FanDuel Sports Network SoCal is an American

regional sports network A regional sports network (RSN) in the United States and Canada is a television channel that presents sports programming to a local media market or geographical region. Such channels often focus on one or a few teams who currently play in Major L ...

owned by Main Street Sports Group (formerly Diamond Sports Group) and operated as part of

FanDuel Sports Network FanDuel Sports Network (formerly Bally Sports) is a group of regional sports networks in the United States owned by Main Street Sports Group (formerly Diamond Sports Group). The networks carry regional broadcasts of sporting events from various ...

, along with its sister network FanDuel Sports Network West. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of professional and collegiate sports events in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, focusing primarily on teams based in the

Greater Los Angeles area Greater Los Angeles is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. state of California, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the east, ...

. Bally Sports SoCal 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

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

, the

Las Vegas Valley The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the Southern Nevada, southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan St ...

and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

; it is also available nationwide on

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

via

DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...

. The network holds the regional broadcast rights to the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

and

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting o ...

men's and women's basketball. The network also broadcast the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

until 2014, when broadcasts moved to

Spectrum SportsNet LA Spectrum SportsNet LA and Spectrum Deportes LA (otherwise known as simply SportsNet LA and Deportes LA and originally known as Time Warner Cable SportsNet LA) is an American regional sports network jointly owned by the Guggenheim Partners, contr ...

, and broadcast the

Anaheim Ducks The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California. The Ducks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confere ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

until 2024, when broadcasts moved to Victory+ and

KCOP-TV KCOP-TV (channel 13), branded Fox 11 Plus, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet K ...

History

Beginnings

The original Prime Ticket (currently Bally Sports West) was launched on October 19, 1985, and became one of the leading regional sports networks in the United States. Rival network

SportsChannel Los Angeles SportsChannel Los Angeles was an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between the Rainbow Media subsidiary of Cablevision and NBC, and operated as an affiliate of SportsChannel. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the channel broad ...

ceased operations on December 31, 1992, which would eventually create a need for a new regional sports network. After SportsChannel's closure, Prime Ticket acquired the broadcast rights to the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, ...

and

which had previously broadcast on SportsChannel. However, the

opted to not to make a deal with Prime Ticket, instead staying off cable for the next four seasons. The network would retain the Prime Ticket name until it was rebranded in 1994 as Prime Sports West and later then Fox Sports West in 1996 when it joined

Fox Sports Net Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by the Walt Disney Company on Mar ...

Fox Sports West 2

On January 27, 1997, Fox Sports Net launched an additional channel, Fox Sports West 2, to provide the broadcast of 40 Los Angeles Dodgers games. The Dodgers had not had any local cable broadcasts of their games since the 1992 season. Additionally, Los Angeles Clippers and

games were moved from Fox Sports West, as well as

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

basketball games that were not part of Fox's existing

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

package. Other new programming included coverage of other college sports at UCLA and USC, high school basketball and football, and

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

from Santa Anita and Hollywood Park Initially Fox Sports West 2 did not have widespread cable coverage, leading to many complaints and a failed lawsuit by the Ducks seeking to return their games back on Fox Sports West. Four months after it launched the new network had secured deals to reach 1.1 million subscribers, representing less than one-fourth the coverage of its parent network. In 2000, Fox Sports West 2 was rebranded as Fox Sports Net West 2, as part of a collective brand modification of the FSN networks under the "Fox Sports Net" banner. In 2004, this was shortened to FSN West 2.

The Return of Prime Ticket

On April 3, 2006, FSN West 2 rebranded as FSN Prime Ticket (later shortened to simply Prime Ticket), beginning with the Dodgers season opener against the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

Dodger Stadium Dodger Stadium is a ballpark in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a ...

