Fox Sports San Diego

Fox Sports San Diego
Launched	March 17, 2012
Network	Fox Sports Networks
Owned by	Fox Entertainment Group (News Corporation) (80%) San Diego Padres (20%)
Picture format	480i (SD) 720p (HD)
Slogan	We Are Fox Sports. We Are San Diego.
Country	United States
Language	English Spanish
Broadcast area	San Diego metropolitan area Imperial County Southern Arizona Southern Nevada Nationwide via satellite
Headquarters	San Diego
Sister channel(s)	Fox Sports West Prime Ticket
Website	foxsportssandiego.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV (US)	694 (SD/HD)
Dish Network (US)	408 (SD/HD)
Cable
Cox (San Diego)	56 (SD) 1056 (HD) 68 or 406 (Spanish)
Cox (Tucson)	73 (SD) 1073 (HD)
Cox (Las Vegas)	96 (SD) 1096 (HD) 98 (Spanish)
IPTV
AT&T U-verse	776 (SD) 1776 (HD)

Fox Sports San Diego is a regional sports network that serves the San Diego metropolitan area, neighboring Imperial County, as well as Southern Arizona and Southern Nevada. It is the home of Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres as well as an affiliate of Fox Sports Networks. It is majority owned by Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation, while the Padres own a twenty-percent stake. It launched on March 17, 2012 with a San Diego Padres spring training game against the Kansas City Royals. On Cox Cable's San Diego and Las Vegas area systems, Padres games are also available in Spanish via an SAP feed from the team's Spanish radio network.

History

The network was established after Fox Sports acquired a twenty-year broadcast deal with the San Diego Padres, displacing previous rights holder Channel 4 San Diego. Henry Ford, an executive who previously ran operations at Fox's Detroit and Ohio regional sports networks, is the president and general manager of Fox Sports San Diego;

The network took to the air with a minimal presence and no dedicated editing facilities or studio; during its first season, games were produced from an HD production truck inherited from 4SD. Pre-game and post-game shows were also produced from the same truck, and broadcast from a semi-permanent stage in Petco Park's "Park at the Park" area, using a set inspired by a similar staging used by Fox's nationally-televised major events. Resources have been shared with other FSN stations—editing facilities were initially based out of Los Angeles, and master control is co-located alongside Fox's other regional sports networks at a facility near Houston.

Programming

San Diego Padres

The network was created as a result of the Padres and Fox Sports signing a twenty-year broadcast deal which would start at $28 million in the first year and could escalate topping out at a potential $75 million in the final year of the contract. The commentary team of Dick Enberg and Mark Grant remained intact upon the move to the new network, as they are employed by the Padres themselves.

Other sports

Professional

Besides the Padres, the channel airs telecasts of professional sports teams (excluding baseball) from the neighboring Los Angeles-Orange County market, including the Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, and Chivas USA, simulcasting those games from its sister stations Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket.

College

Fox Sports San Diego has also been in talks with the many of the area's college athletic programs including USD, SDSU, UCSD, Cal State San Marcos and Point Loma Nazarene; and Los Angeles area schools including UCLA and USC.

Personalities

Padres

• Mark Sweeney - "Padres Live" Pregame & Postgame analyst
• Dick Enberg - Padres TV play by play announcer
• Laura McKeeman - Padres sideline reporter
• Mike Pomeranz "Padres Live" Pregame & Post Game anchor
• Mark Grant - Padres In-Game color analyst
• Tony Gwynn- Padres In-Game color analyst (select games)
• Andy Masur- Backup TV/Radio Play by Play announcer
• Megan Olivi "Padres POV" Host/Reporter/Social Media
• Kelly Crull "Padres Weekly" host/Sideline Reporter
• Jeff Lasky "Padres Weekly"/"Padres POV" reporter

Availability

Fox Sports San Diego is available to 80% percent of households in the region. Cox Cable and DirecTV have carried the channel since its launch. DirecTV originally carried it for live games only, but launched the 24-hour feed on April 1, 2013 to coincide with the first day of the 2013 San Diego Padres season. AT&T U-verse reached a carriage deal on the final day of the 2012 regular season. Dish Network reached a carriage deal on February 7, 2013, and began carrying the channel on April 1, 2013.

Time Warner Cable carriage controversy

Of the five television providers serving the San Diego region, Time Warner Cable (who serves roughly 20% of the market) has controversially remained the only provider not to carry Fox Sports San Diego. By contrast, TWC did carry the Padres' previous home of 4SD. While there had been rumors prior to the 2012 season that TWC and Fox had reached a deal, Fox denied them and contrarily claimed they were nowhere near a deal. In March 2013, San Diego's city council held a hearing approving a symbolic resolution pressuring Fox and Time Warner Cable to reach a deal by the opening of the 2013 season, citing the "the importance of professional baseball in San Diego."