Bally Sports Sun
Sun Sports is a Florida sports broadcasting network, with its headquarters at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando. Launched in 1988 as Sunshine Network, the station is now affiliated with most cable companies throughout the state of Florida and can be picked up by some satellite providers around the United States.
Sun Sports changed its name from Sunshine Network in 2004 to reflect its sports-focused programming. Originally an affiliate of Prime Network, it was acquired with the rest of Prime by Fox Sports Net in 1995.
Programming
Sun Sports airs professional, collegiate and high school sporting events. It offers split feeds for the state's regions. Its viewers can watch the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat play NBA basketball, as well as the Tampa Bay Lightning play NHL hockey, and the Florida Marlins play Major League Baseball. In addition the channel offers baseball, basketball, football, and other sporting events from Florida International University, University of Florida, Florida State University, and the University of Central Florida, though some Sun Sports-produced college football games are initially shown on pay-per-view. Sun Sports also has broadcast rights to Arena Football games involving the Orlando Predators and Tampa Bay Storm.
One of the station's highly-rated programs unveiled in 2003 is SportsTalk Live. The show features a roundtable discussion of current issues regarding Florida sports.
FSN Florida
Through Sun Sports, South Florida can view Miami Heat basketball, as Central and Northern Florida can view Orlando Magic basketball. Ultimately however, Sun Sports and FSN Florida are sister channels, and games can air on either channel depending on who is playing at what time (particularly with the Marlins and Devil Rays, since both teams routinely play at the same time). The two channels do not focus on one region of Florida (it was long rumored that Sun Sports would carry only the North/Central Florida teams, while FSN Florida would carry Miami-area teams) so that the Lightning, Heat, Marlins, and Florida Panthers are all cable-exclusive. Some Devil Rays and Magic games are available on over-the-air stations.
Non-sports programming
Apart from infomercials, the main non-sports programming seen on Sun Sports on its regular schedule is a political-themed interview/debate show titled Capitol Dateline, whose main scope is on Florida government. This program is a holdover from the Sunshine Network era, when the channel originally had a 2-hour afternoon block of programming related to Florida history and government.