. The change was primarily made as a response to perception of viewers that Fox Sports West 2 was an inferior network. The network adopted a new philosophy to concentrate more on local originally-produced content (such as the

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

series ''Before the Bigs'' and ''In My Own Words'', and team-themed ''Insider'' shows) and less on supplemental national programming provided by Fox Sports Net. FSN West reverted to the Fox Sports West moniker in 2008. On June 20, 2011, Commissioner of Baseball

Bud Selig Allan Huber "Bud" Selig (; born July 30, 1934) is an American baseball executive who currently serves as the commissioner emeritus of baseball. Previously, he served as the ninth commissioner of baseball from 1998 to 2015. He initially served a ...

rejected a proposed contract extension between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Prime Ticket, citing concerns that the deal was structured in a way that most of the proceeds would end up being assigned to beleaguered Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and not the team's operations. Both Fox Sports West and the Dodgers were involved in separate lawsuits over the team's broadcast rights as well as the sale of the club. On January 10, 2012, Fox and the Dodgers reached a settlement in court, clearing the way for the sale of the team. Fox's exclusive negotiating period with the Dodgers expired on November 30, 2012 – leaving the team open to competing offers. In January 2013,

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC 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, o ...

signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, establishing a new team-specific channel known as

SportsNet LA Spectrum SportsNet LA and Spectrum Deportes LA (otherwise known as simply SportsNet LA and Deportes LA and originally known as Time Warner Cable SportsNet LA) is an American regional sports network jointly owned by the controlling owner of the ...

. In 2014, Prime Ticket began broadcasting

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

games via Fox Sports Arizona for viewers in the Las Vegas Valley.

The Future

On December 14, 2017, as part of a merger between both companies,

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

announced plans to acquire all 22 regional Fox Sports networks from

21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., which did business as 21st Century Fox, was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was formed on June 28, 2013, as the legal successor ...

, including Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket. However, on June 27, 2018, the

Justice Department A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

ordered their divestment under antitrust grounds, citing Disney's ownership of

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. On May 3, 2019,

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...

and

Entertainment Studios Allen Media Group, alternately known by its former name of Entertainment Studios, Inc. 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 ...

(through their joint venture, Diamond Holdings) bought

Fox Sports Networks Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by the Walt Disney Company on M ...

from

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 Bally's Corporation is an American gambling, betting, and interactive entertainment company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. In the US it operates 19 casinos across 11 states, a horse track in Colorado, a golf course in New York, and ...

to serve as a new

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

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 Houst ...

, the Prime Ticket name was retired again as the channel rebranded to Bally Sports SoCal, resulting in 18 other Regional Sports Networks renamed Bally Sports in their respective regions. On March 14, 2023, Diamond Sports filed for

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

. On August 27, 2024, the

announced partnerships with

, a

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...

affiliate owned by Fox, and direct-to-consumer streaming service Victory+, ending their tenure with Bally Sports. The deal with KCOP includes 65 Ducks games to televise in the Los Angeles regional market per year marking the return of hockey broadcasts to a Fox station. On October 16, 2024, it was revealed in a court filing that Diamond had reached a new sponsorship agreement with

FanDuel Group FanDuel Group is an American gambling company that offers sportsbook, daily fantasy sports, horse racing, and online casino services. The company operates sportsbooks in a number of states including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana and West Virg ...

, under which it intends to rebrand Bally Sports as the FanDuel Sports Network; on October 18, 2024, Diamond officially announced the rebranding, which will take effect October 21. Under the agreement, FanDuel will have the option to take a minority equity stake of up to 5% once Diamond Sports exits bankruptcy. The branding will be downplayed within programming related to high school sports.

Programming

Overflow coverage

In the Los Angeles market, in the case of scheduling conflicts, FanDuel Sports Network SoCal will move a scheduled telecast of a Clippers or Ducks (prior to 2024-25 season) game to

(Channel 13), the local

owned-and-operated station and former sister station to the two networks. Select Ducks games were also shown on Bally Sports West prior to the

2024–25 NHL season The 2024–25 NHL season is the ongoing 108th season of operation (107th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). The regular season started on October 4, 2024, when the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils played the first of two ga ...

