 | |
| Type | Regional sports network |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Broadcast area | |
| Network | FanDuel Sports Network |
| Headquarters | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Picture format | 720p (HDTV) 480i (SDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Main Street Sports Group |
| History | |
| Launched | March 1, 1989 (1989-03-01) |
| Replaced | WCCO II |
| Former names |
|
| Links | |
| Website | www |
| Availability (some events may air on overflow feed FanDuel Sports Network North 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 |
FanDuel Sports Network North is an Americanregional sports network owned byMain Street Sports Group (formerly Diamond Sports Group) and operated as aFanDuel Sports Network affiliate. The channel broadcasts coverage of sporting events involving teams located in theUpper Midwest region, with a focus on professional and collegiate sports teams based inMinnesota.
The network maintains production studios and offices located in downtownMinneapolis, which are shared with production and office operations ofFanduel Sports Network Wisconsin, which formerly served as a subfeed of Fox Sports North until it was spun off into a separate channel in 2006.
FanDuel Sports Network North is available oncable providers throughout Minnesota, westernWisconsin,northern Iowa,North Dakota, andSouth Dakota; it is available nationwide onsatellite viaDirecTV.
The channel originated sometime in 1982 as WCCO II, a local cable channel owned byMidwest Radio and Television (later Midwest Communications), and created as a project byCBS affiliateWCCO-TV (channel 4, now anowned-and-operated station of the network) that broadcast a slate of local and general entertainment programming.[1] On March 1, 1989,[2] it was relaunched as theMidwest Sports Channel. It was also the same year that the network would acquire rights to Twins broadcasts.[3]
MSC's main draws in its early days were games from theMinnesota Twins andMinnesota North Stars. The channel also served as an affiliate ofSportsChannel America, filling much of its broadcast day with a mix of national programs andpaid programming from the channel, and incorporatedsports news tickers provided by the channel. MSC was largely considered apremium channel until the early 1990s, and did not even have full cable coverage in theMinneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area until it was added byContinental Cablevision's St. Paul system on its expanded basic cable lineup in 1994.
During the North Stars' 1991Stanley Cup Playoff run, Midwest Sports Channel declined to exercise an option to carry the North Stars' home games (as the SportsChannel America package which MSC carried did not include rights to in-market home games). Instead the North Stars cut a revenue-sharing deal with a group of 11 cable companies to televise the games as apay-per-view events at a then very expensive price of $12.95 a game.[4]
The following season the North Stars parted ways with Midwest Sports Channel and instead signed a new contract withPrime Sports Midwest to televise 17 games out-of-market while in-market viewers would be offered the games on pay-per-view through the same revenue sharing agreement with local cable operators that was used for the previous season's playoffs. The price for these games were $9.95 each with an option to purchase the entire package at a reduced rate. Additionally, 25 games were televised onKMSP-TV.[5]
In 1992, CBS acquired the Midwest Sports Channel, through its purchase ofMidwest Communications (which it previously had 47% ownership). For the 1992-93 season MSC once again televised some North Stars games, but the channel lost the broadcast rights permanently when the North Stars relocated toDallas after the end of the season. MSC expanded its lineup of professional sports events in 1995, after it landed a television contract with theMinnesota Timberwolves to hold the regional cable rights to the team's games for the 95-96 season.
The following year, theWisconsin Sports Network (a gametime-only network broadcastingMilwaukee Brewers andBucks games), which had been owned byTime Warner Cable's Milwaukee franchise andGroup W (whose corporate parent,Westinghouse, had just merged with CBS), was folded into MSC, giving the network a broader reach throughout the Midwest, in addition to the rights to the Brewers and Bucks contracts, and a sizeable stable of local outdoor programs. In 1997, the Midwest Sports Channel became an affiliate of the recently createdFox Sports Net.
