American Sports Network
 | |
| Type | Ad hoc television network/syndication service |
|---|---|
| Availability |
Regional (available on television stations in several markets, as well as select regional sports networks) |
| Founded | July 17, 2014 |
| Headquarters | Hunt Valley, Maryland |
| Parent |
Sinclair Networks (Sinclair Broadcast Group)[1] |
Key people |
Doron Gorshein (COO, Sinclair Networks) |
Launch date | August 30, 2014 |
| Affiliates | List of affiliates |
Official website |
americansportsnet |
American Sports Network (ASN) is the sports division of the U.S. television station owner Sinclair Broadcast Group through its Sinclair Networks subsidiary.[1] Formed in July 2014, ASN produces broadcasts of sporting events that are aired primarily across stations owned by Sinclair (in particular, The CW and MyNetworkTV stations owned and/or operated by the company, or, in some markets, on a digital subchannel of a Sinclair station), and syndicated to non-Sinclair stations and regional sports networks.
ASN primarily deals in college sports from NCAA Division I conferences, including live football and basketball games from the Atlantic 10 Conference, Big South Conference, Colonial Athletic Association, Conference USA, Horizon League, Ivy League, Mid-American Conference, Ohio Valley Conference, Patriot League, Southern Conference, Southland Conference, and Western Athletic Conference, as well as a limited number of professional sports events. In 2015, ASN acquired regional rights to Real Salt Lake and DC United of Major League Soccer, with games airing on Sinclair stations in the teams' market area, as well as television rights to the newly established Arizona Bowl.
History
Sinclair Broadcast Group formally announced the launch of the American Sports Network on July 17, 2014; the service is led by Doron Gorshein, who joined the company in January 2014 in the role of chief operating officer of Sinclair Networks. ASN carries live broadcasts of mainly collegiate sporting events, along with ancillary programming focusing on colleges, their students and student-athletes. ASN's content would air 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.[2][3][4]
ASN planned to initially broadcast college football, men's and women's college basketball, women's college soccer, and college baseball events, beginning with the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS and FCS football seasons. Prior to the service's formal launch, Sinclair reached broadcast rights agreements with five NCAA Division I conferences, including Conference USA,[5] the Colonial Athletic Association, Big South Conference, Southern Conference,[6] and the Patriot League.[7]
ASN's first broadcasts took place on August 30, 2014, featuring two football games involving Conference USA teams (Old Dominion University vs. Hampton University and Florida International University hosting Bethune-Cookman University).[8]
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.[9]
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.[10][11]
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.[12]
On December 2, 2014, ASN entered into the collegiate hockey field through an agreement that gave it the rights to air six Penn State Nittany Lions home games.[13] ASN later added two other men's ice hockey contests from the Big Ten Conference, featuring the Wisconsin Badgers and Ohio State Buckeyes.[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 will air the games locally, and they will be syndicated to Sinclair stations in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada as well as in Boise, Idaho. Stations in Arizona and New Mexico would also be able to bid for the local rights to telecast the matches in their markets.[15]
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 was scheduled to air a weekly game live from different individual leagues on Sunday nights, and would also air the all-star games for the Florida State League and the Midwest League.[1]
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 would replace the Southland Conference TV Network syndication package.[16]
In September 2015, ASN reached a deal with the Mid-American Conference, sub-licensed through ESPN, to broadcast selected games. In the 2015–16 academic season, ASN will broadcast 10 football games, 10 men's basketball games, and 5 women's basketball games.[17] ASN also reached deals with the NCAA Division I ice hockey conferences, including the Big Ten, ECAC Hockey, Hockey East, National Collegiate Hockey Conference, and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, to broadcast games as part of a Friday night package.[18]
In November 2015, it was announced that ASN had acquired broadcast rights to the inaugural Arizona Bowl.[19]
On December 18, 2015, DC United soccer club announced that ASN had acquired local broadcast rights to air the club's matches that are not on national television networks.[20] Sinclair Broadcasting owns local stations in Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and West Virginia.[21]
On January 8, 2016, Sinclair announced that American Sports Network would launch as a dedicated, digital multicast network under the American Sports Network name in 10 cities on January 11, 2016.[22]
Programming
- A-10 Spotlight[23]
- C-USA Showcase[24]
- Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge [9]
- Real Salt Lake soccer:[15] Announcers include David James & Brian Dunseth[25]
- Minor League Baseball Sunday Showcase: Announcers for the games include former Major League Baseball players Brian McRae, Keith Moreland and Dave Armstrong.[1]
- The Dance League on ASN (syndicated) with Millenium Dancesport[26]
- local high school sports[1]
- Thursday Night Lights
- Friday Night Rivals
- AMA Pro Flat Track Motorcycle Racing (syndicated) AMA Pro Racing[26]
- DC United soccer
- ARCA Racing Series (9 races for 2016, 5 of them will be shown live) [27]
NCAA sports
2014–15
During the 2014–15 season, ASN televised live events from the following NCAA Division I conferences:
2015–16
During the 2015–16 season, ASN will televise live events from the following NCAA Division I conferences:
ASN has also acquired the D2 Game of the Week rights and will televise 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.
