Bally Sports San Diego

History

The network was established after Fox Sports Networks reached a 20-year broadcast agreement for the regional cable television rights to carry games from the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball, displacing previous rights holder 4SD, a local cable channel owned by Cox Communications. Henry S. Ford, an executive who previously ran operations at Fox's regional sports networks in Detroit and Ohio, was appointed as president and general manager of Fox Sports San Diego.

Fox Sports San Diego launched on March 17, 2012, with a San Diego Padres spring training game against the Kansas City Royals. The network started operations with a minimal presence and no dedicated editing facilities or studio; during its first season, Padres game broadcasts were produced from a high-definition production truck inherited from 4SD. Pre-game and post-game shows were also produced from the same truck, and broadcast from a semi-permanent stage in the "Park at the Park" area of Petco Park, using a set inspired by a similar staging used by Fox for major sports events televised nationally. Resources have been shared with other FSN outlets; editing facilities were initially based out of Los Angeles, and master control is co-located alongside Fox's other regional sports networks at a facility near Houston, Texas.

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 from 21st Century Fox, including the company's 80% stake in Fox Sports San Diego. However, on June 27, 2018, the Justice Department ordered their divestment under antitrust grounds, citing Disney's ownership of ESPN. On May 3, 2019, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios (through their joint venture, Diamond Holdings) bought Fox Sports Networks from the Walt Disney Company for $10.6 billion. The deal closed on August 22, 2019. On November 17, 2020, Sinclair announced an agreement with casino operator Bally's Corporation to serve as a new naming rights partner for the FSN channels. Sinclair announced the new Bally Sports branding for the channels on January 27, 2021. On March 31, 2021, coinciding with the 2021 Major League Baseball season, Fox Sports San Diego was rebranded as Bally Sports San Diego, resulting in 18 other Regional Sports Networks renamed Bally Sports in their respective regions.

Bankruptcy

On February 15, 2023, Diamond Sports Group, the owner of Bally Sports San Diego, failed to make a $140 million interest payment, instead opting for a 30-day grace period to make the payment. On March 14, 2023, Diamond Sports Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

After filing for bankruptcy, Diamond Sports missed a payment to the Padres in mid-March and entered a grace period. Diamond Sports eventually made the payment on March 29. In mid-May, Diamond Sports missed a second payment to the Padres and once again entered a grace period. On May 30, Diamond let the grace period expire, saying it had "decided not to provide additional funding to the San Diego RSN that would enable it to make the rights payment to the San Diego Padres during the grace period." Because Bally Sports San Diego is a joint venture between the Padres and Diamond, it is technically not in bankruptcy. Therefore, this missed payment did not have the same bankruptcy protections that Diamond's other missed payments had. As a result, the Padres May 30 game at the Miami Marlins would be the team's last broadcast on Bally Sports San Diego, marking the first time since their bankruptcy filing that Diamond's local rights to a Major League Baseball team reverted to MLB and the affected team, while leaving the future of the network in doubt. MLB subsequently took over production of Padres broadcasts, with the games being made available on select cable channels, including YurView California, and MLB.TV within the Bally Sports San Diego footprint.

The network was liquidated in April 2024, following a settlement with the Padres.

Programming

Professional

The channel airs professional sports teams from the neighboring Los Angeles-Orange County market, namely the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, and the NHL's Anaheim Ducks & Los Angeles Kings, simulcasting those televised games by its sister networks Bally Sports SoCal and Bally Sports West (blacked out in Imperial County). Previously, Bally Sports San Diego also aired Arizona Coyotes games in Imperial County, simulcasting from its now defunct sister channel Bally Sports Arizona. Until the team folded in 2014, the network also carried simulcasts of MLS's Chivas USA games from Prime Ticket for the 2012 MLS Season.The channel also aired telecasts of the AHL's San Diego Gulls

Liga MX

In May 2018, Fox Sports acquired the English-language rights to broadcast the home matches of Liga MX clubs C.F. Monterrey and Club Tijuana across the Fox Sports family of networks, the latter being located in neighboring Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico as well as having an established fan base in the San Diego area. The first match under this contract aired on July 21, 2018, with a match between Tijuana and Guadalajara which was also simulcast nationally on FS1 as well as other nearby Fox Sports regional networks. Bally Sports San Diego does not currently broadcast LigaMX matches.

Former programming

San Diego Padres

The network was created as a result of the Padres and Fox Sports signing a 20-year broadcast deal, in which Fox would pay $28 million for rights in the first year and would likely escalate topping out at a potential $75 million in the final year of the contract. The team employs both the radio and television play-by-play teams itself, thus Don Orsillo and Mark Grant remained the team's announcers intact at the network's launch, with Tony Gwynn Jr. likewise seamlessly transitioning from Bally Sports after the termination of their deal with the Padres.

Notable on-air staff

Current

• Andy Ashby – Former Padres Live guest analyst
• Steve Finley – Former Padres Live guest analyst
• Nick Hardwick - radio host for Fox Sports Radio station KLSD (1360 AM)
• Steve Hartman – radio host for Fox Sports Radio station KLSD (1360 AM)
• Annie Heilbrunn – Former backup Padres sideline reporter; former Padres Weekly host (2012) and backup Padres Social Hour host (2014 to 2015)
• Clay Hensley – Former Padres Live guest analyst
• Trevor Hoffman – Former Padres Live guest analyst
• Mark Loretta – Former Padres Live guest analyst
• Judson Richards - radio host for Fox Sports Radio station KLSD (1360 AM)

