NBC Sports Philadelphia is an American
regional sports network
In the United States and Canada, a regional sports network (RSN) is a cable television channel (many of which are also distributed on direct broadcast satellite services) that presents sports programming to a local market or geographical region.
...
owned by the
NBC Sports Group
NBC Sports Group is a division of NBCUniversal that is responsible for NBC Sports' media properties, encompassing the NBC television network's sports division as well as day-to-day operation of the company's sports-oriented cable networks and oth ...
unit of
NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States.
NBCUniversal is primari ...
, which in turn is owned by locally based
cable television
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...
provider
Comcast
Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
(and owns a controlling 75% interest), and the
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...
(which owns the remaining 25%). It is the flagship owned-and-operated outlet of
NBC Sports Regional Networks
NBC Sports Regional Networks is the collective name for a group of regional sports networks in the United States that are primarily owned and operated by the NBCUniversal division of the cable television company Comcast. The networks were origina ...
. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of professional sports teams in the
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
metropolitan area, as well as college sports events and original sports-related news, discussion and entertainment programming.
NBC Sports Philadelphia is available on cable and
fiber optic
An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to ...
television providers throughout
southeastern Pennsylvania
The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan statistical area, metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the List of United States cities by population, sixth most populous city in the nation ...
and
southern New Jersey and most of
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
, as well as IPTV providers in those areas as well as throughout the entire state of Pennsylvania. The network maintains main studios and offices located inside the
Wells Fargo Center Wells Fargo Center may refer to:
*Wells Fargo Center (Los Angeles), California
*Wells Fargo Center (Sacramento), California
* Wells Fargo Center (San Francisco), California
* Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, Santa Rosa, California
* Wells Fargo Cen ...
in Philadelphia's
South Philadelphia
South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south and the Schuylkill River to the west.[Citizens Bank Park
Citizens Bank Park is a baseball stadium located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the city's South Philadelphia Sports Complex. It is the home playing field of the Philadelphia Phillies, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise. The stad ...]
, which is used sporadically during
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
season.
History
The network traces its history to March 19, 1996, when Comcast acquired a 66 percent stake in
Spectacor
Comcast Spectacor is a Philadelphia-based American sports and entertainment company. It owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, the Maine Mariners of the ECHL, the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League, the Phil ...
, the parent company of the
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Wells ...
,
The Spectrum and the then-recently completed
CoreStates Center
The Wells Fargo Center is a multi-purpose List of indoor arenas, indoor arena located in Philadelphia. It serves as the home of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL), the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Assoc ...
, for $240 million and the assumption of a collective $170 million in debt.
Ed Snider
Edward Malcolm Snider (January 6, 1933 – April 11, 2016) was an American business executive. He was the chairman of Comcast Spectacor, a Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment company that owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Ho ...
, the previous majority owner of Spectacor, stayed on as the managing partner and chairman of the renamed Comcast Spectacor. On the day the deal closed, Comcast Spectacor immediately purchased a 66% interest in the
Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...
.
Immediately after the purchase was announced, speculation arose as to whether Comcast would let at least some of Spectacor's television contracts with
premium cable network PRISM
Prism usually refers to:
* Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light
* Prism (geometry), a kind of polyhedron
Prism may also refer to:
Science and mathematics
* Prism (geology), a type of sedimentary ...
and existing regional sports network
SportsChannel Philadelphia
SportsChannel Philadelphia was an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between Rainbow Sports, a unit of the Rainbow Media subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation, and NBC (which both owned 50%), and operated as an aff ...
(both owned by
Rainbow Media
AMC Networks Inc. is an American entertainment company headquartered in 11 Penn Plaza, New York.
AMC Networks owns and operates the eponymous cable channel and its siblings, IFC, We TV, and Sundance TV; the art house movie theater IFC Cen ...
) run out, and create a sports network of its own, displacing both existing networks from Comcast and other cable providers in Southeastern Pennsylvania (Comcast, however, had reached a ten-year agreement with Rainbow to continue carriage of PRISM and SportsChannel, as well as the company's other networks in the fall of 1995); buy the existing networks; or reach a complex deal with Rainbow to have both networks retain the broadcast rights to the 76ers and Flyers.
Within days of the purchase, Comcast indicated that it was considering launching a new RSN, and approached the Philadelphia Phillies about entering into a broadcast deal.
