FSFlorida
Launched	July 1, 1987 (as SportsChannel Florida)
Network	Fox Sports Net
Owned by	News Corp
Country	United States
Language	English
Broadcast area	Florida Southwestern Alabama Nationwide via satellite
Formerly called	SportsChannel Florida (1987-2000) Fox Sports Net Florida (2000-2004) FSN Florida (2004-2008)
Sister channel(s)	Sun Sports
Website	FSN Florida / Sun Sports foxsportsflorida.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV	654 Main (HD on 654-1) 655 Plus (HD on 655-1)
Dish Network	423 (SD) 373 (HD)
Cable
Available on select cable systems	Check local listings for channels

Fox Sports Florida, (stylized as FS FLORIDA) formerly FSN Florida, Fox Sports Net Florida, and SportsChannel Florida, is a regional sports network that shows local sports coverage in the state of Florida. It is owned by News Corp along with Sun Sports and is a member of Fox Sports Net. It was launched on July 1, 1987 as SportsChannel Florida. It was relaunched as Fox Sports Net Florida on March 1, 2000, making it the last SportsChannel Network to do so.

[edit] Programming

The channel has the rights to the Tampa Bay Rays (MLB), Florida Marlins (MLB), Florida Panthers (NHL), Orlando Magic (NBA) plus local coverage of the following college sports conferences: Big East, Atlantic Sun, Conference USA, and Atlantic Coast. Parts of southern Alabama and Georgia receive the channel, in addition to all of Florida.

[edit] Carriage conflicts

The channel was not available to most cable subscribers in the Orlando area due to the regions' largest cable operator, Bright House Networks, refusing to air the channel. The conflict began when the cable outlet was called Cablevision (not affiliated with the modern Cablevision), and continued through acquisition by Time Warner Cable and, later, Bright House. This issue did not change when Sun Sports, which is carried by Bright House Networks, was acquired by Fox Sports. Although the Orlando Magic moved half their schedule from Channel 65 to FS Florida in 2007, this still did not change the situation.

On January 1, 2009, the Bright House Networks affiliate in Orlando finally began airing Fox Sports Florida as part of the regular Digital Cable package on channel 50.

It was also not available to Comcast cable subscribers in the Sarasota and Tallahassee areas until it was added in 2006. While it is available to Jacksonville subscribers, Magic games are not shown on its feed either. Comcast in Lake County also does not carry the channel.

Bright House affiliates in the Panhandle, Tampa Bay, and Central Florida regions could drop the channel on January 1st, 2010 as a result of a nationwide carriage dispute between Time Warner Cable and News Corporation, which effects 11 FSN owned and operated channels (including FS Florida, Sun Sports), the FOX Network, MyNetworkTV, and several other cable and local television properties owned by News Corp. FOX has set up a special website regarding this issue at http://www.keepfoxon.com

[edit] Sun Sports

Through Sun Sports, South Florida can view Miami Heat basketball, as Central and Northern Florida can view Orlando Magic basketball. Ultimately however, Sun Sports and FS Florida are sister channels, and games can air on either channel depending on who is playing at what time (particularly with the Marlins and Rays, since both teams routinely play at the same time). The two channels do not focus on one region of Florida, so that the Lightning, Heat, Marlins, Magic ^[1], and Florida Panthers are all cable-exclusive. In the past, it has been rumored that Sun Sports and FS Florida may focus on different regions of Florida at some point. The Orlando Magic were formerly broadcast on WRBW-TV, and ION network affiliates have carried both the Marlins (2003-2005) and the Rays (2006-2008) in the past.

[edit] Branding

For most of its programming - as well as nationally-broadcast sporting events - a small logo bug will appear on the top-right corner of the screen, which reads FSFLORIDA, with the FS part colored in a light blue. For local sporting events, however, the logo changes: during Rays baseball games (and Rays Live), the logo turns to FSRAYS, with the FS taking on a Columbia blue color; for Marlins baseball games (and Marlins Live), the logo is FSMARLINS, with the FS shown in teal; in the case of Magic basketball games (as well as Magic Live), the logo is FSMAGIC with the FS in a medium blue color; for Panthers hockey games (and also Panthers Live), the logo becomes FSPANTHERS, with the FS in red.

[edit] Personalities

• Rich Waltz - Florida Marlins Play-by-Play
• Tommy Hutton - Florida Marlins Analyst
• Craig Minervini - Florida Marlins & Florida Panthers Pre-Game and In-Game Reporter
• Dewayne Staats - Tampa Bay Rays Play-by-Play
• Kevin Kennedy - Tampa Bay Rays Analyst
• Todd Kalas - Tampa Bay Rays Pre-Game and In-Game Reporter
• Brian Anderson - Tampa Bay Rays Analyst
• Steve Goldstein - Florida Panthers Play-by-Play
• Bill Lindsay - Florida Panthers Analyst
• Raul Striker, Jr. - Florida Marlins Play-by-Play (SAP)
• Cookie Rojas - Florida Marlins Analyst (SAP)
• FSN Florida/Sun Sports Personality Biography Page

[edit] References