Bally Sports Florida 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

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...

, and operates as an affiliate of

Bally Sports The Bally Sports Regional Networks are a group of regional sports networks in the United States owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint-venture company of the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios. The naming rights to the network we ...

. The channel broadcasts local sports coverage in the state of Florida, with a focus on professional sports teams based in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

and

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

. Bally Sports Florida maintains production facilities and offices located in Fort Lauderdale, alongside sister network

Bally Sports Sun Bally Sports Sun is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts local coverag ...

. The channel is available on

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 ...

providers throughout Florida, and in parts of southern

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

; it is also available nationwide on

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

via

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 ...

History

Bally Sports Florida was launched on December 29, 1987 as SportsChannel Florida. It was originally 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 ...

(a subsidiary of

Cablevision Systems Corporation 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 ...

), and was the fourth regional network of

SportsChannel America SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC. Operating from March 1, ...

. The network originally featured coverage of local college teams, holding the broadcast rights to televise select games from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

and

Jacksonville University Jacksonville University (JU) is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida. Located in the city's Arlington (Jacksonville), Arlington district, the school was founded in 1934 as a two-year college and was known as Jacksonville Junior College u ...

. In addition to national SportsChannel programming, the channel also showed a combined 100 baseball games that featured the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

and

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

from

SportsChannel 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 ...

, and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

games broadcast by

SportsChannel Chicago Fox Sports Net Chicago (often branded as FSN Chicago) was an American regional sports network that was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and was owned by Cablevision for most of its history (from 1987 to 2005). News Corporation acquired a minori ...

. In the spring of 1988, SportsChannel Florida obtained the regional cable television rights to broadcast

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 from the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...

, effective with the 1988–89 season. In 1992, SportsChannel lost the television contract to the Heat to then-rival

Sunshine Network Bally Sports Sun is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts local coverage ...

. Heat games would return to the channel in the late 1990s when both networks came under the ownership of Fox Sports parent

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 ...

. In 1996,

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

owner

Wayne Huizenga Harry Wayne Huizenga Sr. (; December 29, 1937 – March 22, 2018) was an American businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He founded AutoNation and Waste Management Inc., and was the owner or co-owner of Blockbuster Video, the Miami ...

purchased a 70% controlling interest in SportsChannel Florida, with Rainbow Media (by that time, a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between Cablevision and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

) retaining a minority 30% interest. That led Huizenga to move the

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 ...

franchise's game telecasts from Sunshine Network to SportsChannel Florida for the 1996–97 season. The following year in 1997, SportsChannel Florida obtained the rights to the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The franc ...

– also owned by Huizenga – which moved 35 games (half the schedule) from the Sunshine Network in that year's Major League Baseball season, with all games moving the following season. In 1998, SportsChannel Florida also gained the regional cable rights to the

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home venu ...

Major League Baseball expansion team. Unlike the other networks that were members of the SportsChannel America chain, Huizenga's control of SportsChannel Florida prevented the channel from joining Fox Sports Networks, Fox Sports Net. Shortly after Cablevision and Fox Sports announced the merger in 1997, Cablevision ceased production of its national SportsChannel programming in favor Fox Sports Net's programming (though the networks would not officially rebrand until early the next year). Since SportsChannel Florida did not have rights to the Fox Sports Net programming, SportsChannel Florida made an affiliation agreement with CNN/SI to carry its programming instead. Cablevision finally repurchased Huizenga's share of the network in November 1999. The network was relaunched as Fox Sports Net Florida on March 1, 2000, making it the last SportsChannel Network to adopt the Fox Sports Net brand. At this time Fox Sports Net programming was moved from the Sunshine Network (which Fox only had a minority-interest in) and CNN/SI programming was phased out. In February 2005, News Corporation acquired Cablevision's ownership stakes in Fox Sports Florida and Fox Sports Ohio, following an asset trade in which Fox sold its interest in Madison Square Garden and the arena's NBA and NHL team tenants, the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, to Cablevision, in exchange for acquiring sole ownership of the two Fox Sports regional networks. News Corporation Corporate spin-off, spun off most of its entertainment properties into 21st Century Fox in July 2013. On December 14, 2017, as part of a merger between both companies, The Walt Disney Company announced plans to acquire all 22 regional Fox Sports networks from 21st Century Fox, including Fox Sports Florida. However, on June 27, 2018, the United States Department of Justice, Justice Department ordered their divestment under antitrust grounds, citing Disney's ownership of ESPN. On May 3, 2019,

and Entertainment Studios (through their joint venture, Diamond Sports Group) bought Fox Sports Networks from The Walt Disney Company for $10.6 billion. The deal closed on August 22, 2019. On November 17, 2020, Sinclair announced an agreement with casino operator Bally's Corporation to serve as a new naming rights partner for the FSN channels. Sinclair announced the new Bally Sports branding for the channels on January 27, 2021. On March 31, 2021, coinciding with the start of the 2021 Major League Baseball season the next day, Fox Sports Florida and sister network Fox Sports Sun rebranded as Bally Sports Florida and Bally Sports Sun, which resulted in 18 other Regional Sports Networks renamed Bally Sports in their respective regions. The first live sporting event on Bally Sports Florida will be the Marlins home opener against the Rays on April 1.