PRISM and SportsChannel Philadelphia's joint contract to carry most of the Flyers'
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
games was set to end that fall, while the Phillies' contract ended after the
1997 season, leaving them both open to enter negotiations with Comcast Spectacor.
After short-lived discussions between Rainbow Media and Comcast about the latter possibly becoming a part-owner in PRISM and SportsChannel Philadelphia, on April 25, 1996, Comcast Spectacor formally announced plans to create a new Philadelphia-centric sports network, which would carry both the Flyers and Sixers; it also signed a deal with the Phillies, giving the new network rights to most of their Major League Baseball games.
The deal strained relations between Rainbow and Comcast Spectacor somewhat; Rainbow offered a lower bid for the Flyers telecast rights during negotiations for a one-year extension of its contract. Disagreements between the Flyers and Rainbow Media over the amount the team would receive for the 1996–97 season contract, led the Flyers to announce plans in late September that it would assume production responsibilities for its home game broadcasts and sell the local rights to its game telecasts to individual cable providers as a backup plan if deal did not come to fruition. Rainbow and Comcast Spectacor finally reached a one-year, $5 million contract extension to keep its locally televised games on PRISM and SportsChannel on October 4, 1996, the day before its
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
home opener.
On July 21, 1997, Comcast acquired the local television rights to broadcast the 76ers'
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
games on the new Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, with the team choosing to opt out of its contract with PRISM and SportsChannel that was set to run until the
1999–2000 season.
After much uncertainty, which included plans for PRISM and SportsChannel to become affiliates of
Fox Sports Net
Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Mar ...
(after
News Corporation
News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...
and
Liberty Media
Liberty Media Corporation (commonly referred to as Liberty Media or just Liberty) is an American mass media company controlled by chairman John C. Malone. The company has three divisions, reflecting the company's ownership stakes in Formula One ...
purchased 40% of the sports assets owned by Rainbow parent
Cablevision
Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...
on June 30, 1997), Comcast then reached agreements with Liberty and Rainbow Media to replace PRISM with the Liberty-owned premium movie channel
Starz!
Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consists ...
(which at the time, was starting to expand its carriage outside of systems operated by its then co-owner
Tele-Communications, Inc.
Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) was a cable television provider in the United States, and for most of its history was controlled by Bob Magness and John Malone.
The company was started in 1958 in Bozeman, Montana as Western Microwave, Inc. and C ...
).
Reports indicated that Comcast SportsNet initially would charge a per subscriber rate of $1.50 a month (representatives for Comcast Spectacor stated the rate was closer to the range of $1.20 to $1.35) to participating cable providers, described as "one of the most expensive – if not the most expensive" basic cable channel in the United States (a distinction that was eventually assumed by the nationally distributed
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
); SportsChannel Philadelphia, by comparison, charged providers that carried the network between 25¢ and 35¢ a month per subscriber. The company's demand that CSN Philadelphia be offered as a basic cable service resulted in complaints by some local providers (including Wade Cable, Lower Bucks Cablevision and Harron Communications) because of the higher per subscriber rate; however, Jack Williams, who was appointed as the original president of CSN Philadelphia, said that the company would "not accept any arrangement other than running SportsNet as a basic channel." By September 1997, CSN had secured cable coverage reaching approximately 1.5 million households (or 60% of the network's regional territory).
Williams promised that the network would carry more local programming than other regional sports networks, with an estimated seven to eight hours of live sports, and various news and discussion programs (including a four-hour morning sports news program, and news and interview program in the late afternoon).
Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia launched on October 1, 1997, replacing SportsChannel Philadelphia on local cable systems within the Philadelphia metropolitan area; with the launch, Comcast SportsNet became the Philadelphia affiliate of Fox Sports Net. Comcast expanded the Comcast SportsNet brand to other markets over the next several years, through the purchases of Fox Sports regional networks in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
and
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
as well as the launches of new channels in markets such as
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
and
northern California
Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...
.
With Comcast's acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2011, Comcast SportsNet was also integrated into the new
NBC Sports Group
NBC Sports Group is a division of NBCUniversal that is responsible for NBC Sports' media properties, encompassing the NBC television network's sports division as well as day-to-day operation of the company's sports-oriented cable networks and oth ...
unit, culminating with the addition of the
peacock logo
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) has used several corporate logos over the course of its history. The first logo was used in 1926 when the radio network began operations. Its most famous logo, the Peafowl, peacock, was first used in 1956 ...
and an updated graphics package to mirror that of its parent network. The updated graphics were implemented on CSN's live game coverage and all studio shows, with the exception of ''SportsNet Central''. In September 2012, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia and its sister Comcast SportsNet outlets ceased carrying Fox Sports Networks-supplied programming, after failing to reach an agreement to continue carrying FSN's nationally distributed programs. On January 2, 2014, as part of an agreement reached on a 25-year broadcasting contract with the team (with the network paying the team $100 million in rights fees each season through 2041, totaling around $2.5 billion), the Philadelphia Phillies acquired a 25% equity stake in Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.