Former

• Jesse Agler – backup Padres play-by-play announcer; currently is the Padres play-by-play announcer for Padres Radio station 97.3 The Fan and former Padres Social Hour host (2014 to 2015)
• Julie Alexandria – Padres sideline reporter (2016)
• Kris Budden – Padres sideline reporter (2014 to 2015; now with ESPN)
• Kelly Crull – Padres Weekly host and backup Padres sideline reporter (2013; now anchor/reporter for Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast)
• Dick Enberg – Padres play-by-play announcer and Cup of Coffee host (2012 to 2016; deceased)
• Mark Grant – Padres color commentator
• Tony Gwynn – Padres color commentator (2012 to 2013; deceased)
• Tony Gwynn Jr. – Padres Live guest analyst and Padres POV host
• Mike Janela – Padres Social Hour host (2016)
• Lisa Lane – Padres POV host and backup Padres sideline reporter (2018)
• Michelle Margaux – Padres POV host and backup Padres sideline reporter (2016 to 2017, later Tampa Bay Rays reporter for Fox Sports Sun, now Houston Astros reporter on Space City Home Network)
• Andy Masur – backup Padres play-by-play announcer (2012; now radio host on WGN in Chicago)
• Britt McHenry – Padres sideline reporter (2012; last for ESPN)
• Laura McKeeman – Padres sideline reporter, backup Padres Live host, and #SDLive co-host (2013; now host/reporter for ESPN)
• Megan Olivi – Padres POV host and Padres social media correspondent (2013; now ESPN and UFC host/correspondent/reporter)
• Don Orsillo – Padres play-by-play announcer
• Kate Osborne – Padres POV host and backup Padres sideline reporter (2014)
• Leila Rahimi – Padres sideline reporter (2012; later host/anchor/reporter for NBC Sports Chicago, now sports anchor for WMAQ-TV, also in Chicago)
• Bob Scanlan – Padres sideline reporter
• Ally Sturm – Padres POV host and backup Padres sideline reporter (2015)
• Mark Sweeney – Former Padres Live analyst and backup Padres color commentator
• Mike Pomeranz – Inside San Diego Sports and former Padres Live host
• Annie Heilbrunn – Former backup Padres sideline reporter; former Padres Weekly host (2012) and backup Padres Social Hour host (2014 to 2015)

Availability

Cox Communications and DirecTV have carried the channel since its launch. Initially, DirecTV only carried Fox Sports San Diego as a part-time feed for live game broadcasts; it later added the dedicated, 24-hour feed on April 1, 2013. AT&T U-verse reached a carriage deal in September 2012, on the final day of the Padres regular season. Dish Network reached an agreement to carry Fox Sports San Diego on February 7, 2013, adding the channel to its lineup two months later on April 1.

Of the five major television providers serving the San Diego region, Time Warner Cable (which is now known as Spectrum that serves roughly 22% of the market) In March 2013, the San Diego City Council held a hearing approving a symbolic resolution pressuring Fox and Time Warner Cable to reach a deal by the opening of the 2013 season, citing "the importance of professional baseball in San Diego." On February 10, 2014, Fox announced that they had finally reached an agreement with TWC to carry Fox Sports San Diego; the provider began carrying the channel on March 30, 2014, in time for the 2014 season.

In 2015, Frontier FiOS agreed to carry Fox Sports San Diego for the Coachella Valley in time for the 2015 season.

The only cable TV providers that haven't carried Bally Sports San Diego since its launch in 2012 are CenturyLink Prism TV in the Las Vegas Valley and Hawaiian Telcom in Hawaii.

References

References

1. Jay Posner. (February 16, 2012). "Fox Sports San Diego to launch in March". MLIM Holdings.
2. (December 8, 2011). "MAFFEI: Fox Sports San Diego is close to being reality". MLIM Holdings.
3. "Channel Finder". Fox Sports San Diego.
4. Jason Dachman. (May 11, 2012). "Fox Sports' San Diego Startup Operates Entire Network Out of One Truck".
5. Littleton, Cynthia. (3 May 2019). "Sinclair Clinches Disney-Regional Sports Networks Deal, Byron Allen Joins as Partner".
6. (22 August 2019). "Sinclair completes acquisition of regional sports networks from Disney". Bloomberg.
7. Novy-Williams, Eben. (2020-11-19). "Bally's Buys Sinclair RSN Naming Rights As Part of Sports Betting Push".
8. (22 August 2019). "Bally Sports, Coming March 31". YouTube (Fox Sports Midwest).
9. (15 February 2023). "Diamond Sports Group not making $140M interest payment". Leaders Group.
10. Hayes, Dade. (2023-03-15). "Diamond Sports Group, Owner Of Bally Networks Once Run By Fox, Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy".
11. (March 29, 2023). "Sources: Diamond Sports makes rights payment to Padres". Leaders Group.
12. (May 31, 2023). "Diamond Sports Group Pulls Plug on Bally Sports San Diego Padres Games". Next TV.
13. [https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/padres/story/2023-05-23/report-bally-sports-parent-company-misses-another-padres-payment "Bally Sports' parent company misses another Padres payment,"] from ''San Diego Union-Tribune'', 5/23/2023
14. (April 18, 2024). "Padres to receive just a fraction of Bally contract money following settlement". The San Diego Union-Tribune.
15. (15 April 2016). "Don Orsillo begins new chapter with Padres".
16. (March 7, 2012). "PADRES: Fox Sports San Diego ready to launch". MLIM Holdings.
17. (February 27, 2013). "FSSD Launches Full-Time on DIRECTV April 1". Fox Sports San Diego.
18. (February 7, 2013). "Dish deal leaves TWC as lone Padres holdout". MLIM Holdings.
19. (January 21, 2010). "FCC throws Cox a curve on Padres". MLIM Holdings.
20. (March 26, 2013). "No sign of Fox Sports, Time Warner Padres TV deal". MLIM Holdings.
21. (February 10, 2014). "Finally, Padres make it onto Time Warner". MLIM Holdings.