Bally Sports Southeast

Bally Sports Southeast (BSSE) (originally named SportSouth from its inception until October 4, 2015, and Fox Sports Southeast (FSSE) until March 31, 2021) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the channel broadcasts regional coverage of sports events throughout the southeastern United States, with a focus on professional sports teams based in Atlanta, Tennessee, and Charlotte.

For the original SportSouth (1990-1996), see Bally Sports South.
Bally Sports Southeast
TypeRegional sports network
CountryUnited States
Broadcast areaGeorgia
Tennessee
Alabama
Mississippi
South Carolina
parts of North Carolina including Asheville, Charlotte, and Winston-Salem
Nationwide (via satellite)
NetworkBally Sports
HeadquartersAtlanta, Georgia
Programming
Language(s)English
Picture format720p (HDTV)
480i (SDTV)
Ownership
OwnerDiamond Sports Group
ParentSinclair Broadcast Group & Entertainment Studios Networks
Sister channelsBally Sports South
History
LaunchedOctober 13, 2006 (2006-10-13)
ReplacedTurner South
Former namesSportSouth (2006–15)
Fox Sports Southeast (2015–21)
Links
Websitewww.ballysports.com/south/
Availability
(Some events may air on an overflow feed due to event conflicts)
Streaming media
Bally Sports appwww.ballysports.com
(U.S. cable internet subscribers only; requires login from participating providers to stream content; some events may not be available due to league rights restrictions)
DirecTV StreamInternet Protocol television
FuboTVInternet Protocol television

Bally Sports Southeast is available on cable providers throughout Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and parts of North Carolina (roughly from Asheville to Charlotte); it is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV. The channel's programming reaches an estimated 8.9 million cable and satellite subscribers.

History

The channel traces its history to Turner South, a cable and satellite television channel that was launched on October 1, 1999,[1] by the Turner Broadcasting System. It was the first regional entertainment network developed especially for viewers in the southern U.S., featuring a mix of movies, comedy and drama series, regional news updates, and unique original programming. The channel also carried coverage of professional sports events from the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association's Atlanta Hawks, and the National Hockey League's Atlanta Thrashers, all of which were owned by Turner at the network's launch and the former two of which also aired in the Atlanta market and nationwide on Turner-owned TBS.

Turner Broadcasting/Time Warner restricted Turner South's distribution to its designated broadcast territory in the southeastern United States, with satellite providers that carried the channel being required to black out the channel in areas not covered by the ZIP codes in Turner South's coverage area.

News Corporation filed a lawsuit against Turner Broadcasting and its corporate parent Time Warner in a Georgia Superior Court on June 15, 1999, citing that the plans Turner had unveiled to carry sports events on Turner South violated a non-compete agreement that the two companies signed as part of News Corporation's $65 million purchase of the original SportSouth in 1996, which prohibited Turner from launching a regional sports network in the southeastern United States until 2008.[2][3]

Sale to Fox Sports Networks

On February 23, 2006, Fox Sports Net's then-parent company News Corporation, looking to further expand its roster of sports teams and events, purchased Turner South for $375 million.[4][5] The deal included all existing sports contracts, involving teams that sister network-to-be FSN South (now Bally Sports South) also held the regional cable television rights to broadcast.

After the deal was completed, FSN sought a new name for the channel, with network officials eventually chose to rebrand it as SportSouth, after coming up with about 60 different suggestions. The SportSouth name was originally used as the name for what is now Bally Sports South, which was founded by Turner Broadcasting in 1990 and was purchased by News Corporation's Fox Cable Networks unit in 1996, becoming a charter outlet of Fox Sports Net. Under Turner ownership, the original SportSouth carried Braves and Hawks games, as well as NBA games from the Charlotte Hornets, World Championship Wrestling events, college sports and some syndicated programs.

Turner South officially relaunched as SportSouth on October 13, 2006, becoming the 15th regional sports network owned as part of Fox Sports Net; the rebrand took place with its first official event broadcast: an NHL game between the Atlanta Thrashers and the Carolina Hurricanes. The relaunched channel dropped all non-sports entertainment programming, replacing it with other regionally produced programs and national sports news, documentary and magazine programming sourced by FSN. On-air promotions for SportSouth included sports figures native to the South such as Steve Spurrier, Bob Hartley, Bo Jackson and Heath Shuler.

Originally, the two networks only shared broadcast rights to Atlanta-based teams, while FSN South exclusively broadcast games from the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies, Major League Baseball's Baltimore Orioles and the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes and Nashville Predators. However, FSN South and SportSouth gradually began sharing rights to sports events from other teams during the late 2000s. In 2008, select Major League Baseball games from the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals were added to SportSouth's schedule (via sister network FSN Midwest), subject to league territorial restrictions. This ensures that both those teams and the Predators have the maximum number of games able to be televised.

