List of Sports Television Channels

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(Redirected from Sports channel)

For the defunct British TV channel, see The Sports Channel.

Sports channels are television specialty channels (usually available exclusively through cable and satellite) broadcast sporting events, usually live, and when not broadcasting events, sports news and other related programming.

The first sports channel was from the SportsChannel networks, which went on the air in 1977 with the original SportsChannel (now MSG Plus). ESPN began broadcasting in 1979. Since then, many channels have surfaced around the world, many focusing on one sport in particular, or one region of a country, showing only their local team's games. These channels have greatly improved the availability of sports broadcasts, generating opportunities such as the ability for one person to see every single game their team plays over the course of the season.

In the United States, these channels broadcast most regular season games of major pro sports league and many other sports as well, with over the air television networks stepping in during the weekends or special events (all-star games, championships, etc).