The Royals Sports Television Network (RSTN) was a

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 ...

serving the Kansas City area,

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, western

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, and

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

owned by the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

. The network began operations before the

2003 Major League Baseball season The 2003 Major League Baseball season ended when the Florida Marlins defeated the New York Yankees in a six-game World Series. The Detroit Tigers set the American League record for losses in a season, with 119, and the Marlins became the first t ...

in response to

Fox Sports Midwest FanDuel Sports Network Midwest is an American regional sports network owned by Main Street Sports Group (formerly Diamond Sports Group) operated as an affiliate of FanDuel Sports Network. The channel broadcasts regional event coverage of sports ...

's decision to reduce the number of Royals games it broadcast. RSTN had trouble getting widespread carriage by

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 ...

systems in the area and had no

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 ...

carriage. However, the Royals began the season with good form and RSTN was able to make a deal with Fox Sports Midwest in June to redistribute most of their broadcasts. RSTN ceased operations after the 2007 season, with the Royals moving to the new channel

Fox Sports Kansas City FanDuel Sports Network Kansas City is an American regional sports network owned by Main Street Sports Group (formerly Diamond Sports Group), and operates as an affiliate of FanDuel Sports Network. The channel broadcasts coverage of professional, ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. The ''Royals Insider'' weekly magazine show won a Regional

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

in 2005 for Best Sports Program.

References

Defunct local cable stations in the United States Major League Baseball on television Television channels and stations established in 2003 2003 establishments in Missouri Television channels and stations disestablished in 2007 2007 disestablishments in Missouri Defunct mass media in Missouri Defunct mass media in Oklahoma Defunct mass media in Nebraska Defunct mass media in Iowa Defunct mass media in Kansas {{Baseball-stub