Final logo as SportSouth, used from 2012 to 2015

In August 2007, News Corporation lifted SportSouth's regional blackout restrictions, allowing the channel to be carried nationwide by DirecTV on its "Sports Pack"; however, some professional sporting events are still subject to blackout restrictions imposed by the major sports leagues for national telecasts. On August 28 of that year, SportSouth acquired the television rights to Tennessee Volunteers sporting events, in a package that includes encore presentations of twelve football games, live telecasts of four men's basketball games, four women's basketball games and six Olympic sporting events, as well as rights to the team's coaches shows for the former three sports.

The Atlanta Braves' relationship with SportSouth and independent station WPCH-TV (channel 17) – which until October 2007, served as the local broadcast version of TBS – intersected in 2011, when sister network Fox Sports South began producing an annual package of Braves games for the station that were not broadcast by the two networks. On March 1, 2013, Fox Sports South and SportSouth announced that they would acquire the rights to the 45 games, ending the team's contract with WPCH-TV beginning with the 2013 season, marking the first season in 40 years that the team's game telecasts did not air in the Atlanta market on broadcast television.[6]

Rebranding to Fox Sports Southeast
Fox Sports Southeast logo

On August 24, 2015, Fox announced that SportSouth would be rebranded as Fox Sports Southeast. The name change took effect six weeks later on its target date of October 5.[7]

Fox Sports Networks senior vice president and general manager Jeff Genthner felt that the re-branding of FSN South as Fox Sports South may have caused viewer confusion due to the similar names.[8] Consumer research conducted in the Charlotte, Memphis and Atlanta markets found that viewers were confused about the autonomy of Fox Sports South and SportSouth, the latter network's relation to the Fox Sports regional networks, and perceived that Fox Sports South had better programming.[8] Network management reportedly had been considering a name change for the channel since 2012, including the use of a numerical brand for SportSouth (similar to that used by national sister networks Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2), and color-code branding (with the main network as "Fox Sports South Red" and the secondary network as "Fox Sports South Blue").[8][9]

New ownership, rebranding to Bally Sports

On August 22, 2019, the Fox Sports Networks were sold to Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios via the joint venture Diamond Sports Group.[10][11] Fox divested its regional sports networks under antitrust grounds as part of the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company.[12]

On March 31, 2021, the channel, along with all other FSN channels, was rebranded under the new Bally Sports brand.[13][14]

On March 14, 2023, Diamond Sports filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.[15]

Programming

Bally Sports Southeast and Bally Sports South hold the exclusive regional cable television rights to the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball franchise; the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets and Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA; the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA; the Carolina Hurricanes and Nashville Predators of the NHL, and Atlanta United FC of Major League Soccer.[16][17] It also provides coverage of collegiate sports events from the University of Tennessee, and nationally televised games from the Atlantic Coast Conference distributed by Raycom Sports.

Bally Sports Southeast mainly airs programs of regional interest. As such, Bally Sports South exclusively carries national games distributed by Bally Sports from the Big 12 and Pac-12 conferences, while sharing rights to the Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference with Bally Sports Southeast. Both Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast balance their own respective schedules of game telecasts from the latter two collegiate conferences, which are selected based on regional versus national interests. Although the two networks share rights to most major professional league teams, Bally Sports South holds exclusive regional rights to NHL games from the Carolina Hurricanes and Nashville Predators; Bally Sports South also covers a somewhat wider broadcast area than Bally Sports Southeast.

Teams by Media Market
MLB NBA NHL WNBA
Atlanta Braves Cincinnati Reds
(Bally Sports Ohio)		 St. Louis Cardinals
(Bally Sports Midwest)		 Atlanta Hawks Charlotte Hornets Memphis Grizzles Indiana Pacers
(Bally Sports Indiana)		 New Orleans Pelicans
(Bally Sports New Orleans)		 Carolina Hurricanes Nashville Predators Atlanta Dream
Network(see note) South/Southeast South/Southeast South/Southeast Southeast Southeast Southeast South South South South South/Southeast
Georgia(all markets including Atlanta)YesNoNoYesNoNoNoNoYesYesYes
Alabama(excluding Huntsville and Mobile)YesNoNoYesNoYesNoNoNoYesYes
HuntsvilleYesNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoYesYes
MobileYesNoNoYesNoYesNoYesNoYesYes
Kentucky(excluding Western Kentucky)NoAvailable on Bally Sports OhioNoNoNoYesYesNoNoYesNo
Western KentuckyNoNoYesNoNoYesYesNoNoYesNo
Mississippi(excluding Biloxi/Gulfport, Memphis and New Orleans)YesNoNoYesNoYesNoYesNoYesYes
Biloxi/GulfportYesNoNoNoNoYesNoYesNoYesYes
Northern Mississippi (Memphis)YesNoYesNoNoYesNoNoNoYesYes
North CarolinaCharlotte, Asheville (excluding Graham, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties)YesYesNoNoYesNoNoNoYesNoYes
Graham, Jackson, Macon and Swain countiesYesYesNoYesYesNoNoNoYesNoYes
Greensboro-High PointYesYesNoNoYesNoNoNoYesNoYes
GreenvilleNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoYesNoNo
Raleigh-DurhamNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoYesNoYes
South CarolinaCharleston, Augusta, Savannah, Greenville/Spartanburg (Abbeville, Anderson, and Oconee counties only)YesNoNoYesYesNoNoNoYesNoYes
Columbia, Greenville/Spartanburg (excluding Abbeville, Anderson, and Oconee counties), Myrtle BeachYesNoNoNoYesNoNoNoYesNoYes
TennesseeNashville, Chattanooga, KnoxvilleYesYesNoYesNoYesNoNoNoYesYes
Memphis, JacksonYesYesYesNoNoYesNoNoNoYesYes

