Bally Sports Ohio is an American

regional sports network In the United States and Canada, a regional sports network (RSN) is a cable television channel (many of which are also distributed on direct broadcast satellite services) that presents sports programming to a local market or geographical region. ...

owned by

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, ...

and is operated as an affiliate of

Bally Sports The Bally Sports Regional Networks are a group of regional sports networks in the United States owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint-venture company of the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios. The naming rights to the network ...

. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of sports events in the state of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, with a focus on professional sports teams based in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, which are broadcast on separate programming feeds, as well as Columbus. Bally Sports Ohio is available on

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

providers throughout Ohio, as well as parts of

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

, northwestern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, eastern

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, border communities of

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

, and extreme southwestern New York; it is also available nationwide on

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

via

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...

History

The channel originally launched on February 9, 1989 as SportsChannel Ohio. It launched as an affiliate of

SportsChannel SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC. Operating from March 1, ...

, a slate of regional sports networks operated as a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

between

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...

and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

. SportsChannel Ohio initially held the broadcast games from the Cleveland Cavaliers and the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

. The channel also aired select Cincinnati Reds games produced by

SportsChannel Cincinnati SportsChannel Cincinnati was an American regional sports network owned by the Rainbow Media division of Cablevision, and operated as an affiliate of SportsChannel. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, the channel used to broadcast regional coverag ...

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

basketball and football games, and

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tre ...

sporting events (with the exception of football and basketball). In 1997,

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New ...

and Liberty Media purchased a 40% interest in Cablevision's sports properties including the SportsChannel America networks (as well as Madison Square Garden and its NBA and NHL team tenants, the New York Knicks and

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

) in a deal worth $850 million, forming the venture National Sports Partners to run the owned-and-operated regional networks. As part of a gradual rebranding of the SportsChannel networks that began that month, SportsChannel Ohio was rebranded as Fox Sports Ohio in January 1998. The channel was then rebranded as Fox Sports Net Ohio in 2000, as part of a collective brand modification of the FSN networks under the "Fox Sports Net" banner; subsequently in 2004, the channel shortened its name to FSN Ohio, through the networks' de-emphasis of the brand. In February 2005, News Corporation (which spun off most of its entertainment properties into 21st Century Fox in July 2013) acquired Cablevision's ownership stakes in Fox Sports Ohio and

Fox Sports Florida Bally Sports Florida is an American regional sports network owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts local sports coverage in the state of Florida, with a focus on professional sport ...

, following an asset trade in which Fox sold its interest in Madison Square Garden, the Knicks and the Rangers, to Cablevision, in exchange for acquiring sole ownership of the two networks. The channel reverted to the Fox Sports Ohio moniker in 2008. On December 14, 2017, as part of a merger between both companies,

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

announced plans to acquire all 22 regional Fox Sports networks from 21st Century Fox, including Fox Sports Ohio, sister network

SportsTime Ohio Bally Sports Great Lakes is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel, which is a sister network to Bally Sports Ohio, broadcasts statewide coverage of professiona ...

, and Fox's 50% stake in the network's Cincinnati sub-feed. However, on June 27, 2018, the Justice Department ordered their divestment under antitrust grounds, citing Disney's ownership of

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

. On May 3, 2019,

and

Entertainment Studios Entertainment Studios, Inc., also known as Allen Media Group, is an American media and entertainment company based in Los Angeles. Owned and founded in 1993 by businessman Byron Allen, the company was initially involved in the production and ...

(through their joint venture, Diamond Holdings) bought Fox Sports Networks from

for $10.6 billion. The deal would also bring Fox Sports Ohio and SportsTime Ohio under common ownership with Sinclair stations

WSYX WSYX (channel 6) is a television station in Columbus, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC, MyNetworkTV and Fox. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to TBD station WTTE (channel 28, owned by Cunningha ...

/ WTTE/

WWHO WWHO (channel 53) is a television station licensed to Chillicothe, Ohio, United States, serving the Columbus area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Manhan Media, Inc., which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Sinclair Broadc ...

in Columbus and

WKRC-TV WKRC-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to MyNetworkTV affiliate WSTR-TV (channel 64) under a lo ...

