Miller (play-by-play), Jim Fox (color)
Los Angeles Lakers NBA 35 Bill Macdonald (play-by-play), Stu Lantz (color)
Los Angeles Sparks WNBA 8 Larry Burnett (play-by-play), Ann Meyers (color)
UCLA Athletics NCAA
Pac-12		 varies varies
USC Athletics NCAA
Pac-12		 varies varies
Pac-12 Conference NCAA varies varies
Big West Conference NCAA varies varies
West Coast Conference NCAA varies varies

To note, Lakers local cable broadcasts (all home games) air exclusively on West, and the Dodgers air their cable telecasts exclusively on Prime Ticket. The remaining teams on the West/Prime Ticket roster usually shuffle between the two networks in the case of overlapping coverage of televised events, including exclusive broadcasts of the Clippers, Galaxy and Kings, plus the area's local college athletic teams. The other area franchises have over-the-air broadcasts available, including on KCOP for the Angels, KDOC for the Ducks and Chivas USA (also available in Spanish on KWHY), KCAL for Lakers away games and a combined 50 home and away Dodgers telecasts.

[edit] History

[edit] 1980s

Fox Sports West was founded in October 1985 as the original Prime Ticket network. The network's founders were Dr. Jerry Buss, majority owner of the Lakers and then-majority owner of the Kings hockey team, and cable television pioneer Dr. Bill Daniels, who was a minority-interest owner in both franchises. Unlike many of the regional sports networks that were operating at the time of Prime Ticket's launching, the channel was (and still is) a basic cable channel, as opposed to being a premium cable service. The first contract with Prime Ticket was negotiated and signed by Tony Acone as President of Prime Ticket and Bob Kerstein as Chief Financial Officer of Falcon Cable TV. Prior to the launch of Prime Ticket, Lakers and Kings games (primarily the non-nationally televised home games) were on the ON-TV/SelecTV subscription service. Its original general offices were located in small office building located across the street from the Great Western Forum in Inglewood.

Because of the height of the Lakers popularity in the midst of their 1980s championship run, and the addition of hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky to the Kings in 1988, Prime Ticket became one of the leading regional sports networks in the country, rivaling that of New York's Madison Square Garden Network.

[edit] 1990s

In 1990, the network became the cable television home of the then-California Angels, as well as serving as the cable home of the Clippers for one season (1990–91), before they moved to the now-defunct SportsChannel Los Angeles (originally Z Channel) the following season.

In August 1994, Buss and Daniels sold off Prime Ticket to Liberty Media, and became a part of its Prime Sports networks, along with Prime Sports Arizona (now Fox Sports Arizona), Prime Sports Midwest (now Fox Sports Midwest), Prime Sports Rocky Mountain (now FSN Rocky Mountain), SportSouth (now Fox Sports South), KBL (now FSN Pittsburgh), Prime Sports Northwest (now FSN Northwest), and PASS Sports (Pro-Am Sports Systems; now defunct)

In 1996, the now-rechristened Prime Sports West became part of the new Fox Sports Net, which formed after News Corporation purchased the Prime Sports networks from Liberty Media. It was then that the network took on its current name. It was one year later that the new Fox Sports Net merged with SportsChannel America, to undertake its current configuration.

In January 1997, Fox Sports Net West 2 was formed to serve as a cable home for the Clippers, Dodgers, Ducks, and all other events that FSN West didn't have room for. This is after the December 1993 shut-down of SportsChannel Los Angeles, which left their home teams with only over-the-air and part-time cable coverage locally.

[edit] 2000s

In 2001, Fox Sports West and West 2 relocated its offices and studios from the Century City section of Los Angeles to Downtown, in an office building two blocks east of Staples Center. During this time, they also opened and operated a streetside studio on the Staples Center exterior, at the southwest corner of 11th Street (Chick Hearn Court) and South Figueroa Street. However, in the fall 2009, just as rival ESPN opened its new Los Angeles-based broadcast center directly across the street, in the L.A. Live complex, Fox Sports West shuttered its streetside studio, and now produces its pre- and postgame reports at the site of each event being televised on each of the networks; as weather permits, most Clippers, Lakers, and Kings home pre- and postgame shows are produced at Star Plaza, near the main entrance of Staples Center. The former Fox Sports Staples Center studio is now a conference center, with Nike as the corporate sponsor.

On April 3, 2006, FSN West 2 officially became FSN Prime Ticket, (and later, simply as Prime Ticket), making its change with the season opener between the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. The network's new philosophy is to concentrate more on local originally-produced content (such as Before the Bigs, In My Own Words, and team-themed Insider shows) and less on the supplemental programming provided nationally from Fox Sports Net.

For a small number of selected Lakers home telecasts on Fox Sports West, games are also broadcast on Prime Ticket (referred to as "Courtside View"), usually on a night when there are no other live telecasts airing. Courtside View offers viewers different camera angles (including those from above the baskets), from the perspective of a fan sitting courtside at a Lakers game. Bill MacDonald is the host of those "Courtside View" telecasts, however there are no play-by-play accounts of these broadcasts, but the FoxBox scorebar is on-screen at all times, including most timeouts. This experiment was also used on a couple Kings and Ducks home telecasts in recent years.

