Bally Sports Great Lakes

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Fox SportsTime Ohio
CountryUnited States
NetworkFox Sports Networks
HeadquartersCleveland, Ohio
Programming
Language(s)English
Ownership
OwnerDiamond Sports Group (a joint venture of Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios)

SportsTime Ohio (STO) (also sometimes referred to on-air as Fox SportsTime Ohio) is an American regional sports network that is owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Fox Sports Networks. The channel, which is a sister network to Fox Sports Ohio, broadcasts statewide coverage of professional, collegiate and high school sports events throughout northern Ohio, including the Cleveland area.

Fox SportsTime Ohio is available from most cable providers in Northeast Ohio and select providers in other portions of Ohio (including Columbus), Northwest Pennsylvania, and extreme Western New York. It is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV, as well as outside Ohio on AT&T U-verse.

History

SportsTime Ohio was launched on March 12, 2006; it was founded by the family of Cleveland Indians owner Larry Dolan, becoming the second regional sports network in the Cleveland area, after Fox Sports Ohio (which launched in February 1989 as SportsChannel Ohio). SportsTime Ohio assumed the regional cable television rights to Major League Baseball games involving the Indians from Fox Sports Ohio, which had served as the exclusive local broadcaster of the Indians from 2002 to 2005, when it was majority-owned by Cablevision Systems Corporation (a New York-based company owned by Dolan's brother, Charles) until an asset trade with then-Fox Sports Net parent News Corporation who also owned 20th Century Fox and Fox News. Jim Liberatore, former President of Fox Sports owned Speed Channel helped start the network and served as its first President. His knowledge of the cable industry served a vital role in the success the network enjoyed while so many other team facilitated network launches failed across the country.

Starting off as rivals with Gannett-owned WKYC providing studio operations for the cable channel, the two networks would soon become corporate sisters, when on December 3, 2012, the Indians announced that it would sell SportsTime Ohio to Fox Sports Ohio parent Fox Entertainment Group. The deal was finalized four weeks later on December 28.[1] Fox retained SportsTime Ohio's existing staff despite coming under common ownership with Fox Sports Ohio, with Katie Witham becoming a traveling reporter with the team.

In April 2013, at the beginning of the 2013 Major League Baseball season, SportsTime Ohio transitioned to the Fox Sports branding and imagery, but maintained the SportsTime Ohio branding (following the model of FSN's similar secondary channels Sun Sports, SportSouth, and Prime Ticket).[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 SportsTime Ohio, sister network Fox Sports Ohio, and Fox's 50% stake in the network's Cincinnati sub-feed. However, on June 27, 2018, the Justice Department ordered their divestment under antitrust grounds, citing Disney's ownership of ESPN.[3] 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. The deal closed on August 22, 2019, thus putting SportsTime Ohio and Fox Sports Ohio under common ownership with several Sinclair stations in Ohio, which include WSYX/WTTE/WWHO in Columbus, WKRC-TV/WSTR-TV in Cincinnati, WNWO-TV in Toledo, WKEF/WRGT-TV in Dayton, and WTOV-TV in Steubenville, Ohio.[4][5][6][7] The deal will also mark Sinclair's entry into Northeast Ohio, where its nearest existing broadcasting properties are WSYX/WTTE/WWHO, WNWO-TV, WTOV-TV, and WPGH-TV/WPNT in Pittsburgh.

Programming

Professional sports

Bruce Drennan hosting his daily talk show at Progressive Field.

SportsTime Ohio holds the exclusive regional cable television rights to the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball and is the cable outlet of the Cleveland Browns. The channel produces Indians Live, a pre-game and post-game show bookending the channel's Indians telecasts or any national games airing on another network. The network also is the primary TV outlet for Cleveland Monsters hockey,[8] and secondary broadcaster of Columbus Crew SC.[9]

Original programming

Current[10]
  • Beer Money – Hosted by Jensen Lewis and Gabriella Kruez, a sports trivia game show taped at various Ohio bars, in which patrons are asked trivia questions about local sports teams and figures to win cash prizes.
  • Drennan Live - a Monday–Thursday call-in show hosted by Bruce Drennan and Ashley Collins.
  • Training Camp Daily - a daily 30 minute program which airs during Browns training camp
  • Red Zone - A weekly Cleveland Browns oriented program with WKYC sports director/Browns radio announcer Jim Donovan, Former Browns left tackle and current radio analyst Doug Dieken, and WKNR Browns/NFL analyst Tony Grossi
  • The Tribe Report – A weekly show reviewing the previous week's Indians games and headlines, and previewing upcoming team games and events.
  • Buckeye Weekly – produced by sister network BTN exclusively for STO, this seasonal weekly show centers around the Ohio State Buckeyes football team; hosted by longtime BTN personality Rick Pizzo and former OSU linebacker James Laurinitis[11]
  • Swing Clinic – a golf instructional show hosted by local PGA pro Jimmy Hanlin; is a part of the national Fox Sports Networks schedule
  • 18 Holes – a tour of various national golf courses hosted by Jimmy Hanlin and former LPGA golfer Natalie Gulbis; is a part of the national Fox Sports Networks schedule.

Current on-air staff

References

  1. ^ "Fox Sports Buys SportsTime Ohio". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media. December 28, 2012. Retrieved December 28, 2012.
  2. ^ Joel Hammond (March 16, 2013). "On new SportsTime Ohio, a lot stays the same". TribeVibe. Retrieved March 16, 2013.
  3. ^ "Disney can buy Fox if it sells 22 regional sports networks, Justice Dept. says". USA Today. June 28, 2018.
  4. ^ Littleton, Cynthia. "Sinclair Clinches Disney-Regional Sports Networks Deal, Byron Allen Joins as Partner". Variety. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  5. ^ "Fox Regional Sports Network sale nears conclusion as final round bids come due April 15". Fox Business. March 25, 2019.
  6. ^ Palmeri, Christopher; Sakoui, Anousha (May 2, 2019). "Sinclair to Buy Fox Sports Networks From Disney, WSJ Reports". Bloomberg. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  7. ^ "Sinclair completes acquisition of regional sports networks from Disney". Bloomberg. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  8. ^ Monsters' broadcast schedule - Lake Erie Monsters.com
  9. ^ "Columbus Crew score Fox Sports local broadcast deal". SportsPro Media. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  10. ^ "STO schedule". Fox Sports Ohio.
  11. ^ FSO & STO announce OSU football coverage - Fox Sports.com
  12. ^ a b c Training Camp Daily returns to STO - Fox Sports.com

External links

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