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Comcast SportsNet
	Comcast SportsNet logo
Launched	1997
Owned by	Comcast
Country	United States
Language	American English
Broadcast area	Regional through several affiliates
Website	Comcast SportsNet

Comcast SportsNet (or CSN) is a group of regional sports networks in the United States that is primarily owned by the Comcast cable television company.

The channels, CSN Bay Area, CSN California (both serving Northern and Central California), CSN Chicago, CSN New England, CSN Northwest (serving Portland, OR/Seattle), CSN Philadelphia, CSN Washington (serving Baltimore/Washington) and SportsNet New York, have rights to carry some or all of the local professional teams in baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer. They also air nightly sports-news and talk shows, post-game shows, and other shoulder programming related to local National Football League (NFL) teams, and a variety of college sports programming.

CSN Chicago, CSN Philadelphia, CSN Washington, and SportsNet New York air SportsNite, a nightly sports news program which has a format that is very similar to ESPN's SportsCenter.

On October 1, 2008, all of the Comcast SportsNet branded networks began using the same logo, which resembles the one originally used by SportsNet New York.

[edit] Networks

Name	Region served	Home to	Former Name	Notes
Bay Area	Northern and central California, northwestern Nevada (including the Lake Tahoe-Reno-Carson City region), and parts of southern Oregon.	San Francisco Giants (MLB), FC Gold Pride (WPS), Golden State Warriors (NBA), San Jose Earthquakes (MLS), San Jose Stealth (NLL), San Jose SaberCats (AFL) and local coverage of the Pacific 10, West Coast, Mountain West, and Western Athletic conferences.	Pacific Sports Network (PSN), SportsChannel Bay Area, SportsChannel Pacific, FSN Bay Area	Renamed from FSN Bay Area on March 31, 2008.^[1] Owned 45% by Comcast, 30% by the Giants and 25% by Fox. Due to NBA territorial restrictions, Warriors games are blacked out in the Sacramento area.
California	Northern and central California.	Oakland Athletics (MLB), Sacramento Kings (NBA), Sacramento Monarchs (WNBA), San Jose Sharks (NHL), San Jose Earthquakes (MLS), California Golden Bears (NCAA), other local sports coverage.	CSN West	Created in conjunction with Maloof Sports & Entertainment (owners of the Kings and Monarchs), after they did not renew their previous contract with FSN Bay Area. Renamed from CSN West on Sept. 4, 2008. Due to NBA territorial restrictions, Kings games are blacked out in the San Francisco Bay Area. One of two CSN networks with different broadcast graphics during NBA games (CSN Northwest).
Chicago	Illinois, northwestern Indiana, Iowa, non-Milwaukee market areas of southern Wisconsin	Chicago Bulls (NBA), Chicago Cubs (MLB), Chicago White Sox (MLB), Chicago Blackhawks (NHL), coverage of local women's college basketball games, as well as softball (the Chicago Bandits), and arena football (mainly the Chicago Rush).	FSN Chicago Sportsvision Chicago SportsChannel Chicago ON TV / Sportsvison / Hawkvision	Replaced FSN Chicago. Owned 20% by Comcast, as well as 20% each by the Bulls, Blackhawks, White Sox, and Cubs .
New England	Connecticut (except southwestern areas), Maine Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont	Boston Celtics (NBA), Boston Cannons (MLL)	FSN New England, SportsChannel New England	Renamed CSN New England in October 2007.^[2]
SportsNet New York (SNY)	New York, Northern New Jersey, Connecticut, Northeast Pennsylvania	New York Mets (MLB), Big East, Sun Belt and other athletic conferences.		Owned jointly by the New York Mets, Time Warner, and Comcast.
Northwest	Oregon, Washington	Portland Trail Blazers (NBA), Vancouver Canucks and other NHL games, Oregon Ducks and other college sports programming, assorted local sports		Created in conjunction with the Trail Blazers after they were unable to come to an agreement to stay on FSN Northwest. Currently available mostly to Comcast customers. Neither Dish Network nor DirecTV has picked up this channel. Canby Telcom has accused Comcast of being inflexible in its negotiations.^[3] The Oregonian newspaper has reported that CSN Northwest is seeking $2 per month per subscriber, more than what is being paid to the well-established FSN Northwest.^[4] One of two CSN networks with different broadcast graphics during NBA games (CSN California).
Philadelphia	Philadelphia, eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware	Philadelphia Phillies (MLB), Philadelphia Flyers (NHL), Philadelphia 76ers (NBA), Philadelphia Phantoms (AHL), Philadelphia Wings(NLL), college sports.	PRISM & SportsChannel	Flagship of the Comcast regional sports networks. Not available via satellite. Owned 66.6% Comcast and 33.3% Phillies. Orginally was jointly Comcast, Phillies, and Spectacor (Flyers/Sixers), until Comcast purchased the Flyers and Sixers.
Washington	Delaware, Maryland, Central Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia	Washington Capitals (NHL), Washington Wizards (NBA), Washington Mystics (WNBA), D.C. United (MLS) and local coverage of the Atlantic Coast Conference and Colonial Athletic Association.	Home Team Sports, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic	Carried the Baltimore Orioles through 2006.
The Mtn.	Denver, Colorado	Air Force Falcons (NCAA), BYU Cougars (NCAA), Colorado State Rams (NCAA), New Mexico Lobos (NCAA), SDSU Aztecs (NCAA), TCU Horned Frogs (NCAA), UNLV Rebels (NCAA), Utah Utes (NCAA), Wyoming Cowboys (NCAA).		Launched on September 1, 2006 as a joint-venture of the Mountain West Conference (MWC), CBS College Sports Network (then CSTV) and Comcast (which owns Versus).

