Bally Sports Oklahoma
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Network | Fox Sports Networks |
| Headquarters | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Diamond Sports Group (Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios) |
Fox Sports Oklahoma is an American regional sports network that is owned by Diamond Sports Group (a joint-venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios), and operates as an affiliate of Fox Sports Networks. The channel provides statewide coverage of sports events within the state of Oklahoma, namely the Oklahoma City Thunder, the state's major college sports teams, and high school sports.
Fox Sports Oklahoma is available on cable providers throughout Oklahoma, and nationwide on satellite via DirecTV.
Background
Fox Sports Oklahoma launched on October 29, 2008 as a spinoff of Fox Sports Southwest. It was created in order to serve as the cable broadcaster of the Oklahoma City Thunder, after Fox Sports Southwest acquired the broadcast rights to the NBA franchise following its relocation to Oklahoma City that year from Seattle.[1]
It initially split the rights to Thunder game telecasts with independent station KSBI (channel 52, now a MyNetworkTV affiliate), under an agreement in which Fox Sports Oklahoma would produce a limited schedule of regular season games (most of which aired on weekends) for the station; the Thunder signed a new multi-year broadcast agreement with Fox Sports Oklahoma on August 3, 2010, rendering the team's games cable-exclusive beginning with the 2010-11 season.[2]
On December 14, 2017, as part of a merger between both companies, The Walt Disney Company announced plans to acquire all 22 regional Fox Sports networks from 21st Century Fox, including Fox Sports Oklahoma. However, on June 27, 2018, the Justice Department ordered their divestment under antitrust grounds, citing Disney's ownership of ESPN. On May 3, 2019, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios (through their joint venture, Diamond Holdings) bought Fox Sports Networks from The Walt Disney Company for $10.6 billion.[3] The deal closed on August 22, 2019, thus placing Fox Sports Oklahoma in common ownership with Sinclair stations KOKH-TV/KOCB in the network's homebase of Oklahoma City, and KTUL in Tulsa.[4]
Programming
In addition to holding the regional television rights to Thunder's regular season and any early-round playoff games, Fox Sports Oklahoma also broadcasts sporting events from the Oklahoma Sooners and the Oklahoma State Cowboys, including football, basketball, baseball, softball, gymnastics, track-and-field, golf, tennis, wrestling, and volleyball.[1] The channel also holds exclusive broadcast rights to state football, basketball and baseball championships held by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association. Fox Sports Oklahoma has broadcast Class A-6A Football Championship games and periodically runs OSSAA Championship Spotlight, a magazine program that highlights various high school sports depending on the time of year.[5]
Fox Sports Oklahoma also broadcasts pre-game and post-game shows for the Oklahoma City Thunder (under the Thunder Live banner), and Oklahoma Sooners and Oklahoma State Cowboys-related programs (such as coaches' shows and team magazine programs). Outside of programming exclusive to Fox Sports Oklahoma, the channel runs various programs supplied by Fox Sports Southwest (including sports interview, magazine and analysis programs focusing on Texas sports) as well as some game telecasts including Texas Rangers baseball and Dallas Stars hockey.
Other services
Fox Sports Oklahoma Plus
Fox Sports Oklahoma Plus (also branded as "FOX Sports Oklahoma +" or FS OKLAHOMA +") is an alternate feed of Fox Sports Oklahoma used to broadcast select events within the designated market that cannot air on the main feed due to scheduling conflicts.[6]
Fox Sports Oklahoma Plus primarily serves an overflow feed in the event that teams whose games Fox Sports Oklahoma has the right to broadcast play conflicting games simultaneously, mainly those that are televised on Fox Sports Southwest that may otherwise also air on Fox Sports Oklahoma (such as Texas Ranger Baseball or Dallas Star Hockey) are scheduled to be held at the same time as the scheduled telecast of a Thunder, Sooners or Cowboys game, or a high school or collegiate sporting event involving an Oklahoma team.
On some cable systems in Oklahoma, Fox Sports Oklahoma Plus airs St. Louis Cardinals telecasts from Fox Sports Midwest and select Kansas City Royals telecasts from Fox Sports Kansas City to the fans of those teams living in Oklahoma who otherwise cannot receive Cardinals or Royals games on Fox Sports Midwest and Fox Sports Kansas City.
On-air staff
Current
- Chris Fisher – Thunder play-by-play
- Michael Cage – Thunder color commentator
- Nick Gallo - Thunder Sideline Reporter
- Greg Buckner – Thunder Live studio analyst
References
- ^ a b "Fox Sports Southwest rebranded as Fox Sports Oklahoma". Tulsa World. November 1, 2008. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012.
- ^ "Thunder Signs Exclusive Television Agreement with FOX Sports Southwest". NBA.com (Press release). August 3, 2010.
- ^ Littleton, Cynthia. "Sinclair Clinches Disney-Regional Sports Networks Deal, Byron Allen Joins as Partner". Variety. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
- ^ "Sinclair completes acquisition of regional sports networks from Disney". Bloomberg. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
- ^ "Media Notes: Fox Sports Oklahoma to air six state football finals". The Oklahoman. Oklahoma Publishing Company. December 8, 2010.
- ^ "What is FOX Sports Oklahoma Plus?". Fox Sports Oklahoma. Archived from the original on 2013-08-31.
External links
- www.foxsports.com/southwest – Fox Sports Southwest official website
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