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Fox Sports South
CountryUnited States
NetworkFox Sports Networks
HeadquartersAtlanta, Georgia
Programming
Language(s)English
Ownership
OwnerFox Entertainment Group
(21st Century Fox)

Fox Sports South is an American regional sports network that is owned by Fox Cable Networks, a unit of the Fox Entertainment Group division of 21st Century Fox, and operates as an affiliate of Fox Sports Networks. The network carries regional coverage of professional and collegiate sports events from across the Southern United States, along with other sporting events and programming from FSN.

Fox Sports South is available on cable providers throughout Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee; it is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV and Dish Network.

History

Fox Sports South was originally launched on August 29, 1990 as SportSouth, under the ownership of the Turner Broadcasting System, in conjunction with business partners Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI) and Scripps-Howard Broadcasting. At its launch, the channel held the regional cable television rights to the Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Hornets. Shortly after Turner completed its merger with Time Warner, SportSouth was purchased by News Corporation's Fox Cable Networks in the winter of 1996; the channel was integrated into the recently formed Fox Sports Net group of regional sports networks, and was officially rebranded as Fox Sports South in the spring of 1997 (later amending the name to "Fox Sports Net South" in 2000, as part of a collective brand modification of the FSN networks under the "Fox Sports Net" banner).

In 2002, Fox Sports South began producing the Southern Sports Report from its Midtown Atlanta studios, as part of the collective FSN networks' expansion of "regional sports reports" to compliment the National Sports Report, both formatted as daily news programs focusing on sports news and highlights. The Atlanta studios served as a production hub for the regional sports reports broadcast on other FSN networks, often utilizing the same anchors (with Terry Chick being the most prominent). The Southern Sports Report was discontinued in 2005; around the same time, FSN South began producing a similar program, Around The South, which focused on sports stories across the region. In 2004, the channel shortened its name to FSN South, through the networks' de-emphasis of the Fox Sports Net brand.

On February 23, 2006, News Corporation purchased the general entertainment cable channel Turner South from the Turner Broadcasting System for $375 million.[1] After the deal was completed, the channel dropped all remaining entertainment programming and converted into a sports-exclusive channel as it became part of the Fox Sports Networks group, adopting the "SportSouth" name formerly used by Fox Sports South. FSN South, which effectively became a sister network to the new SportSouth (which was renamed Fox Sports Southeast in October 2015[2]), reverted to the Fox Sports South moniker in 2008.

In 2008, SportSouth acquired the partial television rights to the Atlanta Braves, splitting the telecasts with Atlanta independent station WPCH-TV (channel 17), which ceased distributing the station's Braves telecasts nationally after its separation from its companion superstation feed TBS (which became a conventional cable network) in October 2007.[3] After Turner turned over the operations of WPCH to the Meredith Corporation under a local marketing agreement in 2011, production of the Braves telecasts was transferred from Turner Sports to Fox Sports South, in a deal in which the channel would produce a package of 45 regular season games each year for WPCH.

On February 28, 2013, Fox Sports South and SportSouth reached a deal with the Braves to acquire the 45 additional Atlanta Braves games beginning with the 2013 season, ending the team's contract with WPCH-TV and marking the first time in 40 years that the team's game telecasts were not available on broadcast television in the Atlanta market.[4][5] In July 2013, News Corporation spun off the Fox Sports Networks and most of its other U.S. entertainment properties into 21st Century Fox.

Coverage area

Fox Sports South's coverage area includes Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, most of Kentucky and parts of Florida. It is, by far, the largest coverage by area and total market reach of any FSN affiliate. As such, the channel is often separated into several sub-regional feeds for the purposes of adhering to the various professional leagues' home territory rules. For example, Memphis Grizzlies and Nashville Predators games are only seen in Tennessee, most of Kentucky, northern Mississippi and northern Alabama, while Charlotte Hornets games are only seen in North and South Carolina. Neither team's games are seen elsewhere within Fox Sports South's coverage area, although Predators games are occasionally rebroadcast in North Carolina.

In October 2008, Fox decided to split Fox Sports South into three separate channels to offer more localized sports coverage. It launched separate respective feeds for the Carolinas and most of Tennessee, Fox Sports Carolinas and Fox Sports Tennessee.[6] FSN considers these feeds as separate networks, which maintain their own sub-sites within the main Fox Sports Local website. The main Fox Sports South channel now only serves Georgia and most of Alabama, Kentucky and Mississippi.

Programming

Fox Sports South holds the exclusive regional cable television rights to the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball franchise; the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets and Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA; the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA; and the Carolina Hurricanes and Nashville Predators of the NHL. The channel also provides coverage of collegiate sports events from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Conference USA and the Big 12 Conference.

Commentators

Atlanta Hawks

Atlanta Braves

Atlanta Dream

Charlotte Hornets

Memphis Grizzlies

See also

References

  1. ^ R. Thomas Umstead (February 23, 2006). "Fox Cable Buys Turner South". Multichannel News. Reed Business Information. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  2. ^ "FOX Sports regional network 'SportSouth' to be rebranded 'FOX Sports Southeast'". Fox Sports South/SportSouth. Fox Sports Networks. August 24, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  3. ^ "WTBS to become PeachTree TV". Atlanta Business Journal. American City Business Journals. June 27, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2009.
  4. ^ "Fox Picks Up Braves' Games from PeachTree TV". Multichannel News. NewBay Media. March 1, 2013.
  5. ^ "FOX Sports South and SportSouth acquire 45 additional Braves games beginning this season". Fox Sports South. February 28, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
  6. ^ "Fox Sports Launches Regional Nets in Tennessee, Carolinas". Multichannel News. November 1, 2008. Archived from the original on May 9, 2012.
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