In the United States of America and Canada, a regional sports network, or RSN, is a cable television station that presents sports programming to a local market. The most important programming on an RSN consists of live broadcasts of professional and college sporting events, as those games generate an overwhelming percentage of an RSN's advertising income. During the rest of the day, these stations show other sports and recreation programming. These channels are often the source content for out-of-market packages.
Regional sports networks are generally among the most expensive channels on a cable television lineup, due to the expense of rights to the local sports they carry. A typical RSN, as of 2012, carries a retransmission fee of $2 to $3 per subscriber, lower than ESPN and premium channels but higher than all other cable networks. These high prices are supported by demand for the often popular local sports teams they carry; transmission disputes between distributors and RSNs are often controversial and protracted.
Most regional sports networks in the United States are either affiliated with Fox Sports or NBC Sports, with supplemental programming from networks such as America One, AMGTV or ESPNEWS.
In Canada, Rogers Sportsnet operates four regional sports networks, and TSN also has some regional operations.
Read more about Regional Sports Network: Fox Sports Networks, Comcast SportsNet, Sportsnet, TSN/RDS, Independent Regional Sports Networks, College Networks, Defunct Networks, High Definition, See Also
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