FanDuel Sports Network Southwest is a Texas-based regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group (a joint-venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios), and operates as an affiliate of FanDuel Sports Network. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of professional, collegiate and high school sports events throughout the South Central United States. The network is headquartered in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Irving, Texas, with master control hubbed at FanDuel Sports Network's operations center in Atlanta, which houses master control operations for its regional networks in the Southeastern United States.[1]
| Type | Regional sports network |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Broadcast area | Texas Arkansas Northern Louisiana Eastern New Mexico Nationwide (via satellite) |
| Network | FanDuel Sports Network |
| Headquarters | Irving, Texas |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Picture format | 720p (HDTV) 480i (SDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Diamond Sports Group |
| Parent | Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios Networks |
| Sister channels | FanDuel Sports Network Oklahoma Bally Sports New Orleans |
| History | |
| Launched | January 4, 1983 |
| Former names | Home Sports Entertainment (1983–1995) Prime Sports Southwest (1995–1996) Fox Sports Southwest (1996–2000, 2008-2021) Fox Sports Net Southwest (2000–2004) FSN Southwest (2004–2008) Bally Sports Southwest (2021–2024) |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
| Availability (some events may air on FanDuel Sports Network Southwest Extra due to event conflicts) | |
| Streaming media | |
| FanDuel Sports Network app | www.fanduelsportsnetwork.com/ (U.S. cable internet subscribers only; requires login from participating providers to stream content; some events may not be available due to league rights restrictions) |
| DirecTV Stream | Internet Protocol television |
| FuboTV | Internet Protocol television |
FanDuel Sports Network Southwest is available on cable providers throughout much of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and New Mexico; it is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV.
History
editFanDuel Sports Network Southwest originally launched on January 4, 1983, as Home Sports Entertainment (HSE), a unit of Warner-Amex Cable.[2] As one of the first regional sports networks in North America, it served as the cable television home of professional and collegiate sports teams throughout Texas and surrounding states. In 1988, HSE became an affiliate of Prime Sports Networks.
Like many Prime Sports-affiliated networks, it shared channel space with other networks on several cable providers in its service area (most often resulting in its programming being restricted to nighttime periods) until the early 1990s, when cable systems began upgrading their headend infrastructures to increase channel capacity, reassigning most of the cable channels that shared time with HSE to other channel slots once these upgrades were complete. In 1994, Liberty Media acquired HSE, converting it into an owned-and-operated affiliate of Prime Sports and changing its name to Prime Sports Southwest.
In 1996, News Corporation, which formed its own sports division for the Fox network two years earlier, acquired a 50% interest in the Prime Network from Liberty Media;[3] the network was officially rebranded as Fox Sports Southwest on November 1 of that year, as part of a relaunch of the Prime Network affiliates as the cornerstones of the new Fox Sports Net.[4] The channel was then rebranded as Fox Sports Net Southwest in 2000, as part of a collective brand modification of the FSN networks under the "Fox Sports Net" banner.
In 2004, the channel shortened its name to FSN Southwest, through the networks' de-emphasis of the brand, before reverting to the Fox Sports Southwest moniker in 2008. In 2007, a high definition simulcast feed of Fox Sports Southwest, which broadcasts in the 720p format was launched. Initially, the channel did not provide a 24-hour simulcast but it broadcast various Mavericks (prior to the 2024–25 NBA season), Rangers (prior to 2025), Spurs and Stars games (prior to July 6, 2024), as well as several NCAA football and basketball games shown nationally on FSN and other programming distributed nationally by Fox Sports Networks in high definition. Today, nearly all programming is shown in HD. In July 2013, News Corporation spun off the Fox Sports Networks and most of its other U.S. entertainment properties into 21st Century Fox.