WSTR-TV WSTR-TV (channel 64), branded on-air as Star 64 (stylized as STAR64), is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Deerfield Media, which maintains joint sales and shared services agre ...

in Cincinnati, bringing possible

synergies Synergy is an interaction or cooperation giving rise to a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts. The term ''synergy'' comes from the Attic Greek word συνεργία ' from ', , meaning "working together". History In Christian ...

with those stations; Sinclair also owns or operates WNWO-TV in Toledo,

WKEF WKEF (channel 22) is a television station in Dayton, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC, Fox, and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to Dabl affiliate WRGT-TV (channel 45) under a local ...

/ WRGT-TV in Dayton,

WTOV-TV WTOV-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Steubenville, Ohio, United States, serving the Wheeling, West Virginia–Steubenville, Ohio media market, market as an affiliate of NBC and Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox. Owned by Sinclair ...

Steubenville, Ohio Steubenville is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Ohio River 33 miles west of Pittsburgh, it had a population of 18,161 at the 2020 census. The city's name is derived from Fort Steuben, a ...

and

WCHS-TV WCHS-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Charleston, West Virginia, United States, serving the Charleston– Huntington market as an affiliate of ABC and Fox. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain se ...

WVAH-TV WVAH-TV (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Charleston, West Virginia, United States, serving the Charleston– Huntington market as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Decades. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, whi ...

in Charleston, West Virginia within Fox Sports Ohio/SportsTime Ohio's coverage area. On August 23, 2019, the deal was completed. On November 17, 2020, Sinclair announced an agreement with casino operator

Bally's Corporation Bally's Corporation is a gaming, betting, and interactive entertainment company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. It owns and operates 15 casinos across ten states, a horse track in Colorado, and online sports betting operations in 14 st ...

to serve as a new

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

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 The 2021 Major League Baseball season began on April 1, while the regular season ended on October 3. The postseason began on October 5. The World Series then began on October 26 and ended on November 2 with the Atlanta Braves defeating the Houston ...

, Fox Sports Ohio and sister network SportsTime Ohio were rebranded as Bally Sports Ohio and Bally Sports Great Lakes, respectively, resulting in 18 other Regional Sports Networks renamed Bally Sports in their respective regions. On the rebranded regional network, the first live sporting event was the Reds home opener against the Cardinals on April 1. The game was preceded by the "Reds Live" pregame show. 150px, 2010s logo as Fox Sports Ohio

Feeds

The network operates regional feeds for the Cleveland and Cincinnati markets, both branded as Bally Sports Ohio (but with the latter feed disambiguated in some

electronic program guide Electronic programming guides (EPGs) and interactive programming guides (IPGs) are menu-based systems that provide users of television, radio and other media applications with continuously updated menus that display scheduling information for ...

s and online television listings services as "Bally Sports Cincinnati"), which broadcast different events depending on the market. This arrangement can cause event conflicts in the Columbus market, which is located between Cincinnati and Cleveland. In the event of conflicting events between the two regional feeds (typically between the

Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ...

and Cleveland Cavaliers, the Blue Jackets and Cincinnati Reds, and the Reds and Cavaliers), cable providers in Central Ohio will carry the other game on an alternate channel.

Programming

Bally Sports Ohio holds the exclusive regional cable television rights to the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers (since 1990),

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

's Cincinnati Reds (since 1991), the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets (since 2000), Major League Soccer's

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

(since 2019), and a select number of the AHL's

Cleveland Monsters The Cleveland Monsters are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). The team began play in 2007 as the Lake Erie Monsters and since 2015 has served as the top affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hock ...

games. The channel also carries a select number of

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

games involving Northern Kentucky University and

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio. The univ ...

. The channel formerly broadcast

games from the network's launch as SportsChannel Ohio, until Fox Sports Ohio lost the rights as a result of the team starting (eventual sister channel)

in March 2006. Despite this move, Reds games continue to be blacked out in most of Northeast Ohio, the designated market area of the Indians. When Reds games air in the rest of Ohio, the Cleveland feed airs generic national Fox Sports Networks programming unless a local Cleveland event is scheduled. Although Fox Sports Ohio and STO came under common ownership following Fox's purchase of the latter in 2012, Fox Sports Ohio does not share broadcast rights to any sporting events with SportsTime Ohio and vice versa (unlike arrangements that exist between Fox Sports South and Fox Sports Southeast, and

and Fox Sports Sun), with both networks maintaining their own respective team television contracts. Starting in 2019,

games were split between Fox Sports Ohio and SportsTime Ohio, although those telecasts are blacked out in the Cincinnati area due to the presence of

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The team succeeded the lower-division team of the ...

