In 2017, Sinclair announced that it would fold the multicast network component of ASN into a new joint venture with Silver Chalice called Stadium, which would combine ASN's broadcast distribution platforms with content from Silver Chalice's digital outlets 120 Sports and Campus Insiders. ASN-branded multicast programming continued on-air until September 6, when the network formally transitioned on-air to Stadium.[3]
History
Sinclair Broadcast Group formally announced the launch of the American Sports Network on July 17, 2014; the service was led by Doron Gorshein, who joined the company in January 2014 in the role of chief operating officer of Sinclair Networks. ASN carried live broadcasts of mainly collegiate sporting events, along with ancillary programming focusing on colleges, their students and student-athletes. ASN's content aired primarily on Sinclair-owned-or-operated affiliates of The CW and MyNetworkTV or on secondary digital subchannels of other stations run by the company (some of which had carried content from competing syndicated sports distributors ESPN Regional Television and Raycom Sports until ASN's launch), the latter especially the case for its stations that have primary affiliations with one of the Big Four networks (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox) which would not pre-empt the higher-tier sports coverage provided by their network partners. Sinclair opened ASN up for distribution by other broadcast outlets interested in carrying the service's content, and announced plans to expand ASN onto digital platforms.[4][5][6]
In September 2014, Sinclair reached a two-year deal with the International Motor Sports Association to syndicate broadcasts of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge series through ASN beginning that year, with a renewal option that could be exercised in 2016. Its first race broadcast on September 13, 2014 was shown on Sinclair stations in at least 36 markets, marking the first non-college sporting event to be syndicated by ASN.[11]
On September 29, 2014, Sinclair announced a multi-year deal with the Western Athletic Conference to broadcast its games through ASN – marking the sixth conference to partner with the service. Sinclair also announced that it had reached syndication deals with stations in 67 markets where the company does not have a station in its portfolio to carry ASN's programming, expanding its total potential audience to 83 million viewers.[12][13]
On October 16, 2014, Jonathan B. LeCrone announced the Horizon League had entered into a deal with the American Sports Network to broadcast select games; subsequently on November 10, ASN entered into a broadcast contract with the Ohio Valley Conference.[14]
On January 23, 2015, Sinclair announced that it had acquired regional television rights to Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer beginning in the 2015 season, with ASN handling production of the telecasts. KMYU and KUTV aired the games locally, and they were syndicated to Sinclair stations in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada as well as in Boise, Idaho. Stations in Arizona and New Mexico were able to bid for the local rights to telecast the matches in their markets.[17]
On May 19, 2015, ASN announced that it had reached an agreement with Minor League Baseball (MiLB) to televise a weekly game during the 2015 season. ASN aired a weekly game live from different individual leagues on Sunday nights, and also aired the all-star games for the Florida State League and the Midwest League.[2]
On June 24, 2015 the Southland Conference announced that ASN would televise select matches from their conference beginning with the 2015 fall football season. The ASN package replaced the Southland Conference TV Network syndication package.[18]
On January 8, 2016, Sinclair announced a dedicated American Sports Network channel, offered as an affiliation for digital subchannels of stations in Baltimore, Charleston, Cincinnati, Columbus, Greensboro, Myrtle Beach, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Portland, and Raleigh-Durham. The service launched on January 11, 2016.[24]
2017: Relaunch as Stadium
On April 13, 2017, Sinclair officially announced that the multicast network component of ASN would be re-launched later in the year as part of a joint venture with Silver Chalice (owner of Campus Insiders) and its online sports video service 120 Sports, later revealed to be Stadium. The service was set to target both broadcast and digital platforms, with the linear service utilizing the syndication and broadcast network built out for ASN, and 120 Sports providing original studio and long-form programming to the venture.[25][26][27] On June 1, 2017, it was reported that Stadium would officially launch around late-July 2017.[28] After a soft launch in July 2017, the service officially launched on August 24, with ASN's over-the-air network formally joining Stadium on September 6.[3][29]
Stadium's studio programming is produced from Chicago; Sinclair's West Palm Beach CBS affiliate WPEC-TV shared facilities with ASN, and retained the set as a secondary studio, using it for its newscasts while its main studio was being renovated,[30] and originating Sinclair sister station WGFL's newscasts until 2023.[31]
ASN also acquired the D2 Game of the Week rights and televised NCAA Division II football and men's and women's basketball on their network during 2015–16. The D2 package was formerly on CBS Sports Network. ASN also acquired the rights to air the Arizona Bowlcollege footballbowl game.
