Bally Sports Wisconsin

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Fox Sports Wisconsin
CountryUnited States
NetworkFox Sports Networks
Programming
Language(s)English
Ownership
OwnerFox Entertainment Group
(21st Century Fox)

Fox Sports Wisconsin is an American regional sports network that is operated as an affiliate of Fox Sports Networks, and serves the state of Wisconsin. The channel is owned by Fox Cable Networks, a unit of the Fox Entertainment Group division of 21st Century Fox.

Originally the "Wisconsin" sub-feed of Fox Sports North, the network officially became Fox Sports Wisconsin on April 1, 2007 with its own feed originating from facilities in Milwaukee; the network had formerly been based at the studios of Fox owned-and-operated station WITI (channel 6) in Brown Deer before that station was sold to Local TV in 2008. Fox Sports Wisconsin holds the regional cable television rights to the Milwaukee Brewers and Milwaukee Bucks.

History

The first regional sports network in the state was a gametime-only network broadcasting Milwaukee Brewers baseball and Milwaukee Bucks basketball games called Wisconsin Sports Network. Its parent companies were Milwaukee's Time Warner Cable franchise and Group W. However, in 1996, it was taken over by the Minneapolis-based Midwest Sports Channel, which was owned by CBS owned-and-operated station WCCO-TV (channel 4) in Minneapolis and CBS Cable after the merger between CBS, and Group W's owner Westinghouse. Shortly thereafter, MSC became an affiliate of the fledgling Fox Sports Net in the fall of 1996, ultimately changing its name to FSN North in April 2001 after the network's sale to News Corporation in 2000. Despite being well out of the station's market, the MSC late night encore of WCCO's 10 p.m. newscast also aired on the Wisconsin network until the Fox purchase.

From 1996 to 2007, Wisconsin was served by one of three regional subfeeds of FSN North; the other two being a feed for the Twin Cities metro area and a feed for the rest of Minnesota (as well as Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota). Fox Sports Wisconsin was launched on April 1, 2007, to coincide with the start of the 2007 Milwaukee Brewers season. Commiserate with the national rebranding of the FSN networks in 2012, FSN Wisconsin is now known as Fox Sports Wisconsin.

On April 9, 2012, the network launched a "Plus" feed in both HD and SD on most of Fox Sports Wisconsin's cable and satellite providers, which will allow the network to air Brewers games on Fox Sports Wisconsin, while Milwaukee Bucks games are carried over Fox Sports Wisconsin Plus (except for Bucks playoff situations where the reverse occurs). Fox Sports Wisconsin Plus also airs Wild hockey games from Fox Sports North that can be shown in-market when Fox Sports Wisconsin is airing a local game (because of blackout restrictions, Twins and Timberwolves games never appear on Fox Sports Wisconsin). Some systems will carry the Plus channel on a full-time basis, while others will carry it gametime-only; non-game Plus programming contains a loop of national Fox Sports Net programming such as the World Poker Tour.[1]

Programming

Fox Sports Wisconsin's programming currently includes Brewers, Bucks, and Minnesota Wild pregame, postgame, and fan shows, along with WIAA competitions (the girls and boy's state tournament final rights are held by Quincy Newspapers and a statewide network of broadcast stations, though Fox Sports Wisconsin is allowed to carry replays of the tourney), weekend outdoors programming, and many of Fox Sports' national programs. A reduced schedule of Wild hockey also airs Fox Sports Wisconsin through Fox Sports North. From 2007 to 2011, Fox Sports Wisconsin sub-licensed fifteen Brewers games to air on Milwaukee independent station WMLW-CA (channel 41), producing the broadcasts and airing them on Fox Sports Wisconsin outside of the Milwaukee market, while WMLW sold advertising on those telecasts.[2] The deal was discontinued after the 2011 season due to the Brewers wanting a full-HD schedule of games, making the team exclusive to the network.

It also airs NCAA competitions of the Big East Conference, Big Ten Conference and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. It will acquire a limited schedule of Marquette men's games beginning in the 2013-14 schedule as part of sister network Fox Sports 1 sub-licensing some games without national interest to their regional sports network partners, CBS Sports Network and the ESPN family of networks as part of the "new" Big East's television contract.[3] Formerly Time Warner Cable Sports 32 carried Marquette sports from 2006 until 2013; that channel is limited to only eastern Wisconsin Time Warner systems.

Fox Sports Wisconsin HD

Fox Sports Wisconsin HD is a 720p high definition simulcast feed of Fox Sports Wisconsin. All Bucks and Brewers games are broadcast in HD, as well as national FSN programs. Depending on market, Fox Sports Wisconsin Plus is also carried in 720p HD. Since 2012, the HD feed has been downscaled in letterbox for standard definition and analog viewers, standard for all of Fox's cable networks.

On-air staff

Milwaukee Bucks telecast

Milwaukee Brewers telecast

Teams

Fox Sports Wisconsin is the cable television home to several professional and college teams.

Major League Baseball

NBA

  • Milwaukee Bucks (exclusive to the network starting with the 2007–08 season)

NHL

NCAA Division I athletics

NCAA Division III athletics

High School athletics

  • WIAA Wisconsin State Tournaments (exclusive rights to all but the boy's and girl's basketball championships, whose rights are held by Quincy Newspapers and air over a local broadcast station network; tape-delayed replays air on Fox Sports Wisconsin)

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.foxsportswisconsin.com/04/05/12/FS-Wisconsin-to-broadcast-Milwaukee-Brew/landing.html?blockID=703126&feedID=5065
  2. ^ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel February 15, 2007 HR for Brewers' viewers
  3. ^ Kirchen, Rich (19 September 2013). "Buzz Williams show, MU games exit Time Warner SportsChannel". The Business Journal of Milwaukee. Retrieved 22 September 2013. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  4. ^ Haudricourt, Tom (26 January 2014). "Matt Lepay to join Brewers broadcast team". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  5. ^ Kirchen, Rich (19 September 2013). "Buzz Williams show, MU games exit Time Warner SportsChannel". The Business Journal of Milwaukee. Retrieved 22 September 2013. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)

External links

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