Bally Sports Southwest
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Network | Fox Sports Net |
| Headquarters | Dallas, Texas |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | American English |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation (1996-present) |
Fox Sports Southwest is a regional cable sports network that operates in all or parts of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arkansas. The network operates out of the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Irving and also in Houston, the operations center for all Fox Sports Net channels in the central part of the United States.
It is also the cable home for the Dallas Mavericks (NBA), Dallas Stars (NHL), Texas Rangers (MLB), FC Dallas (MLS), San Antonio Spurs (NBA), San Antonio Silver Stars (WNBA), plus local coverage of the Southland, Big 12, and Conference USA athletic conferences. It also is home to UIL 5A State championship games for Football, Boys Basketball, and Baseball.
Fox Sports Southwest originally began as Home Sports Entertainment in 1983, serving as the cable television home of professional and collegiate sports team throughout Texas and surrounding states. In the mid 1990s, HSE became a part of the Prime Sports Networks, thus becoming Prime Sports Southwest. In 1996, the network became Fox Sports (Net) Southwest, upon News Corporation's purchase of the Prime Networks and its merger with the SportsChannel networks.
Coverage areas
Fox Sports Southwest is divided into three broadcasting zones, each representing the three largest television markets in the broadcast region:
- Dallas-Fort Worth (including northern and central Texas and northern Louisiana)
- San Antonio (including Austin, El Paso, southern and western Texas, plus parts of eastern New Mexico)
- Oklahoma (all of Oklahoma, see Fox Sports Oklahoma below).
This is mostly due to the defined broadcast territories set by the National Basketball Association, in regards to the regions's three NBA franchises--the Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder, and San Antonio Spurs. However, in certain circumstances, a limited number of Dallas Stars games (the state's only National Hockey League team) on Fox Sports Southwest air beyond the Dallas-Fort Worth designated market area. Also, the state of Texas and its surrounding outer markets are split between Texas Rangers and Houston Astros games. Fox Sports Southwest Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers over-the-air telecasts for its sister station, KDFI (Channel 27), and are syndicated throughout each team's respective broadcast territory. KDFW (Channel 4) also carries ten Rangers telecasts per season, also produced by Fox Sports Southwest.
Fox Sports Houston
On January 12, 2009 Fox Sports Houston split from Fox Sports Southwest and re-launched as a 24 hour stand-alone channel. The new feed allows the station to provide more local content and have its own identity, as well as show replays of Houston Rockets and Astros games, which the station had not been able to do before, according to Ramon Alvarez, spokesman for Fox Sports Houston. It also allows for more extensive Houston Texans coverage. Previously, Fox Sports Southwest’s Dallas feed was carried in Houston for most non-event programming. [1] Due to lack of bandwidth, DirecTV still treats Fox Sports Houston as a subfeed and only turns it on during Rockets and Astros games.
Fox Sports Oklahoma
A separate subfeed for Oklahoma launched on October 29, 2008 with the first game of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder. It operates on evenings and weekends with the Fox Sports Southwest brand showing at all times. Besides the Thunder, it also features the Oklahoma Sooners and Oklahoma State Cowboys. However, in Lawton, the state's 3rd largest market, Fidelity Cable has chosen not to broadcast Thunder games (presumably because Lawton is in the same television market as Wichita Falls, Texas (one of the Mavericks' markets).
Fox Sports Southwest HD
Although Fox Sports Southwest does not have a 24-hour HD simulcast, various Mavericks, Rangers, Spurs and Stars games are shown in 720p High-Definition. Fox Sports Oklahoma also airs Thunder games in HD. There are also several NCAA football and basketball games shown nationally on FSN that are available on Fox Sports Southwest HD.