On December 14, 2017, The Walt Disney Company announced plans to acquire all 22 regional Fox Sports networks from 21st Century Fox as part of their acquisition of Fox, including Fox Sports Southwest. However, on June 27, 2018, the Justice Department ordered their divestment under antitrust grounds, citing Disney's ownership of ESPN (ESPN also owned a stake in the Longhorn Network until its shutdown on June 30, 2024). On May 3, 2019, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios (through their joint venture, Diamond Holdings) bought Fox Sports Networks from The Walt Disney Company for $10.6 billion.[5] The deal closed on August 22, 2019, thus placing Fox Sports Southwest in common ownership with 17 Sinclair stations in Texas.[6] 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.[7] On March 31, 2021, coinciding with the 2021 Major League Baseball season, Fox Sports Southwest was rebranded as Bally Sports Southwest.[8]
Bankruptcy
editOn February 15, 2023, Diamond Sports Group, the owner of Bally Sports Southwest, failed to make a $140 million interest payment, instead opting for a 30-day grace period to make the payment.[9] On March 14, 2023, Diamond Sports Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[10]
During its bankruptcy, Diamond missed a payment to the Texas Rangers.[11] On April 5, 2023, the Rangers filed an emergency motion asking the bankruptcy judge to order Diamond to pay the Rangers fully or give its media rights back to Major League Baseball. Diamond argued that because of cord-cutting the contract rate for the media rights of the teams was too high. A hearing on the matter was set for May 31, 2023.[11][12] As an interim, on April 19, the bankruptcy judge ordered Diamond Sports to pay 50% of what the Rangers were owed.[13] On June 1, 2023, after a two day long hearing, the bankruptcy judge ordered Diamond to pay the Rangers fully within five days.[14]
On July 3, 2024, Diamond Sports Group filed a motion requesting that its contract with the Dallas Stars be terminated.[15] On July 8, the Stars subsequently announced that it would partner with A Parent Media Co. to stream all of its games for free via the team-run streaming service Victory+ beginning in the 2024–25 season.[16]
On August 23, 2024, Diamond Sports Group terminated its contract with the Dallas Mavericks prior to the 2024–25 NBA season.[17] On September 6, 2024, the Mavericks had reached a multi-year deal with Tegna to broadcast their regionally televised games over-the-air on either WFAA (Channel 8) or KFAA-TV (Channel 29, previously KMPX). In addition to the deal, 15 games will be simulcasted on both WFAA and KFAA-TV.[18]
On October 6, 2024, The Texas Rangers ended their agreement with Diamond Sports Group, with the team searching for options to broadcast its games, including the possible creation of their own regional sports network, for the 2025 season.[19] Prior to their departure, the Rangers owned a 10% equity stake in the network.
On October 16, 2024, it was revealed in a court filing that Diamond had reached a new sponsorship agreement with FanDuel Group, under which it intends to rebrand Bally Sports as the FanDuel Sports Network; on October 18, 2024, Diamond officially announced the rebranding, which will take effect October 21.[20][21] Under the agreement, FanDuel will have the option to take a minority equity stake of up to 5% once Diamond Sports exits bankruptcy. The branding will be downplayed within programming related to high school sports.[22][23]
Programming
editFanDuel Sports Network Southwest holds the exclusive regional cable television rights to the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA. In addition, the channel holds the cable rights to the University Interscholastic League, carrying its Class 6A high school state championship games for football, boys' and girls' basketball, baseball and softball, and the 2A-5A high school football championships. Prior to their move to Las Vegas, FanDuel Sports Network Southwest had the rights to the San Antonio Stars of the WNBA. Prior to their move to Henderson, FanDuel Sports Network Southwest also carried select games from the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL.
A mix of programs originally supplied by FanDuel Sports Network and some original programming exclusive to FanDuel Sports Network Southwest (such as High School Spotlight, ″High School Scoreboard Live″ and the Dallas Morning News-co-produced SportsdayOnAir) are also broadcast. As part of the naming rights deal with FanDuel, select programs from FanDuel TV would be shown on the network.
Coverage areas
editFanDuel Sports Network Southwest has the second-largest market area and total viewer reach of any network in the FanDuel regional networks group (behind FanDuel Sports Network South). Its expansive footprint extends from eastern New Mexico to Panama City, Florida. The network is divided into four broadcasting zones, each representing the five largest television markets in its designated broadcast region:
- Dallas-Fort Worth (including northern and north-central Texas, parts of West Texas, parts of East Texas, and northern Louisiana)
- Houston (southeast Texas, within the former coverage area of the defunct sub-feed Fox Sports Houston)
- San Antonio (including Austin, El Paso, southern Texas, and parts of West Texas and eastern New Mexico)
- Arkansas
The separation of broadcast zones for the channel is mostly due to the defined broadcast territories set by the National Basketball Association for four of the region's five NBA franchises – the Dallas Mavericks (prior to the 2024–25 season), Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans (the Houston Rockets are carried on Space City Home Network). In the event of a scheduling conflict between either of the teams (such as Mavericks/Thunder, Mavericks/Spurs, Thunder/Spurs, and sometimes Mavericks/Spurs/Thunder), the games will be shown on their own subfeeds (Thunder on FanDuel Sports Network Oklahoma, Spurs or Mavericks on FanDuel Sports Network Southwest).