List of affiliates
American Sports Network telecasts primarily air on stations owned or managed by Sinclair Broadcast Group; this includes stations operated by the firm under local marketing agreements or similar pacts, which itself includes stations owned by companies such as Cunningham Broadcasting, Deerfield Media, and Howard Stirk Holdings among others.[2] These telecasts are not always scheduled to appear on a station's main digital subchannel nor on a fixed single station where Sinclair owns and/or manages more than one station.
In addition to the Sinclair stations, ASN's events have also been syndicated to other broadcasters;
Other broadcast affiliates
Regional sports networks
ASN subchannel network
On January 8, 2016, Sinclair announced that American Sports Network would launch as a dedicated, 24 hour-a-day digital multicast channel in Baltimore, Charleston, Cincinnati, Columbus, Greensboro, Myrtle Beach, Pittsburgh, Portland, and Raleigh-Durham on January 11, 2016.[22]
See also
- ESPN Regional Television, a similar operation previously run by ESPN
- Raycom Sports, a similar operation run by Raycom Media
- Southland Conference Television Network
- Sports Network
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Bagley, Beau (May 18, 2015). "Minor League Baseball to be televised nationally on ASN". elpasoproud.com (Nexstar Broadcasting Group). Retrieved August 6, 2015.
- 1 2 Ryan Sharrow (July 17, 2014). "Sinclair Broadcast Group to launch American Sports Network". Baltimore Business Journal (Baltimore, MD: American City Business Journals). Retrieved July 17, 2014.
- ↑ Deborah McAdams (July 17, 2014). "Sinclair Launches Sports Network". TV Technology. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
- ↑ "Sinclair Broadcast Group To Launch The American Sports Network; Enters Into Sports Rights And Content Development Agreements With Leading NCAA Conferences". KWTV-DT (Oklahoma City). July 17, 2014. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
- ↑ Tom Fornelli (July 17, 2014). "Conference USA announces new television agreement". CBS Sports. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
- ↑ Michael Malone (July 17, 2014). "Sinclair Launches American Sports Network". Broadcasting and Cable (NewBay Media, LLC). Retrieved July 24, 2014.
- ↑ Jeff Schuler (July 17, 2014). "Patriot League enters into TV agreement with new American Sports Network". The Morning Call. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
- ↑ Kevin Kelley (July 17, 2014). "American Sports Network to Televise 30 C-USA Football Games". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved September 8, 2014.
- 1 2 "IMSA Secures TV Deal for Porsche GT3 Cup". National Speed Sport News (Turn 3 Media LLC). September 12, 2014. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
- ↑ Rick Seltzer (September 29, 2014). "Sinclair reaches deals to expand its new American Sports Network". Baltimore Business Journal (Baltimore, MD: American City Business Journals). Retrieved September 29, 2014.