. On October 19, 2016, Fox Sports and the Reds announced an extension of their broadcast agreement to the end of the 2032 season. The deal includes the Reds taking an equity stake in the Cincinnati sub-feed of Fox Sports Ohio.

Notable on-air staff

Current

Cincinnati Reds

* John Sadak - play-by-play *

Chris Welsh Christopher Charles Welsh (born April 14, 1955) is an American sportscaster and former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the San Diego Padres, Montreal Expos, Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers, and Cinci ...

– primary color commentary/fill in co-host ''Reds Live'' *

Jeff Brantley Jeffrey Hoke Brantley (born September 5, 1963) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 14 seasons, from to . Brantley currently is a broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds. Early care ...

– color commentary (select games) *

Barry Larkin Barry Louis Larkin (born April 28, 1964) is an American former professional baseball player. He played shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1986 to 2004. He briefly played in the minor leagues before making h ...

– color commentary (home games) * Jim Day – sideline reporter/Alternative play by play * Brian Giesenschlag – co-host ''Reds Live'' *

Sam LeCure Samuel Rohrer LeCure (born May 4, 1984) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He attended Helias High School in Jefferson City, Missouri and the University of Texas. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnat ...

– co-host ''Reds Live''/ Cincinnati Reds color commentary (select games) * Annie Sabo – Fill in co-host ''Reds Live''

Cleveland Cavaliers

* John Michael - play-by-play *

Austin Carr Austin George Carr (born March 10, 1948) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, and Washington Bullets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is known by Cleveland ...

- commentator * Brad Daugherty - commentator *

Mike Fratello Michael Robert Fratello (born February 24, 1947) is an American sports broadcaster and a professional basketball coach. Fratello is currently an analyst for Fox Sports Ohio for the Cavaliers and a part-time color commentator for Fox Sports West f ...

- commentator * Cayleigh Griifin – pregame/halftime/postgame host * Campy Russell – pregame/halftime/postgame analyst * Serena Winters - sideline reporter

Columbus Blue Jackets

* Jeff Rimer – play-by-play *

Jody Shelley Jody Shelley (born February 7, 1976) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger. During his National Hockey League (NHL) career he played for the Columbus Blue Jackets, San Jose Sharks, New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers. ...

– sideline reporter/color commentary * Dave Maetzold - in-game/locker room reporter *

Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre (born February 2, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman and current studio analyst for the Columbus Blue Jackets on Bally Sports Ohio. He was drafted in the seventh round, 179th overall, by the St. L ...

- pregame/intermission/postgame (''Blue Jackets Live'') co-host * Brian Giesenschlag – pregame/intermission/postgame (''Blue Jackets Live'') co-host

Columbus Crew

* Neil Sika – play-by-play * Jordan Angeli – color commentary * Brett Hiltbrand – sideline reporter/pregame/halftime/postgame host (''Crew Live'')

College sports

* Dan Hoard - host for ''Bearcats Insider'' * Terry Nelson – analyst for ''Bearcats Insider'' *

Tony Pike Anthony Steven Pike (born March 10, 1986) is a former American football quarterback who played for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Cincinnati and was drafted by the Panthers in the sixth r ...

– analyst for ''Bearcats Insider'' * John Cooper – analyst for ''Game Time with Ryan Day'' * Jim Lachey – analyst for ''Game Time with Ryan Day'' * Chris "Beanie" Wells – analyst for ''Game Time with Ryan Day''

References

External links

Official website
{{Navboxes, list1= {{SBGI {{Cincinnati Reds {{Cleveland Cavaliers {{Columbus Blue Jackets {{Lake Erie Monsters {{SportsChannel America {{U.S. regional sports networks Television channels and stations established in 1989 Fox Sports Networks SportsChannel 1989 establishments in Ohio Bally Sports