Shortly after completing its merger with CBS, on June 10, 2000,Viacom announced that it would sell the Midwest Sports Channel andBaltimore-based regional sports network Home Team Sports.[6] On July 11, 2000,Comcast acquired the Midwest Sports Channel from CBS.News Corporation, which was a minority owner in the network and wanted to acquire the channel outright, attempted to block the deal,(as it would have been reworked into aComcast SportsNet), filing a lawsuit on July 21 to stop the sale of MSC and Home Team Sports.[7][8] On September 7, 2000, as part of a settlement between the two companies, Comcast traded its equity interest in Midwest Sports Channel to News Corporation in exchange for exclusive ownership of Home Team Sports (which subsequently joinedComcast SportsNet asComcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic).[9] Through its existing content agreement with the channel, WCCO continued to broadcast a replay of its 10:00 p.m. newscast daily at 4:30 a.m. as an encore until the sale to Fox was finalized.
In 2000, MSC acquired the television rights to theMinnesota Wild, anNHL expansion team which began play that year; the deal was struck by Fox in May shortly before the lawsuit against Comcast was filed as part of its plans to start a Minnesota-based regional sports network.[10] With the acquisition of the Wild broadcasts, MSC adopted FSN-branded graphics, with announcers frequently using the phrase "...live on MSC, Fox Sports Net style" during its game broadcasts.
This culminated in the channel's official rebranding asFox Sports Net North in April 2001, coinciding with the start ofthat year's Minnesota Twins season and the opening ofAmerican Family Field (Then named Miller Park) as the home stadium of the Milwaukee Brewers; the new branding was heavily promoted on-air, on billboards and on bus advertisements. One side effect to the rebranding were resulting reductions to the network's budget; Fox also let the contracts to some events expire, forcing the network to depend more on programming from FSN's national schedule (such as theNational Sports Report andYou Gotta See This!).
In October 2003, Minnesota Twins ownerCarl Pohlad attempted to launch a competing regional sports network, to be namedVictory Sports One, which would broadcast all Twins games as well as local college and high school sport events. The channel was also expected to carry a number of locally produced sports shows, the centerpiece of which would beKent Hrbek Outdoors. Victory Sports One launched in November 2003, however the effort folded in May 2004 after six months due to financial and cable carriage issues; after VS1 ceased operations, Fox Sports Net North absorbed most of the channel's programming including the television rights to the Twins. As a result, Fox Sports Net launched a new "local fans first" initiative, launching the daily regional news programMinnesota Sports Report and adding regular broadcasts of high school sport events.
In April 2006, still lacking a local news program after CBS Sold the channel (the now-defunctMinnesota Sports Report originated fromFSN West andFSN West 2's studios inDowntown Los Angeles), FSN North launchedFSN Live, a first-of-its-kind program serving as both a sports news show, and a pre-game and post-game analysis program for the channel's game broadcasts.FSN Live is usually broadcast live and on-location from sports events televised by the channel, thoughFSN Live originates from the FSN North studios in Minneapolis whenever the focused team is playing on the road. Regardless of the origin ofFSN Live, the pregame show usually features a preview of the game from the announcers and a pregame press conference by the head coach or manager. Meanwhile, the postgame show includes an interview with the player of the game, postgame analysis from the announcers and the head coach or manager's postgame press conference.
On April 4, 2007, FSN North spun off its Wisconsin subfeed into FSN Wisconsin (nowBally Sports Wisconsin), a separate channel carryingMilwaukee Brewers andMilwaukee Bucks games as well as other events sourced from its former parent channel. Wild broadcasts are available throughout Wisconsin. In 2009, FSN North rebranded asFox Sports North as part of a network-wide rebranding of the Fox Sports regional networks.
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 from21st Century Fox, includingYES Network. However, on June 27, 2018, theJustice Department ordered their divestment under antitrust grounds, citing Disney's ownership ofESPN. On May 3, 2019,Sinclair Broadcast Group andEntertainment Studios (through their joint venture,Diamond Holdings) boughtFox Sports Networks fromThe Walt Disney Company for $10.6 billion.[11] The deal closed on August 22, 2019, thus placing Fox Sports North in common ownership with neighboring Sinclair stationWUCW in Minneapolis.[12] On November 17, 2020, Sinclair announced an agreement with casino operatorBally's Corporation to serve as a newnaming rights partner for the FSN channels. Sinclair announced the new Bally Sports branding for the channels on January 27, 2021.[13] On March 31, 2021, coinciding with the2021 Major League Baseball season, Fox Sports North was rebranded asBally Sports North, resulting in 18 other Regional Sports Networks renamed Bally Sports in their respective regions.[14]
In the spring of 2021, Bally Sports North aired five Timberwolves games onWUCW, branded as "Bally Sports North Extra". This was the first time since theWFTC deal that any broadcaster regionally aired Timberwolves games over-the-air.[15]
In the spring of 2022, Bally Sports North aired two Twins games and a Wild game onWUCW.