Comcast rebranded the network as NBC Sports Philadelphia on October 2, 2017, as part of a larger rebranding of the Comcast SportsNet networks under the NBC Sports brand. However, the network's legal name remains Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia LP, per the copyright notice on the network's Website.
Programming
Sports coverage
NBC Sports Philadelphia holds the regional television rights to the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers,
NHL's Philadelphia Flyers, the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball
and the
Philadelphia Union
The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 201 ...
of
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
. In addition to live game telecasts, the network carries
pre-game and
post-game show
A post-game, postgame, or post-match show is a TV or radio presentation that occurs immediately after the live broadcast of a major sporting event.
Contents may include:
* replays of key moments in the game.
* interviews with players, coaches and ...
s under the ''Pre Game Live'' and ''Post Game Live'' banners that bookend 76ers (''Sixers Pre Game Live'' and ''
Sixers Post Game Live''), Phillies (''Phillies Pre Game Live'' and ''
Phillies Post Game Live
NBC Sports Philadelphia is an American regional sports network owned by the NBC Sports#NBC Sports Group, NBC Sports Group unit of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by locally based cable television provider Comcast (and owns a controlling 75% ...
''), Flyers (''Flyers Pre Game Live'' and ''
Flyers Post Game Live''), and Union (''Union Pre Game Live'' and ''Union Post Game Live'') telecasts. Since 2010, the network has also produced a limited schedule of Phillies regular season games for NBC
owned-and-operated sister station
WCAU
WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jerse ...
(channel 10). Although it does not hold the regional rights to the
NFL games involving the
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...
, the network also produces pre-game and post-game shows on each game day (''Eagles Pre Game Live'' and ''
Eagles Post Game Live
''Eagles Postgame Live'' airs after each Philadelphia Eagles game on NBC Sports Philadelphia. The program features the team's post game press conference, interviews, and game analysis. A featured analyst is former Pennsylvania Governor and form ...
'').
The network formerly served as the broadcaster of
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...
games involving the
Philadelphia Phantoms
The Philadelphia Phantoms were a professional ice hockey team that played in the American Hockey League (AHL) from 1996 to 2009. The club was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and played most of its home games at the Spectrum (arena), Spectrum ...
(an affiliate team of the Flyers) until the team relocated to
Glens Falls, New York
Glens Falls is a city in Warren County, New York, United States and is the central city of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,700 at the 2010 census. The name was given by Colonel Johannes Glen, the falls refe ...
as the
Adirondack Phantoms
The Adirondack Phantoms were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL), who began play in the 2009–10 AHL season. The Phantoms were based in Glens Falls, New York, playing home games at the Glens Falls Civic Center and w ...
in 2009. It also carried indoor soccer matches involving the
Philadelphia KiXX
The Philadelphia KiXX was a professional indoor soccer team based in Philadelphia, USA. The team competed as an NPSL expansion franchise and then played in the Major Indoor Soccer League.
History
The team's original owner was Ed Tepper, also pr ...
from 1998 until the
National Professional Soccer League folded in 2001; as well as
National Lacrosse League
The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a men's professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The NLL currently has fifteen teams: ten in the United Stat ...
games featuring the
Philadelphia Wings until that team relocated to
Uncasville, Connecticut
Uncasville is an area in the New England town, town of Montville, Connecticut, Montville, Connecticut, United States. It is a Administrative divisions of Connecticut#Village, neighborhood, section of town, village in southeastern Montville, at the ...
as the
New England Black Wolves
The New England Black Wolves were a professional box lacrosse team based in Uncasville, Connecticut. They were members of the East Division of the National Lacrosse League and began play in the winter of 2014–2015 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Un ...
in 2014.
NBC Sports Philadelphia also maintains the television rights to the
Philadelphia Big 5
The Big 5 is an informal association of college athletic programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is not a conference, but rather a group of NCAA Division I basketball schools who compete for the city’s collegiate championship.