. Those KCOP Clippers and Ducks (prior to 2024-25 season) telecasts may also be streamed via the Bally Sports app for those outside of the Los Angeles DMA; Prior to the 2016-17 season, Ducks games were not streamed on the application, as Fox Sports and the National Hockey League did not come to a streaming rights agreement until the summer of 2016.

Notable on-air staff

Current

* Guy Hebert — ''Ducks Live'' analyst * Jim Jackson – analyst * Don MacLean – ''Clippers Live'' analyst (former UCLA basketball commentator) *

Corey Maggette Corey Antoine Maggette (; born November 12, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player who played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He became an analyst for Fox Sports. High school and college career Magget ...

— ''Clippers Live'' analyst * Jaime Maggio — Los Angeles Clippers sideline reporter (fil-in) * Kristina Pink – Los Angeles Clippers sideline reporter * Brian Sieman – Los Angeles Clippers announcer * Jeanne Zelasko — ''Clippers Live'' host (rotating)

Former

Chauncey Billups Chauncey Ray Billups (born September 25, 1976) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After playing college basketball with ...

– Los Angeles Clippers analyst *

Michael Cage Michael Jerome Cage Sr. (born January 28, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player and current broadcast analyst for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Basketball career A 6'9" power forward/ center from San Diego State, he is the Az ...

– ''Clippers Live'' analyst, former USC commentator and former analyst for ''Lakers Live'' and ''Bruins Live'' * Eric Collins – Dodgers road announcer (games east of Arizona) and ''Dodgers Live'' anchor * Carolyn Hughes – ''Dodgers Dugout'' (2005) *

Marques Johnson Marques Kevin Johnson (born February 8, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player and character actor who is a basketball analyst for the Milwaukee Bucks on Bally Sports Wisconsin. He played as a small forward in the National B ...

–

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

basketball commentator and (2007) ''Trojans Live'' March Madness analyst *

Eric Karros Eric Peter Karros (born November 4, 1967) is an American former professional baseball first baseman who played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was the National League Rookie of the Year in 19 ...

– Dodgers postseason studio analyst (2003) * Kevin Kennedy – Major League Baseball analyst * Ralph Lawler - former Los Angeles Clippers play-by-play announcer * Steve Lyons –

road commentator and Dodgers Live analyst *

Bill Macdonald Bill MacDonald or Macdonald may refer to: * Bill Macdonald (fl. 1980s–2010s), American sportscaster * Bill MacDonald (actor), featured in ''Paradise Falls'', Mercy, '' The Corruptor'', Ruby and the Well, etc. * Bill Macdonald (baseball) (1929� ...

– baseball, basketball, football and hockey announcer * Adrian Garcia Marquez – ''Dodgers Live'' reporter * Chris McGee – ''Clippers Live'' reporter, and high school football announcer *

Marty McSorley Martin James McSorley (born May 18, 1963) is a Canadian former professional hockey player, who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1983 to 2000. A versatile player, he could play both the forward and defense positions. He was also hea ...

– NHL analyst (2006) *

Rick Monday Robert James "Rick" Monday Jr. (born November 20, 1945) is an American former professional baseball player who now serves as a broadcaster. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a center fielder from 1966 to 1984, most notably as a member ...

– Dodgers play-by-play announcer and ''Dugout'' analyst * Petros Papadakis –

football analyst and Pac-12 football commentator *

Steve Physioc Steven Howard Physioc (; born December 28, 1954) is a retired American sportscaster who has called play-by-play for various baseball, basketball, and football teams. He retired while working with the Kansas City Royals, whom he had worked with si ...

– Los Angeles Angels and Pac-12 basketball announcer * Ross Porter – Dodgers play-by-play announcer * Lindsay Rhodes – sideline reporter, and anchor of ''Trojans Live'' and ''Southern California Sports Report'' *

Vin Scully Vincent Edward Scully (November 29, 1927 – August 2, 2022) was an American sportscaster, best known for his broadcast work in Major League Baseball. Scully was the play-by-play announcer for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers for sixty-se ...

