Prime Sports
Country | United States Tele-Communications, Inc. (1985–1994) Liberty Media (1994–1996) |
---|---|
Sister channels | SportsChannel |
History | |
Launched | October 19, 1985 (Southern California; as Prime Ticket) November 15, 1988 (Colorado; as Prime Sports Network) 1989 (launch of Prime Sports brand) |
Closed | October 31, 1996 |
Replaced by | Fox Sports Networks STAR Sports (pan-Asia) |
Prime Sports (originally known as the Prime Sports Network (PSN), and also known as Prime Network or simply Prime) is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that were owned by Liberty Media, operating from November 1988 to October 31, 1996. While Liberty owned many of these networks, some of Prime's member networks were owned by other companies, and carried programming distributed for the group through affiliation agreements. As a result, Prime-affiliated networks had the right to select Prime Network programs to broadcast.
Each of the networks primarily carried regional broadcasts of sporting events from various professional, collegiate and high school sports teams (with broadcasts typically exclusive to each individual network, although some were shown on multiple Prime networks within a particular team's designated market area), along with regional and national sports discussion, documentary and analysis programs.
History
Early history
The group's history traces back to the original Prime Ticket (now
Prime Ticket caught on with cable subscribers in Southern California as it was founded at the height of the Lakers' 1980s championship run, and later got a boost from the trade of Wayne Gretzky to the Kings in 1988. It was also unique among regional sports networks, in that it operated as a basic cable channel, instead of a premium service as many of the RSNs operating at the time did.
Within a few years, Daniels bought out most of Buss's shares in Prime Ticket and became the channel's majority owner. In 1989, Daniels partnered with cable television provider
In 1991, Prime merged its
In August 1994, Daniels sold his share in Prime Ticket and the Prime Network to TCI sister company Liberty Media. On November 16, 1994, Liberty Media announced that it would adopt a unified identity for its owned-and-operated regional sports networks under the "Prime Sports" brand. The move was part an alignment of the networks that would include a shift towards a common schedule of programming across the networks, outside each outlet's own regionally exclusive sports telecasts (including the incorporation of sports-related programs aimed at women and children, and the launch of a twice-nightly national sports news program, titled Press Box; the name originated from a local sports highlights show on Prime Ticket that began airing in 1990). Liberty also created an in-house sales service to sell national advertisements for the regional networks (replacing Group W Sports Marketing).[6] The rebrand took effect in spring 1995.
In 1995, Prime Network's retail subsidiary, Prime Sports Merchandising, purchased select sports apparel stores that maintained locations inside shopping malls throughout the United States, and rebranded them as Prime Sports Shops, using the regional networks to promote the stores.[7]
Restructuring into Fox Sports Net
On October 31, 1995,
On July 3, 1996, News Corporation and Liberty Media announced that the Prime Sports networks would be relaunched as part of the new Fox Sports Net group, with the eight Prime Sports owned-and-operated networks adopting brands that combined the "Fox Sports" name with the state or region served by the respective network.[10] the Prime Sports-branded affiliates were officially relaunched as Fox Sports Net on November 1, 1996.[11][12][13]
On December 22, 2006, News Corporation sold its interests in
Networks
Owned-and-operated
Channel | Region served | Year joined/launched | Current owner/status | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
La Cadena Deportiva | Arizona California Nevada Hawaii |
1993 | Fox Deportes, owned by Fox Corporation | Operated as Spanish-language version of Prime Ticket. |
Prime Sports Intermountain West | Utah Idaho Montana Nevada and Wyoming |
1989 | became Fox Sports Utah (later Root Sports Utah). Currently operating as a sub-feed of AT&T Sports Networks |
Originally known as Prime Sports Network Utah |
Prime Sports KBL |
western, central and northeastern Pennsylvania central and southern West Virginia eastern Ohio western Maryland extreme eastern Kentucky |
1989 | AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, owned by AT&T Sports Networks | Launched by TCI in 1986; known as KBL Entertainment Network until 1994 |
Prime Sports Midwest | Missouri southern Illinois Indiana eastern Nebraska eastern Kansas western Kentucky |
1989 | Bally Sports Midwest, owned by Diamond Sports Group | |
Prime Sports Northwest | Washington Oregon Idaho Montana Alaska |
1989 | Root Sports Northwest, owned by the Seattle Mariners and AT&T Sports Networks | Launched by TCI and Viacom in 1988 as Northwest Cable Sports; rebranded in 1989
|
Prime Sports Rocky Mountain | Colorado Wyoming Southern Idaho western Kansas western Nebraska northeastern Nevada western South Dakota |
1988 | AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, owned by AT&T Sports Networks | Launched by Daniels in 1988; Known as Prime Sports Network until 1990 |
Prime Sports Southwest | northern and eastern Texas Oklahoma northern Louisiana New Mexico Arkansas |
1989 | Bally Sports Southwest, owned by Diamond Sports Group | Launched by Warner-Amex in 1983; Known as Home Sports Entertainment (HSE) until 1994 |
Prime Sports Upper Midwest | Iowa Minnesota North Dakota South Dakota Wisconsin |
1990 | Defunct | Prime Sports Upper Midwest was the only U.S.-based Prime-owned outlet to cease operations, doing so on December 31, 1995. |