The Big 5 c ...
, carrying regular season games from each of the member universities as well as the association's City Series tournament; it also broadcasts numerous men's and women's college sporting events sanctioned by the
Atlantic 10 Conference
The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...
and the
Colonial Athletic Association
The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...
. Beginning in 2022, NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcasts
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
and men's and women's
college basketball
In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...
events involving
Monmouth University
Monmouth University is a private university in West Long Branch, New Jersey. Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956 and Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its charter.
There are about 4,400 full- ...
. Until Comcast SportsNet discontinued its relationship with its competing RSN in September 2012, the network also carried collegiate sports events from
Conference USA
Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...
, the
Pac-12 Conference
The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...
and the
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...
, as well as prime time Major League Baseball games on Thursdays distributed by Fox Sports Networks.
Other programming
News
* ''SportsNet Central''
* ''Philly Sports Talk''
* net IMPACT''
Basketball
* ''76ers City''
Baseball
* ''Phillies Clubhouse''
* ''Phillies Hot Stove''
Philadelphia Flyers
* ''The Orange Line''
Soccer
* ''State of the
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
''
Golf
* ''
Inside Golf''
* ''Golf Shots''
On-air staff
Current on-air staff
*
Michael Barkann
Michael Barkann (born April 30, 1960, Jersey City, New Jersey, United States) is an American sports host, anchor and reporter for NBC Sports Philadelphia. From 2011-2016, he co-hosted the "Mike and Ike" show on 94 WIP weekdays from 10am - 2pm ...
– anchor (October 1997–present)
*Amy Fadool - anchor (2009–present)
*
Tom McCarthy Thomas McCarthy (also Tom and Tommy) may refer to:
Academia
*Thomas A. McCarthy (born 1940), American professor of philosophy
*Thomas J. McCarthy (born 1956), American professor of polymer chemistry at the University of Massachusetts
*J. Thomas Mc ...
– Philadelphia Phillies play-by-play announcer (2009–present)
*
Ben Davis – Philadelphia Phillies broadcasting booth color commentator (2015–present), Phillies pre/post game analyst (2012–present)
*Taryn Hatcher - Anchor/Reporter (2018–present)
Notable former on-air staff
*
Ron Burke – anchor (October 1997 – 1999, January 2002–January 2017)
*Katie Emmer - anchor (2019-January 2021)
*
Scott Hanson
Scott Richard Hanson (born June 24, 1971) is an American television anchor and reporter for NFL Network. He has served as sports reporter and anchor for several regional stations and was hired by NFL Network in 2006. He is currently the host of ...
(2000–2002; now an anchor/reporter for the
NFL Network
NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NFL ...
)
*
Neil Hartman Neil Hartman is the Director for the Center for Sports Communication and Social Impact at Rowan University and CEO and Executive Producer for Talow Media Group. He was previously a longtime sports personality and was the primetime anchor for Comcas ...
– anchor (October 1997–April 2016)
*
Jillian Mele
Jillian Mele (born September 17, 1982) is an American news anchor and reporter who is best known for serving as co-host on ''Fox & Friends First'' from March 2017 to October 2021. Starting in January 2022, she began reporting with WPVI-TV in Phi ...
– host (2014–2017; now at
6 ABC Philadelphia)
*
Gregg Murphy
Gregg Murphy is a sports journalist and reporter. He served as a field reporter for NBC Sports Philadelphia, NBC Sports Philadelphia's coverage of the Philadelphia Phillies from 2012 to 2020 and was part of CN8's sports coverage.
Career
Murphy sp ...
– Philadelphia Phillies on-field reporter (2012–2020), anchor (December 2008–February 2012)
*
Leila Rahimi – anchor (2014– October 2015)
*
Matt Yallof (2000–2006; now with
MLB Network
The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Com ...
)
NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus
NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus is a full-time channel that also serves as an overflow network in case two local games are scheduled to air simultaneously on NBC Sports Philadelphia. The network was previously known as the
Comcast Network
The Comcast Network (TCN) was an American cable television network owned by the Comcast Corporation, through NBCUniversal; it was carried mostly on Comcast cable systems in four states and 20 television markets in the Eastern U.S. from New Jers ...
.