[edit] Loss of the Lakers, Galaxy, and possibly the Dodgers

Fox Sports West (along with KCAL 9) will lose coverage of the Los Angeles Lakers at the conclusion of the 2011-12 NBA season. The following season, games will be aired on the yet-to-be-named Lakers Networks, which is owned jointly by the team and the Southern California division of Time Warner Cable. The Los Angeles Galaxy will begin airing their games on the networks beginning in 2012 as part of a 10 year broadcast agreement.

Also, FS West's current deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which are aired via sister network Prime Ticket, expires at the end of the 2013 MLB season, with the network holding an exclusive negotiating period until November 30, 2012. On June 20, 2011, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig rejected a proposed contract extension between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Prime Ticket, stating "Critically, the transaction is structured to facilitate the further diversion of Dodgers assets for the personal needs of Mr. McCourt. Given the magnitude of the transaction, such a diversion of assets would have the effect of mortgaging the future of the franchise to the long-term detriment of the club and its fans." [1] Both Fox Sports West and the Dodgers were involved in separate lawsuits over the team's broadcast rights as well as the sale of the club.[2][3] On January 10, 2012, Fox and the Dodgers reached a settlement in court, clearing the way for the sale of the team.[4]

[edit] Carriage dispute with Cox and Time Warner Cable in San Diego County

Ever since Prime Ticket came into existence in 1997 (back then it was known as FSN West 2), Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications serving San Diego County have refused to carry Prime Ticket, claiming that the network asks too much money to be put on the expanded basic tier. It should be noted that Time Warner Cable in parts of Fallbrook, Encinitas, San Marcos, Solana Becach, Vista and all of Carlsbad and Del Mar (not to be confused with the neighboring community of Del Mar Heights) receive FSN Prime Ticket, due to the fact those areas were formerly served by Adelphia. Adelphia in northern San Diego County acquired FSN Prime Ticket in December 2001, and has remained in the cable lineup of those communities even when Time Warner Cable took over Adelphia in 2006.

[edit] Dodgers and Angels blackout in San Diego County

Because the San Diego Padres have the territory rights for all of San Diego County, games for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are blacked out on Prime Ticket and Fox Sports West in that county no matter what the cable or satellite provider, requiring purchase of the MLB Extra Innings package to view those telecasts. All other sports programming with the exception of Angels baseball games on Fox Sports West and Dodgers baseball games on Prime Ticket are available in San Diego County.

[edit] San Diego Subfeed

Main article: Fox Sports San Diego

In March 5, 2012, as part of a deal to bring the San Diego Padres to FSN, a new spin off channel Fox Sports San Diego will be created for the San Diego market.[5] It is unknown if West and/or Prime Ticket will continue to be shown in San Diego upon the channel’s launch, although the new network plans to continue showing LA sports teams outside the Dodgers and Angels (due to MLB territorial restrictions) in the future.[5]

[edit] Branding

[edit] Fox Sports West

For regular programming and nationally-televised sporting events, a small logo bug appears on the top right of the screen which reads FSWEST, with the FS colored in a light blue. The logo changes during local sporting events. For instance, during Angels baseball games and the Angels Live pre- and post-game shows, the logo turns to FSANGELS, with the FS colored in red. During Kings hockey games and Kings Live shows, the logo switches to FSKINGS, with the FS colored silver (the Kings' FS logo was originally purple, until they changed their team colors for the 2011-12 NHL season). For Lakers basketball games and Lakers Live, the logo is FSLAKERS, with the FS in yellow. On occasion Ducks hockey games (and Ducks Live) will air on Fox Sports West instead of its usual home on Prime Ticket; for this the logo is FSDUCKS, with FS shown in orange. On occasion Clippers basketball games (and Clippers Live) will air on Fox Sports West instead of its usual home on Prime Ticket; for this the logo is FSCLIPPERS, with FS shown in red.

[edit] Prime Ticket

Prime Ticket logo

Just like Fox Sports West, Prime Ticket also uses logo bugs on the top-right corner of the screen during its programming. For regular programming and national sporting events, the logo reads PRIMETICKET, with PRIME shown in white. For local sporting events, the logo changes and PRIME is shortened to PT. For Clippers games and Clippers Live, the logo is PTCLIPPERS, with PT colored in red. During Ducks hockey games and Ducks Live, the logo is PTDUCKS, with PT colored in orange. For Dodgers baseball games and Dodgers Live, the logo reads as PTDODGERS, with the PT shown in the team's signature color, Dodger blue. And occasionally, Angels games (and Angels Live) are aired on Prime Ticket, and for this the logo turns to PTANGELS, with PT shown in red. Kings hockey games (and Kings Live) are also occasionally shown on Prime Ticket, and as such the logo is PTKINGS, with the PT colored in silver.

[edit] On-air staff

[edit] Former on-air staff

[edit] References

  1. ^ Commish: TV deal not in Dodgers' best interests MLB News June 20, 2011
  2. ^ Dodgers sue Fox Sports over alleged interference in team's sale Los Angeles Times November 16, 2011
  3. ^ FOX Sports reportedly sues Dodgers FoxSports.com September 28, 2011
  4. ^ Settlement with Fox removes obstacle to sale of Dodgers USA Today January 12, 2012
  5. ^ a b Posner, Jay (February 16, 2012). "Fox Sports San Diego to launch in March". UT San Diego. http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/feb/16/new-fox-sports-san-diego-launch-around-march-5/. Retrieved February 20, 2012. 

[edit] See also

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