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FanDuel Sports Network Southeast

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SportSouth
CountryUnited States
HeadquartersAtlanta, Georgia
Programming
Language(s)English
Ownership
OwnerFox Sports Net (News Corp)

SportSouth is a regional sports network in the United States, with its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. SportSouth, formerly Turner South, relaunched on October 13, 2006. The first official event on the channel was a National Hockey League game between the defunct Atlanta Thrashers and the Carolina Hurricanes.

SportSouth reaches about 8.9 million cable and satellite subscribers in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and parts of North Carolina.

Network histories

Sale

In March 2006, FSN's parent company News Corporation, looking to further expand its roster of sports teams and events, bought the network for $375 million.[2] After the deal was completed, FSN sought a new name. After about 60 different suggestions, network officials chose SportSouth, the original name of the other Southern US based network owned by News Corp, FSN South because they had no talent for picking a more unique name that would be less confusing to viewers.

Current operations

It shares local Braves broadcasting with WPCH-TV, the spun off local broadcast version of TBS, an arrangement which begun in 2008. (Select games of the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals will also be distributed on SportSouth, subject to Major League Baseball territory restrictions.) However, conflicts with NBA and NHL playoff games could see the split between SportSouth and Fox Sports South differ from the planned 80/25 games per network. This ensures that both they and the Nashville Predators have the maximum number of games televised that they wish to offer.

Sportsouth also has acquired the rights to University of Tennessee sporting events as of August 28, 2007, including 12 encore presentations of Tennessee football, four men’s basketball games, four women’s basketball games, six Olympic sporting events, 12 60-minute episodes of The Derek Dooley Show, nine 30-minute episodes of The Pat Summitt Show, and nine 30-minute episodes of The Bruce Pearl Show.

There are two major differences between Fox Sports South and SportSouth:

  • SportSouth plans to air only programs of interest to the region, much as Prime Ticket does in Southern California. Jeff Genthner, vice president and general manager of Fox Sports South and SportSouth, cited a program currently in the works on Hawks rookie Shelden Williams' first year in the NBA as one example. Thus, only Fox Sports South will carry national FSN games, such as those from the Big 12 and Pac-10 Conferences. The two channels also try to put virtually all Southeastern Conference or Atlantic Coast Conference games on one channel or the other, again often targeted to regional vs. national interests.
  • SportSouth is blacked out in areas not covered by the ZIP codes in the regional coverage area. For example, viewers of DirecTV's "Sports Pack" in other parts of the United States will not receive the channel. The blackout policy dates back to the days of Turner/Time Warner ownership. However, as of August 2007, it appears the restrictions have been lifted on DirecTV and "Sports Pack" subscribers are now receiving the channel without blackouts (except during major league sporting events)[citation needed].
  • Fox Sports South also covers a somewhat wider broadcast area, and offers a variety of different MLB, NBA, and NHL teams, depending on location.

Promotional commercials for SportSouth have included sports figures such as Steve Spurrier, Bob Hartley, Bo Jackson, and Heath Shuler.

Commentators

Atlanta Hawks

Atlanta Braves

Charlotte Bobcats

Memphis Grizzlies

Atlanta Dream

See also

References

  1. ^ Turner South to Launch Friday, October 1, to Nearly One Million Subscribers Time Warner Press Release September 29, 1999
  2. ^ Fox Cable Buys Turner South Multichannel News February 23, 2006
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