[edit] FSN on Comcast SportsNet

CSN Chicago, CSN Philadelphia, CSN Washington, CSN New England and CSN Bay Area carry Fox Sports Net programming in lieu of an FSN affiliate. This offers the regions access to a variety of college sports, notably ACC men's and women's basketball on Sundays, Pac-10 basketball on various nights, plus Big 12 and Pac-10 football on Saturdays during their respective seasons. They also air studio shows, such as The Best Damn Sports Show Period, and the FSN Final Score. This arrangement is to secure national coverage for its collegiate lineup of games. CSN New England does not carry ACC basketball; those games are on New England Sports Network because this TV package is sold market-by-market within the ACC regional footprint.

CSN Northwest and SNY do not carry any FSN produced material because they are in competition with FSN Northwest and MSG Network, which have been part of FSN ever since FOX owned all or part of those channels.

[edit] Other channels

Comcast is part owner (with St. Louis, Missouri-based Charter Communications) of CSS (Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast), a regional network serving the southeastern portion of the nation, based in Atlanta. CSS carries primarily collegiate and high school sports in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and South Carolina. CSS is not directly related to Comcast SportsNet.

On September 1, 2009, Comcast launched Comcast Sports SouthWest (also refered to as CSS) in the Houston area. The network is home to the Houston Cougars and Rice Owls and also covers Houston-area high school sports.^[5]

Comcast also co-owns (with NewsCorp) the Sun Sports cable television network based in Orlando, Florida (Sun Sports and FSN Florida are operated and programmed together by FOX, the latter channel being entirely NewsCorp-owned). In April 2007, Comcast bought 60 percent of FSN Bay Area and 50 percent of FSN New England from Cablevision's Rainbow Media Holdings LLC subsidiary (which had partnered with FOX to create FSN). As a result, Comcast took over control of what is now CSN New England.^[6], and Comcast has announced plans to increase the amount of local programming on the channel^[7]. Also, with Comcast having assumed full management control, FSN Bay Area was renamed CSN Bay Area on March 31, 2008 and is being run alongside the already-launched CSN West.

Comcast also helped form MountainWest Sports Network (the mtn.), with CSTV (now CBS College Sports Network) and The Mountain West Conference. This was the first regional sports network dedicated strictly to a single NCAA Division 1 conference^[8].

Similarly, Comcast owns local channels, branded Comcast Network, based in the Philadelphia and Baltimore/Washington metropolitan areas. The network, formerly called CN8, is aired on most Comcast cable systems along the East Coast Philadelphia to Richmond, Virginia, and is sometimes carried on other cable operators. The channels served as primarily local news/information channels, but carry some regional sports programming, including Eastern League baseball, CAA football, and some Phillies games within the Phillies' designated market. Originally expanded into the Boston market, the New England operations ceased in 2009.

Comcast also owned a local sports network in Detroit and available across Michigan and central Indiana, CL Comcast Local. CL carried collegiate and high school sports from their area, as well as minor league sports throughout its broadcast area. CL ceased operations at the end of February 2008 as every major pro or college team in the region had its programming tied to FSN Detroit and/or the Big Ten Network.^{[citation needed]}

Comcast holds a minority stake in the MLB Network, along with DirecTV, Time Warner, Cox Communications and Major League Baseball, which holds controlling interest.

[edit] Comcast SportsNet HD

Comcast SportsNet HD is a high definition simulcast of select programs (Chicago has just about all local stuff in HD) from Comcast SportsNet including live sports & series. Each regional channel has its own separate HD feed (many also have alt HD feed as well) and decides what will be broadcast in HD.

Comcast SportsNet HD is not available in the Seattle or Houston areas.

[edit] See also

Broadcasting of sports events

[edit] References and footnotes

^ Same channel, but new name for local telecasts
^ http://www.telegram.com/article/20070920/COLUMN08/709200699/1009/SPORTS September 20, 2007 news articles from Worcester Telegram & Gazette Bill Doyle (Must scroll down about half a page for citation)
^ Comcast Sportsnet and NFL Network (Canby Telcom)^{[dead link]}
^ Comcast's sports channels fuel bidding war - OregonLive.com: Silicon Forest
^ Comcast adds more Houston-area sports programming
^ Worcester Telegram & Gazette Bill Doyle
^ Comcast plans to beef up Fox Sports New England - The Boston Globe
^ http://themtn.cstv.com/about/

[edit] External links

[0] Same channel, but new name for local telecasts

[1] ttp://www.telegram.com/article/20070920/COLUMN08/709200699/1009/SPORTS September 20, 2007 news articles from Worcester Telegram & Gazette Bill Doyle (Must scroll down about half a page for citation)

[2] Comcast Sportsnet and NFL Network (Canby Telcom)^{[dead link]}

[3] Comcast's sports channels fuel bidding war - OregonLive.com: Silicon Forest

[4] Comcast adds more Houston-area sports programming

[5] Worcester Telegram & Gazette Bill Doyle

[6] Comcast plans to beef up Fox Sports New England - The Boston Globe

[7] ttp://themtn.cstv.com/about/

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