2016–17
During the 2016-17 season, ASN televised live events from the following NCAA Division I conferences:
American Sports Network telecasts were aired primarily on stations owned or managed by Sinclair Broadcast Group; this included stations operated by the firm under local marketing agreements or similar pacts, which itself included stations owned by companies such as Cunningham Broadcasting, Deerfield Media, and Howard Stirk Holdings among others.[4] These telecasts were not always scheduled to appear on a station's main digital subchannel nor on a fixed single station where Sinclair owned and/or managed more than one station. In addition to the Sinclair stations, ASN's events (and Stadium after that), were also syndicated to other broadcasters.
New England Sports Network, popularly known as NESN, is an American regional sports cable and satellite television network owned by a joint venture of Fenway Sports Group and Delaware North. Headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, the network is primarily carried on cable providers throughout New England. NESN is also distributed nationally on satellite providers DirecTV and as NESN National via select cable providers.
WDKA is a television station licensed to Paducah, Kentucky, United States, serving as the MyNetworkTV affiliate for Western Kentucky's Purchase region, Southern Illinois and Southeastern Missouri, and Northwest Tennessee. It is owned by the Community News Media subsidiary of Standard Media alongside Cape Girardeau, Missouri–licensed Fox affiliate KBSI. Both stations share studios on Enterprise Street in Cape Girardeau, while WDKA's transmitter is located in Vienna, Illinois.
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The broadcasting of sports events is the live coverage of sports as a television program, on radio, and other broadcasting media. It usually involves one and more sports commentators describing events as they happen.
College football on television includes the broad- and cablecasting of college football games, as well as pre- and post-game reports, analysis, and human-interest stories. Within the United States, the college version of American football annually garners high television ratings.
A regional sports network (RSN) in the United States and Canada is a television channel that presents sports programming to a local media market or geographical region.
ESPN Events is an American multinational sporting event promoter owned by ESPN Inc. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and shares its operations with SEC Network and formerly with ESPNU. The corporation organizes sporting events for broadcast across the ESPN family of networks, including, most prominently, a group of college football bowl games and in-season college basketball tournaments.
College Football on NBC Sports is the de facto title used for broadcasts of NCAA college football games produced by NBC Sports.
Bally Sports Wisconsin (BSWI) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. Operating as the "Wisconsin" sub-feed of Fox Sports North until 2007, the channel was known as Fox Sports Wisconsin until 2021. It broadcasts regional coverage of sports events throughout the state of Wisconsin, with a focus on professional sports teams based in Milwaukee, namely the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball and the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association. It primarily operates from a studio/office facility in downtown Milwaukee, with secondary offices and production studio/office hub based in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Men's college basketball on television includes the broadcasting of college basketball games, as well as pre- and post-game reports, analysis, and human-interest stories. Within the United States, the college version of basketball annually garners high television ratings.
In the United States, sports are televised on various broadcast networks, national and specialty sports cable channels, and regional sports networks. U.S. sports rights are estimated to be worth a total of $22.42 billion in 2019, about 44 percent of the total worldwide sports media market. U.S. networks are willing to pay a significant amount of money for television sports contracts because it attracts large amounts of viewership; live sport broadcasts accounted for 44 of the 50 list of most watched television broadcasts in the United States in 2016.
The National Hockey League has never fared as well on American television in comparison to the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, or the National Football League, although that has begun to change, with NBC's broadcasts of the final games of the 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013 Stanley Cup Finals scoring some of the best ratings ever enjoyed by the sport on American television.
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The Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network (HSSN) is a viewer-supported, student-run, and seasonal syndicated programming service based in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It features live broadcasts of men's and women's college basketball events of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, the sporting team representing Western Kentucky University. The institution is currently a member of Conference USA.
The National Hockey League (NHL) is shown on national television in the United States and Canada. With 25 teams in the U.S. and 7 in Canada, the NHL is the only one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada that maintains separate national broadcasters in each country, each producing separate telecasts of a slate of regular season games, playoff games, and the Stanley Cup Finals.
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Stadium is an internet sports network operated by Silver Chalice as a multi-platform sports network. Stadium includes a 24/7 linear feed distributed across various digital platforms, as well as on-demand (VOD) digital content including additional live games and events. The network is headquartered at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
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2Formerly separately licensed as WCGV-TV and merged with WVTV's spectrum, but remains on its former channel number as a separate station
JVJoint Venture
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