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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | St. Petersburg andOrlando, Florida |
| Headquarters | Orlando, Florida |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Charter Communications |
| History | |
| Launched | 2004; 21 years ago (2004) |
| Replaced | Bright House Networks 47 |
| Closed | December 16, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-12-16) |
| Replaced by | Bay News 9 News 13 |
| Former names | Catch 47 (2004–2008) Bright House Sports Network (2008-2016) |
| Links | |
| Website | Bay News 9 website News 13 website |
Spectrum Sports (formerly known asBright House Sports Network) was an Americanregional sports network serving theTampa Bay andOrlando metropolitan areas ofFlorida, that was owned bycable television providerCharter Communications which exclusively carried the channel on Standard Definition channel 47 and High Definition channel 1147.[1]
The channel was originally established in the Tampa Bay area in 2004, asCatch 47 (named after its cable channel slot). In September 2008, Corporate VP Elliott Wiser and General Manager Paul Kosuth relaunched the channel asBright House Sports Network. The Network's carriage was expanded to Bright House's Central Florida systems. In 2012, the channel won sole rights to air all post season high school games. Bright House was acquired byCharter in May 2016, along withTime Warner Cable, and on November 15, 2016, Bright House Sports Network was renamed asSpectrum Sports, as Bright House on the same day became Spectrum.
In 2009,ESPN Inc. acquired a 27% stake in the channel and spun off its stake to Bright House in 2010.
As part of a company-wide restructuring, the channel is slated to be discontinued by the end of 2017.[2] It signed off earlier than expected on December 16, 2017.
Programs featured on Spectrum Sports includeSpectrum Sports Sport Stories, a monthly show covering local stories and interviews,Prep Sports Showcase, and "The Sunday Night Fish Fry," which includesAverage Angler Adventures.
The channel airs local high school sports in the "Game of the Week" series, coveringfootball,basketball,baseball,softball,volleyball, andsoccer events. Spectrum Sports provides the semi-finals and finals from theFlorida High School Athletic Association inswimming anddiving,cheerleading,lacrosse,basketball,baseball,softball,volleyball, andsoccer.
Spectrum Sports provides select coverage of theUniversity of South Florida Bulls athletics, including:football andbasketball. In late 2008, the channel used its expanded coverage within the Central Florida market to start televisingbasketball andfootball games of theUniversity of Central Florida. The first few games were rebroadcasts fromComcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS) and theCBS College Sports Network; however, on January 6, 2009 Bright House Sports Network produced its first UCF basketball game against theCollege of the Holy Cross. Bright House Networks (now Charter Communications) is also the sponsor of UCF's on-campus stadium,Bright House Networks Stadium.
In addition, Spectrum Sports airs nationwide sports programs from sources such asESPN Plus andAmerica One. During the overnight hours, it simulcasts programming fromESPNEWS.
Prior to 2010, the channel airedPress Box,Xtra Point,Lightning Strikes,The Baysball Show andBeef 'O' Brady's High School Scoreboard.The Toyota Sports Connection, a nightly show focusing on local professional and college teams, ran from 1997 to 2011. Bright House Sports Network also broadcast most home games and occasional road games of theArena Football League'sTampa Bay Storm before the league folded in 2009. The announcing team for the Storm games generally consisted ofDrew Fellios and formerNFLpunterMark Royals.
On March 25, 2007,SportsNet New York (a similar regional sports network in theNew York metropolitan area) rebroadcast then-Catch 47's coverage of a game between the Tampa Bay Storm and theNew York Dragons from two days earlier. SNY opted to broadcast the game straight from the Catch 47 broadcast, neither editing any part of the coverage (aside from commercials), nor dubbing the game with SNY's own announcers. In 2012, BHSN provided other channels belonging to Time Warner with fitness shows from its On Demand service.
On May 7, 2007,Versus (a channel by Comcast) also rebroadcast the Catch 47's coverage of a game between the Tampa Bay Storm and theNew York Dragons from two days earlier.
ESPN2 re-aired Catch 47's coverage of a game between the Tampa Bay Storm and theNew York Dragons on June 7, 2007.
Spectrum Sports On Demand, which is carried on channel 520, carries ESPN Local including selectUniversity of Florida,Florida State University,University of South Florida, andUniversity of Miami football and basketball games. Coverage showcasing local high school bands, cheerleading squads, and dance teams airs weekly. Specials featured on thevideo on demand service also includeRed Bull Flugtag, Tampa dragon boat races, and Clearwater and Orlando speed boat races.