Fox Sports Net
The Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net, are cable TV networks that were originally owned by separate companies. In addition, Fox Sports Net broadcasts sports news and talk across a range of radio affiliates. The most notable were the SportsChannel networks, which went on the air in 1977 with the original SportsChannel (now Fox Sports New York), and the Prime Sports Networks, which went on the air in 1983 with the charter member being Prime Sports Southwest (now Fox Sports Southwest).
During the 1990s, News Corporation, which launched the Fox Network in 1986, bought both the Prime Sports and SportsChannel regional sports networks.
Starting in September 2004, Fox Sports Net became known simply as FSN.
Regional networks
The major regional sports networks that are not part of Fox Sports Net are:
- Sunshine Network (Florida, although it is owned by Fox)
- NESN (New England Sports Network), which is owned by the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins
- Empire Sports Network (upstate New York)
- YES (Yankees Entertainment and Sports) which is owned by the New York Yankees
- MSG (Madison Square Garden Network) (New York)
- Comcast Sports Net in Philadelphia, PA, and including a station formerly known as Home Team Sports (HTS), based in Washington, DC; Comcast acquired all partnership interest from Viacom (Fox being a limited partner) in 2000 along with all of Midwest Sports Channel in Chicago, IL, which also had a station in Milwaukee, WI (Source: American Business Journals)
- Victory Sports One (Minnesota, folded shortly after founding in 2004)
- Comcast Sports Net Chicago, starting October 1, 2004
- Altitude Sports (Denver and Rocky Mountain sports), starting September 1, 2004.