| Zone # | Region served | MLB | NBA | NHL | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas Rangers
(before 2025 season) |
St. Louis Cardinals (FanDuel Sports Network Midwest) |
Dallas Mavericks
(before 2024 season) |
San Antonio Spurs | Memphis Grizzlies (FanDuel Sports Network Southeast) |
Oklahoma City Thunder (FanDuel Sports Network Oklahoma) |
Dallas Stars
(before 2024 season) | ||
| 1 | Dallas–Fort Worth | |||||||
| 2 | Houston | |||||||
| 3 | San Antonio | |||||||
| 4 | Arkansas | |||||||
Other services
editFanDuel Sports Network Southwest Extra
editFanDuel Sports Network Southwest Extra (previously branded as "Bally Sports Southwest Plus") is an alternate channel feed of FanDuel Sports Network Southwest used to broadcast select events from teams to which FanDuel Sports Network Southwest holds the broadcast rights within the designated market in the event that two or more games scheduled to be broadcast on the channel are held simultaneously, requiring the overflow feed to carry games that cannot air on the main feed.[24]
FanDuel Sports Network Southwest streaming options
editFanDuel Sports Network Southwest is not available on streaming services such as fubotv,[25] Sling, YouTubeTV, or Hulu + live TV,[26] though it is still available on DirecTV Stream only on the Choice package and above.
References
edit- ^ Dachman, Josh (May 25, 2021). "Behind the Scenes at Sinclair's New Media Operations Center Powering Bally Sports, Marquee Sports, and YES Network". Sports Video Group. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
- ^ David Barron (January 5, 2003). "Regional TV venture grew into Fox Sports Southwest". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
- ^ 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 7, 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 7, 2015.
- ^ Littleton, Cynthia (May 3, 2019). "Sinclair Clinches Disney-Regional Sports Networks Deal, Byron Allen Joins as Partner". Variety. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
- ^ "Sinclair completes acquisition of regional sports networks from Disney". Bloomberg. August 22, 2019. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
- ^ Novy-Williams, Eben (November 19, 2020). "Bally's Buys Sinclair RSN Naming Rights As Part of Sports Betting Push". Sportico.com. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
- ^ "Bally Sports Southwest/Oklahoma/New Orleans FAQ". FOX Sports. FOX Sports Southwest. March 17, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
- ^ Ourand, John (February 15, 2023). "Diamond Sports Group not making $140M interest payment". Sports Business Journal. Leaders Group. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
- ^ Hayes, Dade (March 15, 2023). "Diamond Sports Group, Owner Of Bally Networks Once Run By Fox, Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy". Deadline. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
- ^ a b Grant, Evan (April 19, 2023). "Bally Sports Southwest parent company fails to make April rights payment to Rangers". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
- ^ McCann, Michael; Crupi, Anthony (April 18, 2023). "Diamond RSN's Missed Payments Spur Late May MLB Court Fight". Sportico. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
- ^ McCann, Michael; Crupi, Anthony (April 20, 2023). "Diamond RSNs Must Pay 50% To 4 MLB Teams In Bankruptcy Case, For Now". Sportico. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
- ^ Gonzalez, Aiden (June 1, 2023). "Diamond Sports Group ordered to fully pay MLB teams' contracts". ESPN. Walt Disney Corporation. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
- ^ Crupi, Anthony (July 5, 2024). "Stars' Local TV Deal Goes Supernova as Team and RSN Agree to Split". Sportico.com. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "Stars launching trailblazing streaming app to replace Bally Sports with free broadcasts". Dallas News. July 8, 2024. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ Rader, Doyle. "Bally Sports' Parent Terminates Contract With The Dallas Mavericks". Forbes. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
- ^ "Dallas Mavericks, WFAA sign multi-year deal to broadcast games over-the-air for free". wfaa.com. September 6, 2024. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
- ^ "No More Bally Sports Southwest For Texas Rangers, But Television Future Remains Unclear". Texas Rangers On SI. October 9, 2024. Retrieved October 15, 2024.
- ^ Steinberg, Brian (October 18, 2024). "FanDuel Takes Over Naming Rights to Diamond Sports RSNs". Variety. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
- ^ "Diamond Sports branded as FanDuel in new deal". ESPN.com. October 18, 2024. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
- ^ Paul, Tony. "Bally Sports Detroit set to become FanDuel Sports Network; what you need to know". The Detroit News. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
- ^ Randles, Jonathan (October 16, 2024). "Diamond Seeks Approval to Rebrand From Bally Sports to FanDuel". BNN Bloomberg. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
- ^ "TV/Radio Information". Official Dallas Stars Website. Dallas Stars. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
- ^ "What happened to my FOX Regional Sports Network?". Help Center. Archived from the original on May 29, 2020. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
- ^ Holt, Kris (October 22, 2020). "Hulu's live TV service loses Sinclair-owned regional Fox Sports networks". Engadget. Retrieved October 23, 2020.