Note: In Kentucky, most of North Carolina, and parts of Mississippi, Bally Sports Southeast is not available. In these areas all games are shown on Bally Sports South or an alternate channel.

On-air staff

Atlanta Hawks
  • Bob Rathbun – play-by-play announcer
  • Dominique Wilkins – analyst
  • Lauren Jbara – sideline reporter
  • Kelly Crull – Hawks Live pre-game and post-game host
  • Jerome Jurenovich – Hawks Live fill-in pre-game and post-game host
  • Brian Oliver – Hawks Live analyst
  • Mike Glenn – Hawks Live analyst (select telecasts)
  • Renee Montgomery – Hawks Live analyst (select telecasts)
  • Vince Carter - analyst (select games) and Hawks Live fill-in pre-game and post-game host

Atlanta Braves

Charlotte Hornets

Memphis Grizzlies
  • Pete Pranica – play-by-play announcer
  • Brevin Knight – analyst
  • Rob Fischer – sideline reporter and Grizzlies Live pre-game and post-game host
  • Chris Vernon - Grizzlies Live pre-game and post-game analyst (home games only)

Atlanta Dream
  • Angel Gray – play-by-play announcer
  • Autumn Johnson – alternate play-by-play announcer
  • LaChina Robinson – analyst
  • Tabitha Turner – sideline reporter

References
  1. "Turner South to Launch Friday, October 1, to Nearly One Million Subscribers" (Press release). Time Warner. September 29, 1999.
  2. Pam Easton (June 15, 1999). "Fox Sues Turner Over New Network". Associated Press. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  3. Landa Moss; Thomas Umstead (March 1, 1999). "Fox/Liberty Cries Foul Over Turner South". Multichannel News. Cathers Business Information. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  4. R. Thomas Umstead (February 23, 2006). "Fox Cable Buys Turner South". Multichannel News. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  5. R. Thomas Umstead (February 24, 2006). "Fox Cable Will Rise With Turner South Buy". Multichannel News. Reed Business Information. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  6. "Fox Picks Up Braves' Games from PeachTree TV". Multichannel News. NewBay Media. March 1, 2013. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  7. "FOX Sports regional network 'SportSouth' to be rebranded 'FOX Sports Southeast'". SportSouth. Fox Sports Networks. August 24, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
  8. Rodney Ho (August 24, 2015). "SportSouth becomes Fox Sports Southeast". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Cox Enterprises. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  9. Erik Spanberg (August 24, 2015). "Charlotte Hornets usher in new Fox Sports name". Charlotte Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  10. Cynthia Littleton (May 3, 2019). "Sinclair Clinches Disney-Regional Sports Networks Deal, Byron Allen Joins as Partner". Variety. Penske Media Corporation.
  11. "Sinclair completes acquisition of regional sports networks from Disney". Bloomberg. August 22, 2019. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  12. "Disney can buy Fox if it sells 22 regional sports networks, Justice Dept. says". USA Today. June 28, 2018.
  13. Balderston, Michael (January 27, 2021). "Sinclair, Bally Reveal Bally Sports Rebrand for RSNs". TVTechnology. Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  14. "Farewell, Fox Sports West. Hello, Bally Sports". Los Angeles Times. November 19, 2020. Archived from the original on November 19, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  15. Bouma, Luke (March 14, 2023). "Bally Sports Just Declared Bankruptcy – The Death of RSNs?". Cord Cutters News. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  16. Roberson, Doug. "Atlanta United announces TV partnership". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  17. "Analyzing the Atlanta United broadcast deal". Dirty South Soccer (SBNation). Vox Media. February 22, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
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