- ↑ "Sinclair Expands ASN Syndication". TVNewsCheck. September 29, 2014. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
- ↑ "Sinclair Broadcast Group's (SBGI) CEO David Smith on Q3 2014 Results – Earnings Call Transcript". TVNewsCheck. November 5, 2014. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
- ↑ "CW 15 to broadcast Penn State hockey beginning December 6". WHP-TV. December 2, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
- ↑ "Additional television broadcast added for weekend series". Wisconsin Badgers hockey. December 3, 2014. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
- 1 2 "KMYU/KUTV: The New Home Of Real Salt Lake; All 26 non-National MLS Regular Season Games Available on Free, Over-the-Air TV". Real Salt Lake. January 23, 2015. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
- ↑ "SOUTHLAND ANNOUNCES EARLY TV SELECTIONS FOR 2015 SEASON". southland.org. June 24, 2015. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
- 1 2 "Sinclair’s American Sports Network to Air MAC Football, Basketball Games". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
- ↑ "Sinclair’s American Sports Network to Broadcast Collegiate Hockey Games". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
- ↑ "Arizona Bowl: American Sports Network to air game". MWConnection (SBNation). Vox Media. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- ↑ "D.C. United Reach New Broadcast Agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group". dcunited.com. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
- ↑ "Three things D.C. United fans should demand from the new TV deal with Sinclair Broadcast Groupp". blackandredunited.com (SB Nation). Retrieved 8 March 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "ASN launches 24/7 broadcast network on Monday". americansportsnet.com. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ↑ A10 on ASN: Weekly Atlantic 10 show debuts Saturday
- ↑ "Eleven USM football games to be televised in 2014". The Clarion-Ledger (Gannett Company). July 17, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
- ↑ "RSL TV deal: Club will be back on Sinclair Media Group's KMYU, syndicated regionally". SB Nation. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
- 1 2 Mirabella, Lorraine (August 5, 2015). "Sinclair Broadcast exceeds second-quarter profit forecasts". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
- ↑ http://www.arcaracing.com/articles/2000174-american-sports-network-to-televise-9-arca-racing-series-events
- ↑ A-10 Reaches Agreement with American Sports Network to Air Women's Basketball Quarterfinals
- ↑ The CAA & CAA Football on Television
- ↑ 2014–15 Ivy League Basketball Television Package Features 12 Men's Games, 3 Women's Games
- ↑ AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE, ASN ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP
- ↑ A-10 Announces Multi-Year Media Agreement with Sinclair to Televise Events on ASN
- ↑ Big South Announces 2015 Football Television Schedule
- ↑ Big Ten Hockey schedule set on ASN
- ↑ CAA Football Announces 2015 TV Lineup
- ↑ ASN, Conference USA team up for 30 football games in 2015
- 1 2 ASN reaches deals with four top hockey conferences
- ↑ Hockey East, American Sports Network Announce Partnership
- ↑ Horizon League Announces American Sports Network Men's Basketball TV Slate
- ↑ 2015 Football Television Schedule Showcases All Time-High 17 Matchups
- ↑ ASN, NCHC team up for 18 hockey games over 2 years
- ↑ ASN, OVC to air 6 football games starting Sept. 26
- ↑ American Sports Network to Broadcast Four Patriot League Games in the Fall
- ↑ SoCon Announces Football Broadcast Schedule
- ↑ Southland Announces Early TV Selections For 2015 Season
- ↑ WAC Announces American Sports Network Broadcast Schedule for 2015–16
- ↑ Harry Minium (August 27, 2014). "ODU's opener with Hampton to be televised in 66 markets". HamptonRoads.com (The Virginian-Pilot). Retrieved September 8, 2014.
- ↑ Zach Greenwell (October 21, 2014). "HILLTOPPER FOCUS: WKU adds five TV games through American Sports Network". Bowling Green Daily News. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "C-USA: Where to watch" (PDF). September 30, 2015. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
- ↑ http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/c-usa/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2015-16/misc_non_event/Week11TVListings.pdf
- 1 2 Borthick, Will (October 1, 2014). "UPDATE: MTSU, Southern Miss will be on local TV". Daily News Journal (Murfreeboro, TN: Gannett). Retrieved November 25, 2014.
- ↑ "Owls Set for ASN Debut on Saturday". Rice Owls.com (CBSi Advance Media). October 2, 2014. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
External links
- Official website
- CAA Football TV Schedule Released
- C-USA and Sinclair Broadcast Group Reach Multi-Year Content Agreement – includes 2014 Conference USA Football on American Sports Network
- Southern Conference Releases Football Broadcast Schedule
- Big South Conference Announces 2014 TV Schedule on ASN
- American Sports Network to Broadcast Four Patriot League Games in the Fall
| Preceded by ESPN Plus |
Syndication Rights Holder to Conference USA football and men's basketball 2014–present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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