Programming

Bally Sports Florida holds the regional cable television rights to the NBA's Orlando Magic, the NHL's

, and the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball. It also carries coverage of college sports events from the Big East Conference (2013–present), Big East, Big 12, Conference USA and Atlantic Coast Conferences. Bally Sports Florida shares the broadcast rights to the aforementioned professional sports teams with

(with Miami Heat games transmitted to cable providers in South Florida, and Orlando Magic games aired exclusively on Bally Sports Florida in Central and Northern Florida. The two channels do not focus on one region of Florida, but simply distribute games in accordance with each team's territorial rights, with both cable channels maintaining exclusivity over regional broadcasts of Lightning, Heat, Marlins, Rays, Magic and Panthers games. The Tampa Bay Lightning, Miami Heat and Tampa Bay Rays are televised on Bally Sports Sun, while the Orlando Magic, Miami Marlins and Florida Panthers are televised on Bally Sports Florida. Additionally, each network televises exclusive shoulder programming highlighting the team, players and coaches on the corresponding network.

Notable on-air staff

Current

* David Steele (sports announcer), David Steele - Orlando Magic play-by-play announcer * Jeff Turner - Orlando Magic color analyst * Dante Marchitelli - Orlando Magic studio host and reporter * Brian Hill (basketball), Brian Hill - Orlando Magic studio analyst * Quentin Richardson - Orlando Magic studio analyst * Steve Goldstein (broadcaster), Steve Goldstein - Florida Panthers play-by-play announcer * Randy Moller - Florida Panther color analyst * Craig Minervini - Miami Marlins and Florida Panthers studio host and reporter * Jessica Blaylock - Miami Marlins and Florida Panthers studio host and reporter * Ed Jovanovski - Florida Panthers studio analyst * Jeff Chychrun - Florida Panthers studio analyst * Paul Severino - Miami Marlins play-by-play announcer * Jeff Nelson (pitcher), Jeff Nelson - Miami Marlins studio analyst and color analyst * Tommy Hutton - Miami Marlins studio analyst and color analyst * Gaby Sánchez - Miami Marlins studio analyst and color analyst * Rod Allen - Miami Marlins color analyst

Former

* Tony Grier College Basketball Commentator * Alex Chappell - Tampa Bay Rays pre and post-game reporter now with ESPN and Mid-Atlantic Sports Network * Laura Rutledge - Tampa Bay Rays pre and post-game reporter now with ESPN/SEC Network * Allison Williams (reporter), Allison Williams - Miami Marlins in-game reporter, Formerly of ESPN and now with Fox Sports * Joe Magrane - Tampa Bay Rays analyst now with MLB Network * Kevin Kennedy (baseball), Kevin Kennedy - Tampa Bay Rays analyst * Kelly Nash - Tampa Bay Rays pre and post-game reporter now with MLB Network * Rich Waltz - Miami Marlins Announcer formerly with MLB Network, Major League Baseball on TBS, MLB on TBS, and Los Angeles Angels baseball play-by-play announcer now with College Football and Basketball play-by-play on CBS Sports, and CBS Sports Network * Todd Hollandsworth - Miami Marlins color analyst * J. P. Arencibia - Miami Marlins studio analyst

Carriage conflicts

Bright House

For its first 21 years of existence, the channel was not available to most cable subscribers in the Orlando area, as Bright House Networks, the largest cable system in central Florida, refused to carry the channel. The conflict stemmed from the system's previous existence as Cablevision (a brand unaffiliated with the Bethpage, New York-based Cablevision, cable provider of the same name), and continued through its acquisition by Time Warner Cable and, later, Bright House. This issue did not change following Fox Sports' acquisition of Sun Sports, now known as Bally Sports Sun, which Bright House already carried on its Orlando area lineup, and continued even after the Orlando Magic moved half of the televised games in its schedule from MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station WRBW (channel 65) to Fox Sports Florida in 2007. Fox Sports Net's sister subsidiary Fox Television Stations had earlier purchased WRBW (then a UPN affiliate) in Orlando in 2001, followed by its purchase of Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox affiliate WOFL (channel 35) in 2002. On paper, this gave News Corporation – the corporate parent of the Fox Sports Networks at the time – the right to require Bright House to carry Fox Sports Florida as part of its retransmission consent compensation agreement for carriage of WOFL and WRBW, but Fox chose not to exercise that right. Bright House would agree to carry Fox Sports Florida on its Orlando system, with the channel being added on digital cable channel 50 on January 1, 2009. News Corporation and Bright House reached a new retransmission agreement on January 1, 2010, preventing both Fox Sports Florida and Sun Sports from being dropped from the provider's central Florida system. Fox would want Bright House to return Fox Sports Florida and Sun Sports to the provider's Orlando service area on February 12, 2010. Fox Sports Florida was also not available on Comcast systems in the Sarasota, Florida, Sarasota and Tallahassee, Florida, Tallahassee markets until 2006, and remains unavailable on Comcast's Lake County, Florida, Lake County systems. Orlando Magic games aired on the channel are blackout (broadcasting), blacked out by Comcast in the Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville market.

References

External links

* {{Navboxes, list1= {{Florida Panthers {{Miami Heat {{Miami Marlins {{Orlando Magic {{SBGI {{Tampa Bay TV {{Miami TV {{WPB TV {{Jacksonville TV {{Ft. Myers TV {{Tallahassee TV {{Fox Sports Networks {{SportsChannel America {{U.S. regional sports networks Bally Sports Fox Sports Networks Sports in Florida SportsChannel Television channels and stations established in 1987 1987 establishments in Florida