On February 15, 2023, Diamond Sports Group, the owner of Bally Sports Great Lakes, failed to make a $140 million interest payment, instead opting for a 30-day grace period to make the payment.[16] On March 14, 2023, Diamond Sports Group filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[17]
During its bankruptcy, Diamond missed a payment to theMinnesota Twins.[18] On April 5, 2023,Major League Baseball, on behalf of the Twins, filed an emergency motion asking the bankruptcy judge to order Diamond to pay the Twins fully or give its media rights back to the MLB. Diamond argued that because ofcord-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.[19] As an interim, on April 19, the bankruptcy judge ordered Diamond Sports to pay 50% of what the Twins were owed.[20] On June 1, 2023, after a two day long hearing, the bankruptcy judge ordered Diamond to pay the Twins fully within five days.[21]
On October 9, 2024, the Minnesota Twins announced a new deal with MLB Local Media, ending the network's longtime deal.[22] Later on October 16, it was revealed in a court filing that Diamond had reached a new sponsorship agreement withFanDuel Group, under which it intends to rebrand Bally Sports as theFanDuel Sports Network; on October 18, 2024, Diamond officially announced the rebranding, which will take effect October 21.[23][24] 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.[25][26]
FanDuel Sports Network holds the exclusive regional cable television rights toNBA games from the Minnesota Timberwolves (since 1995), and NHL games from theMinnesota Wild (since 2000). They also airWNBA games from theMinnesota Lynx andAHL games from theIowa Wild as well. The channel also broadcastsNCAADivision I collegiate sporting events from theMinnesota Golden Gophers and theNorth Dakota Fighting Hawks. Finally Bally Sports North airsMinnesota Vikings related material though it is limited to a pregame show airing on NFL Sundays a couple of hours before the game as well as replays of preseason action.
FanDuel Sports Network North also distributes some of its programming to FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin, including a reduced schedule of Minnesota Wild games and competitions sanctioned by theWisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA). Due to blackout restrictions imposed by Major League Baseball and the NBA, FanDuel Sports Network North is not permitted to broadcastMilwaukee Bucks games televised by FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.
FanDuel Sports Network North, when it was Fox Sports North aired outdoor programming under theFSN Outdoors banner. This included fishing and hunting action. Also included is a portion of the national schedule which includes theWorld Poker Tour, as well as repeats of earlier national events on other Fox Sports branded channels. Select programming fromFanDuel TV now airs on FDSN North due to the aforementioned naming rights deal.
FanDuel Sports Network North operatesFanDuel Sports Network North Extra as a 24-hour full-time HD channel that is used to carry additional programming including overflow live sports programming. Most providers carry the channel full-time, though some opt to carry it as a game-time only channel.[27] Beginning in April 2021, the then-Bally Sports North has been using Sinclair-ownedWUCW as a third overflow channel to accommodate several dates when all three professional sports teams are scheduled to play at the same time. These broadcasts are branded as Bally Sports Extra on The CW Twin Cities. For subscribers in the team's territories unable to access WUCW, these games will be offered on theBally Sports app.[28]
FanDuel Sports Network North previously had the rights to theMinnesota United FC ofMajor League Soccer. It has carried telecasts ofCollege Football andBasketball games from theAtlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Additionally, it aired Minnesota Golden Gophers ice hockey games,[29] as well as college hockey games from theNational Collegiate Hockey Conference schools theMinnesota Duluth Bulldogs and theSt. Cloud State Huskies.
(Preseason only)