Availability
Satellite carriage controversy
Unlike most other cable networks, NBC Sports Philadelphia is distributed only via
microwave
Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ran ...
and
fiber optic
An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to ...
relays. Comcast inherited the terrestrial infrastructure that it uses to transmit the network from PRISM at the time that network shut down. Since NBC Sports Philadelphia did not uplink its signal to any
communications satellite
A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. C ...
s, Comcast was able to avoid a regulation outlined by the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) that requires most television channels to be offered to
direct broadcast satellite
Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...
providers; this
loophole
A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the purpose, implied or explicitly stated, of the system.
Originally, the word meant an arrowslit, a narrow verti ...
, known as the "terrestrial exception", was implemented by the FCC in 1992 to encourage investments in local programming by cable providers. As a result of its limited availability, satellite providers
DirecTV
DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...
,
Dish Network
DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...
and the now-defunct
PrimeStar
PrimeStar was a U.S. direct broadcast satellite broadcasting company formed in 1991 by a consortium of cable television system operators ( TCI Satellite Entertainment Group, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Comcast and MediaOne) and GE Ame ...
experienced a far slower rate of subscriber penetration into the Philadelphia market compared to other American cities. Craig Moffett, a senior analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. L.L.C., estimated the number of potential customers lost due to the loophole at 450,000.
This issue resulted in DirecTV filing an FCC complaint against Comcast on September 23, 1997, claiming that it used unfair monopolistic control to keep CSN Philadelphia from being made available via satellite (in contrast, DirecTV had carried SportsChannel Philadelphia prior to its shutdown). Three days later on September 26, Comcast spokesperson Joe Waz issued a statement defending the move, stating that it was "about competition" and that Comcast SportsNet could help cable television "distinguish itself from satellite rivals." Waz also accused DirecTV of unfairness in wanting to "profit" from carrying the channel despite having "invested zero in improving the quality of programming available to greater Philadelphia".
On January 20, 2010, the FCC Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 to close the "terrestrial exception" loophole. Lawyers for DirecTV and Dish Network had attempted to show that Comcast, the dominant cable provider in the Philadelphia market, acted in restraint of trade by not uplinking Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia to satellite. Comcast did not appeal the decision, allowing DirecTV and Dish to immediately enter into carriage negotiations to add the network. Both providers formally asked permission from Comcast to carry CSN Philadelphia on June 25, 2010. One month later on July 28, it was reported that Comcast had entered into discussions with DirecTV and Dish Network for carriage of CSN Philadelphia. Two days later, after accusing Comcast of refusing to negotiate in
good faith
In human interactions, good faith ( la, bona fides) is a sincere intention to be fair, open, and honest, regardless of the outcome of the interaction. Some Latin phrases have lost their literal meaning over centuries, but that is not the case ...
, Dish Network stated it would file a complaint with the FCC. The
United States Court of Appeals
United may refer to:
Places
* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Arts and entertainment Films
* ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film
* ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...
for the District of Columbia upheld the FCC's original ruling on June 10, 2011. Despite this ruling, Comcast has yet to offer CSN Philadelphia on competing satellite providers. Partly due to this, satellite penetration remains far lower in Philadelphia than in other major cities.
Cable
Cable providers other than Comcast within NBC Sports Philadelphia's designated market territory do have access to the network. However, on December 4, 2006, Comcast reached a deal with
Verizon FiOS to carry CSN Philadelphia on its systems in eastern Pennsylvania,
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
and southern
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
.
In 1998, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia almost became available in Comcast's New York City service area on systems in southern
Middlesex County (in the municipalities of
Plainsboro,
South Brunswick,
Monroe,
Cranbury,
Jamesburg,
Helmetta
Helmetta is a borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The borough is nestled within the heart of the Raritan Valley region, with Manalapan Brook (a Raritan River tributary) flowing through the center of the community. As of the ...
,
Spotswood and
East Brunswick), as a replacement for PRISM. However, days before it was set to be added, the NBA issued a cease and desist order against Comcast, blocking the distribution of Philadelphia 76ers games in Middlesex County; this was despite the fact that the league allowed
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
and
New Jersey Nets
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
games televised by
MSG Network
The MSG Network (MSG) is an American regional cable and satellite television network, and radio service owned by MSG Entertainment, Inc.—a spin-off of the main Madison Square Garden Company operation (itself a spin-off of local cable provider ...
and
Fox Sports New York
MSG Sportsnet (visually branded on-air as MSGSN) is an American regional sports network owned by MSG Entertainment; it operates as a sister channel to MSG Network. The network serves the New York City metropolitan area, whose reach expands to cov ...
