Comcast SportsNet - History

History

The first Comcast SportsNet network was formed in Philadelphia after Comcast acquired a majority stake in Spectacor, the owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and Philadelphia Flyers. Comcast used their ownership in the teams to take over their broadcast rights and move them to a new basic cable channel known as Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. The launch of the new network effectively shuttered the two local premium networks that had formerly carried their games; PRISM and SportsChannel Philadelphia

CSN began to expand with a series of acquisitions and new establishments: In 2000, Comcast acquired a majority stake in Baltimore-area network Home Team Sports from Viacom, and re-launched it as Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic the following year. In June 2007, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in FSN Bay Area, and re-branded it as Comcast SportsNet Bay Area on March 31, 2008.

As the result of the acquisition of a majority share in NBC Universal by Comcast in February 2011, the operations of CSN, along with sister national sports channels (Versus) and Golf Channel, were aligned into a new NBC Sports division. Plans were made to eventually incorporate NBC-related branding into CSN, although plans to drop the Comcast SportsNet name entirely in favor of NBC were later shelved. However, the CSN networks did adopt a graphics package incorporating elements from the new NBC Sports design, and introduced an updated logo incorporating the NBC peacock in September 2012.

In April 2012, NBC Owned Television Stations began to sell national advertising on behalf of several CSN networks (New England, Mid-Atlantic, Northwest and Philadelphia). For "unwired sales", the Group will be continue to be represented by Home Team Sports. The arrangement is an extension of one it had established with New England Cable News in 2011.

The newest CSN affiliate, Comcast SportsNet Houston, launched in October 2012. The network was created as part of a new joint venture between the Houston Astros and Rockets—who vacated Fox Sports Houston.

In markets that didn't have an affiliate, CSN also carried the national programming of competing regional sports network chain Fox Sports Networks (which included various college sports and UEFA Champions League soccer). However, CSN quietly dropped all FSN programming on August 1, 2012, claiming they could no longer reach an agreement with Fox. In the Philadelphia, Boston, Bay Area, and Washington, D.C./Baltimore markets, FSN programming airs on local broadcast stations.