Spectrum Sports (formerly known as ''Bright House Sports Network'') was 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. ...

serving the

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater ...

and

Orlando metropolitan area The Orlando metropolitan area, commonly referred to as Greater Orlando, Metro Orlando, Central Florida as well as for U.S. Census purposes as the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, is a metropolitan area in the ...

s of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, that was owned by

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

provider

Charter Communications Charter Communications, Inc., is an American telecommunications and mass media company with services branded as Spectrum. With over 32 million customers in 41 states, it is the second-largest cable operator in the United States by subscribe ...

which exclusively carried the channel on Standard Definition channel 47 and High Definition channel 1147.

History

The channel was originally established in the Tampa Bay area in 2004, as Catch 47 (named after its cable channel slot). In September 2008, Corporate VP Elliott Wiser and General Manager Paul Kosuth relaunched the channel as Bright House Sports Network. The Network's carriage was expanded to Bright House's Central Florida systems. In 2012, the channel won sole rights to air all post season high school games. Bright House was acquired by Charter in May 2016, along with

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...

, and on November 15, 2016, Bright House Sports Network was renamed as Spectrum Sports, as Bright House on the same day became Spectrum. In 2009,

ESPN Inc. ESPN Inc. is an American multinational sports media conglomerate majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Hearst Communications as an equity stakeholder. For management and financial reporting purposes, the company is the main entity wit ...

acquired a 27% stake in the channel and spun off its stake to Bright House in 2010. As part of a company-wide restructuring, the channel is slated to be discontinued by the end of 2017. It signed off earlier than expected on December 16, 2017.

Programming

Programs featured on Spectrum Sports include ''Spectrum Sports Sport Stories,'' a monthly show covering local stories and interviews, ''Prep Sports Showcase,'' and "The Sunday Night Fish Fry," which includes '' Average Angler Adventures''. The channel airs local high school sports in the "Game of the Week" series, covering football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

, and soccer events. Spectrum Sports provides the semi-finals and finals from the

Florida High School Athletic Association The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) is an organization whose purpose is to organize sports competition for high schools in Florida. It is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Florida uses ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

, and soccer. Spectrum Sports provides select coverage of the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...

Bulls athletics, including: football and

. In late 2008, the channel used its expanded coverage within the Central Florida market to start televising

and football games of the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

. The first few games were rebroadcasts from

Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast Comcast Sports Southeast and Charter Sports Southeast (CSS) was an American regional sports network for the Southern United States that was operated as a joint venture between cable television providers Comcast and Charter Communications. In cont ...

(CSS) and the

CBS College Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known as ...

; however, on January 6, 2009 Bright House Sports Network produced its first UCF basketball game against the College of the Holy Cross. Bright House Networks (now Charter Communications) is also the sponsor of UCF's on-campus stadium,

Bright House Networks Stadium FBC Mortgage Stadium (formerly known as Bright House Networks Stadium and Spectrum Stadium, also known as the Bounce House) is an American football stadium located in Orlando, Florida, United States, on the main campus of the University of Centra ...

. In addition, Spectrum Sports airs nationwide sports programs from sources such as

ESPN Plus ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, in partnership with ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Com ...

and

America One America One was an American television network established in 1995 by USFR Media Group through its America One Television subsidiary.

. During the overnight hours, it simulcasts programming from

ESPNEWS ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News", stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns ...

. Prior to 2010, the channel aired ''Press Box'', ''Xtra Point'', ''Lightning Strikes'', ''The Baysball Show'' and ''Beef 'O' Brady's High School Scoreboard''. ''The Toyota Sports Connection,'' a nightly show focusing on local professional and college teams, ran from 1997 to 2011. Bright House Sports Network also broadcast most home games and occasional road games of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The f ...

before the league folded in 2009. The announcing team for the Storm games generally consisted of

Drew Fellios Drew may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places ;In the United States * Drew, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Drew, Mississippi, a city * Drew, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Drew, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Drew County, Arkansas ...

and former NFL punter

Mark Royals Mark Alan Royals (born June 22, 1965) is a former American football punter in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Detroit Lions, New Orleans Saints, Mia ...

Programming on other channels

On March 25, 2007,

SportsNet New York SportsNet New York (SNY) is an American regional sports network owned by Sterling Entertainment Enterprises, LLC, itself a joint venture between the Fred Wilpon (which owns a controlling 65% interest) Sterling Equities, Charter Communications th ...

(a similar regional sports network in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, at , and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The vast metropolitan area ...

) rebroadcast then-Catch 47's coverage of a game between the Tampa Bay Storm and the

New York Dragons The New York Dragons were a professional arena football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Dragons participated in the Arena Football League's (AFL) National Conference as a member of the Eastern Division. The team was founded i ...

from two days earlier. SNY opted to broadcast the game straight from the Catch 47 broadcast, neither editing any part of the coverage (aside from commercials), nor dubbing the game with SNY's own announcers. In 2012, BHSN provided other channels belonging to Time Warner with fitness shows from its On Demand service.

Versus rebroadcast

On May 7, 2007, Versus (a channel by Comcast) also rebroadcast the Catch 47's coverage of a game between the Tampa Bay Storm and the

from two days earlier.

ESPN2 airing

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

re-aired Catch 47's coverage of a game between the Tampa Bay Storm and the

on June 7, 2007.

Other services

Spectrum Sports On Demand

Spectrum Sports On Demand, which is carried on channel 520, carries ESPN Local including select

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, Florida State University,

, and

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

football and basketball games. Coverage showcasing local high school bands, cheerleading squads, and dance teams airs weekly. Specials featured on the

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

service also include

Red Bull Flugtag Red Bull Flugtag (, 'airshow' ) is an event organized by Red Bull in which competitors attempt to fly home-made, human-powered flying machines, size-limited to around and weight-limited to approximately . The flying machines are usually laun ...

, Tampa dragon boat races, and Clearwater and Orlando speed boat races.

References

External links

Bright House Sports Network website
{{Sports television in the United States Television channels and stations established in 2004 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2017 Advance Publications Spectrum Sports Channel