to be shown on both Comcast and TKR (now Cablevision) in
Mercer County, which is part of the Philadelphia market. Comcast opted not to carry CSN Philadelphia, unwilling to distribute the network if it had to
black out 76ers game telecasts. Despite this, NBC Sports Philadelphia is carried by
Comcast Xfinity
Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the com ...
and
Verizon FiOS in
Ocean County
Ocean County is a county located along the Jersey Shore in the south-central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It borders the Atlantic Ocean on the east. Its county seat is Toms River.[Cablevision
Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...]
in
Monmouth County (within its
Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them:
* Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California
* Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County
* Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in T ...
service area), Comcast in
Lambertville and by
Service Electric
Service Electric is a group of affiliated cable television companies serving eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey. Service Electric also offers broadband Internet and telephone services through two partner companies, PenTeleData and Alianza ...
in
Phillipsburg, New Jersey
Phillipsburg is a town located along the Delaware River in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located across the river directly east from Easton, Pennsylvania. Phillipsburg is the most populous municipality in Warren County w ...
.
MLB Extra Innings
Phillies games were previously unavailable through
MLB Extra Innings
MLB Extra Innings is an out-of-market sports package distributed in North America by satellite provider DirecTV since 1996 and by most cable providers since 2001. The package allowed its subscribers to see up to 80 out-of-market Major League Bas ...
on major satellite providers. MLB Extra Innings began transmitting the CSN Philadelphia feed for some games beginning in 2007 on both cable and satellite; the
out-of-market sports package
In North America, an out-of-market sports package is a form of subscription television that broadcasts sporting events to areas where the events were unable to be seen by viewers on other broadcast and cable television networks due to the games no ...
began showing both feeds of most games in 2008, at which time all of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia's Phillies telecasts became available to all subscribers. In 2010, Phillies telecasts produced by CSN Philadelphia for
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
affiliate
WPHL-TV
WPHL-TV (channel 17) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group and has studios in the Wynnefield section of West Philadelphia; it maintains ...
(channel 17) were also broadcast on Extra Innings. Due to blackout restrictions imposed by Major League Baseball, residents within the Philadelphia area, the eastern half of Pennsylvania and most of New Jersey and Delaware cannot view these games via the MLB Extra Innings package.
Highlight packages
Because of the network's distribution exclusively in the
Delaware Valley
The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Val ...
,
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
must reach agreements with
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV (channel 6), branded on-air as 6 ABC, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station ...
(channel 6) – owned by ESPN's majority owner
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
– to provide the network recordings of any sporting events involving teams whose game broadcasts are shown on NBC Sports Philadelphia to include in highlight packages seen on ''
Sportscenter
''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television show, television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of United States, American cable television, cable and satellite television television network, network ESPN. The show ...
'', ''
NBA Fastbreak
''NBA Tonight'' is a National Basketball Association studio program that airs on ESPN. The program used to air as part of ESPN's ''The Trifecta''. Formerly known as ''NBA 2Night'' and NBA Fastbreak, the program, hosted by various ESPN personalities ...
'' and ''
Baseball Tonight
''Baseball Tonight'' (stylized as ''Baseball Tonight presented by Chevrolet'' for sponsorship reasons) is an American television program that airs on ESPN. The show, which covers the day's Major League Baseball action, has been on the air since ...
''. These highlight excerpts were originally distributed in
480i
480i is the video mode used for standard-definition digital television in the Caribbean, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Laos, Western Sahara, and most of the Americas (with the exception of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay). The ''480 ...
standard definition until 2012, when CSN began distributing to ESPN (via WPVI) in
720p
720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcast ...
high definition.
As a consequence, national sports broadcasts have typically chosen to broadcast clips from the HD "away" feed and avoid the CSN "home" Philadelphia broadcast feed. However,
MLB Network
The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Com ...
(which also has operational control of
NHL Network) and
NBA TV
NBA TV is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit. Dedicated to basketball, the network features exhibition, regular ...
have full access to NBC Sports Philadelphia's HD feed since, as the rights holder, the network must provide full-quality video to the properties of each league for their internet and cable operations, while Comcast provides full high-definition access to NBC Sports Philadelphia to NHL Network, which carries NHL games nationwide.
References
External links
*
www.nbcsports.com– NBC Sports official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nbc Sports Philadelphia
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
Television channels and stations established in 1997
Television stations in Philadelphia
Sports in Philadelphia
1997 establishments in Pennsylvania