Fox Sports Ohio

Fox Sports Ohio
Launched February 9, 1989 (1989-02-09)
(soft launch)
September 1, 1989 (1989-09-01)
(official launch)
Owned by Fox Entertainment Group
(21st Century Fox)
Cincinnati Reds (50% stake in Cincinnati sub-feed)[1]
Picture format 720p (HDTV)
480i (SDTV)
Slogan Fox Sports Networks
Country United States
Language English
Broadcast area Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, northwest Pennsylvania, West Virginia, southwest New York
National (via satellite)
Headquarters Cleveland, Ohio
Formerly called SportsChannel Ohio (1989–1998)
Fox Sports Ohio (1998–2000)
Fox Sports Net Ohio (2000–2004)
FSN Ohio (2004–2008)
Sister channel(s) SportsTime Ohio
Website www.foxsports.com/ohio
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV Cleveland feed:
660 (SD)
660–1 (HD)
Cincinnati feed:
661 (SD)
661–1 (HD)
Dish Network Cleveland feed:
425 (SD)
5425 (HD)
Cincinnati feed:
427 (SD)
5427 (HD)
Cable
Available on most Ohio cable systems and select cable systems elsewhere in designated broadcast area Consult your local cable provider or program listings source for channel availability
IPTV
AT&T U-verse Cleveland feed:
734 (SD)
1734 (HD)
Cincinnati feed:
732 (SD)
1732 (HD)
Streaming media
Fox Sports Go www.foxsportsgo.com/
(U.S. cable internet subscribers only; requires login from participating providers to stream content; some events may not be available due to league rights restrictions)
Sling TV Internet Protocol television

Fox Sports Ohio 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 channel broadcasts regional coverage of sports events in the state of Ohio, with a focus on professional sports teams based in Cleveland and Cincinnati, which are broadcast on separate programming feeds.

Fox Sports Ohio is available on cable providers throughout Ohio, as well as parts of Indiana, Kentucky, northwestern Pennsylvania, border communities of West Virginia, and extreme southwestern New York; it is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV and Dish Network.

History

Fox Sports Ohio logo, used from 2008 to 2012.

The channel originally launched on February 9, 1989, with an official launch on September 1 of that year as SportsChannel Ohio. It launched as an affiliate of SportsChannel, a slate of regional sports networks operated as a joint venture between Cablevision and NBC. SportsChannel Ohio initially held the broadcast games from the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Cleveland Indians. The channel also aired select Cincinnati Reds games produced by SportsChannel Cincinnati, Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball and football games, and Ohio State Buckeyes sporting events (with the exception of football and basketball).[2]

In 1997, News Corporation and Liberty Media purchased a 40% interest in Cablevision's sports properties including the SportsChannel America networks (as well as Madison Square Garden and its NBA and NHL team tenants, the New York Knicks and New York Rangers) in a deal worth $850 million, forming the venture National Sports Partners to run the owned-and-operated regional networks.[3][4] As part of a gradual rebranding of the SportsChannel networks that began that month, SportsChannel Ohio was rebranded as Fox Sports Ohio in January 1998.

The channel was then rebranded as Fox Sports Net Ohio in 2000, as part of a collective brand modification of the FSN networks under the "Fox Sports Net" banner; subsequently in 2004, the channel shortened its name to FSN Ohio, through the networks' de-emphasis of the brand.

In February 2005, News Corporation (which spun off most of its entertainment properties into 21st Century Fox in July 2013) acquired Cablevision's ownership stakes in Fox Sports Ohio and Fox Sports Florida, following an asset trade in which Fox sold its interest in Madison Square Garden, the Knicks and the Rangers, to Cablevision, in exchange for acquiring sole ownership of the two networks. The channel reverted to the Fox Sports Ohio moniker in 2008.

Feeds

The network operates regional feeds for the Cleveland and Cincinnati markets, both branded as Fox Sports Ohio (but with the latter feed disambiguated in some electronic program guides and online television listings services as "Fox Sports Cincinnati"), which broadcast different events depending on the market. This arrangement can cause event conflicts in the Columbus market, which is located between Cleveland and Cincinnati. In the event of conflicting events between the two regional feeds (typically between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Cleveland Cavaliers, the Blue Jackets and Cincinnati Reds, and the Reds and Cavaliers), cable providers in Central Ohio will carry the other game on an alternate channel.

Programming

Fox Sports Ohio holds the exclusive regional cable television rights to the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers (since 1990), Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds (since 1991), the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets (since 2000) and the AHL's Lake Erie Monsters. The channel also carries a select number of college basketball games involving the Xavier Musketeers (since 2005),[5] and the Cincinnati Bearcats (since 2008).[6]

The channel formerly broadcast Cleveland Indians games from the network's launch as SportsChannel Ohio, until FSN Ohio lost the rights as a result of the team starting (eventual sister channel) SportsTime Ohio in March 2006. Despite this move, Reds games continue to be blacked out in Northeast Ohio (the designated market area of the Indians), as well as national broadcasts of certain Indians games aired on other cable channels (deferring them to STO). Although the two networks came under common ownership following Fox's purchase of the latter in 2012, Fox Sports Ohio does not share broadcast rights to any sporting events with SportsTime Ohio and vice versa (unlike arrangements that exist between Fox Sports South and Fox Sports Southeast, and Fox Sports Florida and Fox Sports Sun), with both networks maintaining their own respective team television contracts.

On October 19, 2016, Fox Sports and the Reds announced an extension of their broadcast agreement to the end of the 2032 season. The deal includes the Reds taking an equity stake in the Cincinnati sub-feed of Fox Sports Ohio.[1]

Notable on-air staff

Current

Cincinnati Reds

Cleveland Cavaliers

Columbus Blue Jackets

College and high school sports

References

  1. 1 2 Buchanan, Zach (19 October 2016). "Reds, Fox Sports Ohio extend partnership through 2032". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  2. ↑ "Warner Cable May Drop SportsChannel" – via AccessMyLibrary.
  3. ↑ "Fox putting together national Sports Net // Changes ahead for SportsChannel". Chicago Sun-Times. Sun-Times Media Group. June 24, 1997. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  4. ↑ John M. Higgins (June 30, 1997). "National net keys regional deal. (Fox Sports, Liberty Media Corp. challenge ESPN with stake in SportsChannel)". Broadcasting & Cable. Reed Business Information. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Xavier, FSN extend TV agreement". The Cincinnati Enquirer. E. W. Scripps Company. November 4, 2004.
  6. ↑ "FSN Ohio and UC Enter Into Exclusive Cable Programming Partnership". University of Cincinnati Department of Athletics. August 7, 2008.
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