–

announcer (2005–2013, retired) *

Charley Steiner Charles Harris Steiner (born July 17, 1949) is an American sportscaster and broadcast journalist. He is currently the radio play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, paired with Rick Monday. Early life and education Steiner was bor ...

– Dodgers road announcer * Matt Stevens –

football analyst *

Paul Sunderland Paul Benedict Sunderland (born March 29, 1952) is an American professional sportscaster who resides in Los Angeles, California. He worked as the indoor volleyball play-by-play announcer for NBC Olympics’ coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics, ...

– Pac-12, Big West and Lakers basketball announcer * Barry Tompkins – Pac-12 football and basketball announcer * Jim Watson – Pac-12 and LA Galaxy announcer, sideline reporter, and anchor of "Dodgers Live" and "Dodgers Dugout" * Paul Westphal – NBA analyst, USC basketball commentator * Van Earl Wright – anchor of ''Southern California Sports Report'', ''Dodgers Dugout'' (2004) and Kings "Break the Ice" (2004) *

John Ahlers John Ahlers is the television play-by-play announcer for the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League on Victory+. He has also served as an announcer for '' Poker Royale'' on the Game Show Network. A Michigan State University graduate, Ahlers ...

–

play-by-play announcer * Kent French — ''Ducks Live'' host * Brian Hayward – Anaheim Ducks color commentator and ''Ducks Live'' analyst * Mike Pomeranz — ''Ducks Live'' host (rotating)

Out-of-market availability and carriage

San Diego County

FanDuel Sports Network SoCal maintains widespread cable carriage in

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its border with Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634; it is the second-most populous ...

. However, the two major providers in the area,

and

Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable), is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services comp ...

, refused to carry Prime Ticket since its launch in 1997; both cable providers claim that the network has asked for carriage fees they deemed to be too expensive for carriage on their expanded basic tiers. The network remained available on cable systems acquired by Time Warner Cable in 2006 as part of the Adelphia bankruptcy, which had carried Prime Ticket since 2001. On March 17, 2012, as part of a contract signed with FSN to acquire the local cable rights to the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

, Fox Sports Networks created a separate regional network for the San Diego market, Fox Sports/Bally Sports San Diego, which closed in April 2024. Despite that channel's launch, Bally Sports West's availability never changed and it remains available on cable providers in the San Diego area. Bally Sports San Diego often duplicated Bally Sports SoCal's own schedule outside Padres games, which meant all programming on both channels was available to all viewers and both channels were folded into carriage agreements.

Las Vegas Valley

Bally Sports West and Bally Sports SoCal maintain widespread cable carriage in the

, though with the inaugural season of the

Vegas Golden Knights The Vegas Golden Knights are a professional ice hockey team based in the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Golden Knights compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division ...

, Kings games began to be blacked out on Prime Ticket/FDSN SoCal in the 2017–2018 NHL season, ceding to Scripps Sports's coverage of Golden Knights games on

KMCC KMCC (channel 34), branded The Spot Vegas 34, is an independent television station licensed to Laughlin, Nevada, United States, serving the Las Vegas area. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, E.W. Scripps Company alongside American Broad ...

; Kings games remain available through

ESPN+ ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communicati ...

Southern Nevada Southern Nevada (SNV) is a region and the southern portion of the U.S. state of Nevada which includes the Las Vegas Valley. It also includes the areas in and around Pahrump and Pioche. Tonopah and Hawthorne are sometimes also referred to as pa ...

References

External links

* {{Navboxes, list1= {{Anaheim Ducks {{Los Angeles Clippers {{Los Angeles Dodgers {{Los Angeles Sparks navbox {{SBGI {{Fox Sports Networks {{U.S. regional sports networks FanDuel Sports Network Bally Sports Fox Sports Networks Television stations in Los Angeles Television channels and stations established in 1997 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023 West Coast Conference 1997 establishments in California