Prime Sports West | Southern California Arizona Hawaii Nevada |
1985 | Bally Sports West, owned by Diamond Sports Group (operates as a sister network to the present-day Prime Ticket) |
Known as Prime Ticket until 1994. |
Affiliates
Channel | Region served | Year of affiliation | Current owner/status | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Empire Sports Network | Western New York | 1991 | defunct | owned by Adelphia Communications Corporation |
Home Team Sports | Delaware Maryland south-central Pennsylvania Virginia Washington, D.C. West Virginia |
1989 | Monumental Sports Network, owned and operated by Monumental Sports & Entertainment | Previously owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting, also affiliated with SportsChannel |
MSG Network | New York northern New Jersey northeast Pennsylvania southern Connecticut |
1989 | Owned by The Madison Square Garden Company
| |
NESN |
Massachusetts eastern and central Connecticut Vermont Maine New Hampshire Rhode Island |
1989 | Owned by the Fenway Sports Group and Delaware North | |
PASS Sports | Michigan northwestern Ohio northeastern Indiana northeast Wisconsin |
1989 | defunct; team broadcast rights acquired by Fox Sports Detroit
| |
SportsChannel Pacific | northern and central California northwestern Nevada parts of southern Oregon |
1989 | NBC Sports Bay Area, owned by NBCUniversal | Created in 1991 as merger of TCI/Viacom's Pacific Sports Network (launched as a Prime affiliate in 1989) and Cablevision/NBC's SportsChannel Bay Area |
SportSouth | Georgia Mississippi Alabama Kentucky North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee |
1990 | Bally Sports South, owned by Diamond Sports Group | Partially owned by Liberty Media, in conjunction with the Turner Broadcasting System during association with Prime. |
Sunshine Network | Florida | 1989 | Bally Sports Sun, owned by Diamond Sports Group | Liberty had 49% ownership |
International
Channel | Region served | Year joined/launched | Current owner/status |
---|---|---|---|
Premier Sports | Australia | 1995 | Fox Sports Pty Limited
|
Prime Deportiva | Latin America | 1996 |
Operation have since regionalised
|
Prime Sports | pan-Asia | 1991 | Operation have since regionalised
|
TopSport | Brazil | 1991 | Defunct; replaced by SporTV in 1994 |
Prime Sports Showcase
Prime Sports Showcase was a short-lived sports network that focused on women's sports. It was launched in November 1994. The network reached 45 million homes.[18] Other programming on the Showcase network included Spanish Language programming and sporting events originating from Spanish speaking countries.[19] The channel folded in late 1996.
Notable programming
The Prime Network was revolutionary in the sense that it was one of the first sports networks to provide live national coverage of regional auto racing series (such as the
Prime was well known for its broadcasts of both American and Canadian
References
- ^ "TCI, Daniels, McMullen play ball" (PDF). Broadcasting Magazine: 44–45. March 27, 1989. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
- ^ Stewart, Larry (November 30, 1990). "Sticking to Basics Might Still Pay Off in Future of Cable". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
- ^ "Football 1989" (PDF). Broadcasting Magazine: 35–44. August 14, 1989. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
- ^ "Raycom Inc. and Prime Network announce joint venture to acquire and market sports programming to cable" (PDF). Raycom Sports & Entertainment. August 10, 1989. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
- ^ "PRIME NETWORK, SPORTSCHANNEL TO MERGE" (PDF). Broadcasting Magazine: 4–8. January 11, 1993. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
- ^ "LIBERTY SPORTS TAKES ANOTHER NATIONAL NETWORK STEP". Sports Business Journal. November 16, 1994. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
- Businesswire. August 7, 1995. Archived from the originalon April 13, 2015. Retrieved April 10, 2015 – via The Free Library.
- ^ "FOX AND LIBERTY OUTLINE PLANS FOR NEW CABLE VENTURE". Sports Business Journal. November 1, 1995. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
- ^ "TCI, LIBERTY AND NEWS CORP. HAMMER OUT SPORTS NET DETAILS". Sports Business Journal. May 10, 1996. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
- ^ "FOX GIVES NEW NAME TO SPORTS ALLIANCE: FOX SPORTS NET". Sports Business Journal. July 3, 1996. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
- ^ R. Thomas Umstead (July 8, 1996). "Liberty Sports regionals will become Fox Sports net". Multichannel News. The Walt Disney Company. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
- ^ "FOX SPORTS NET DEBUTS ON NOV. 1". The Columbian. Columbian Publishing Company. Associated Press. September 13, 1996. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
- ^ "FOX SPORTS NET ANNOUNCES DEBUT FOR NOVEMBER 1". Sports Business Journal. September 13, 1996. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
- ^ "News Corp. Reaches Deal with Liberty Media". The New York Times. December 22, 2006. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
- ^ Spangler, Todd (May 4, 2009). "DirecTV, Liberty Media Announce Spin-Off Plan". Multichannel News. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
- ^ Reynolds, Mike (November 20, 2009). "Liberty Sports Rebrands As DirecTV Sports Networks". Multichannel News. NewBay Media. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
- ^ "'Root Sports' new name for sports networks". Denver Business Journal. American City Business Journals. December 17, 2010.
- ^ Barnes, Shirley (July 23, 1995). "MAKING HIS PITCH". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
- ^ McNeil, Harold (December 31, 1994). "TCI ADDS 3 CHANNELS, HIKES RATES". The Buffalo News. Retrieved June 23, 2021.