Wazoo Sports Network

Wazoo Sports Network was a regional sports network which specialized in airing local high school, college, and minor league sports mainly in the Kentuckiana and Bluegrass regions of Kentucky and southern Indiana, The network, which started out as online-only in December 2007, became a digital subchannel network in November 2009, but ended service at the end of 2011 due to Wazoo's parent company filing for bankruptcy.

Wazoo Sports Network
Broadcast areaLouisville & Lexington, Kentucky, Kentuckiana and Southern Indiana
HeadquartersLondon, Kentucky
Programming
Picture format480i SD
Ownership
OwnerWazoo Sports, Inc.
History
Launched2009
ClosedDecember 31, 2011
Links
Websitehttp://www.wazoosports.com

On September 28, 2009, Wazoo Sports announced a partnership with Louisville ABC affiliate WHAS-TV to air the network on digital subchannel 11.3 starting on November 1;[1] that November, an identical deal was reached with Lexington NBC affiliate WLEX-TV, which ran Wazoo Sports on subchannel 18.2.[2][3] On August 1, 2010, the network added a third affiliate in Evansville, Indiana (near Henderson, Kentucky), as ABC affiliate WEHT added the network over subchannel 25.2 (replacing the Retro Television Network), though WEHT also incorporated some locally produced programming (primarily focused on the Indiana portion of the market), and thus branded the service as the News 25 Sports Channel (though Wazoo Sports branding was retained on programming provided by the network).[4]

Wazoo Sports Network lost its three digital subchannel affiliations in December 2011. WEHT ended their affiliation (and subchannel 25.2 altogether) the evening of December 1, 2011 after that station's sale to Nexstar Broadcasting Group; Nexstar, by corporate edict, rarely maintained any subchannels at the time.[5] WHAS-TV announced its disaffiliation from Wazoo Sports on December 18;[6] the station's general manager later elaborated that the network "seems to have run its course for us."[7] By December 27, WLEX-TV had also left Wazoo Sports and temporarily began carrying a local weather channel on 18.2 before joining Me-TV on December 31;[5] the station felt that the network had not met WLEX's expectations.[7] Wazoo Sports filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy two days later.[7] The network's website remained up until its domain registration expired, remaining in the same state it was in December 2011, along with their social media channels.

Variously Wazoo also offered other Kentucky High School Athletic Association-sanctioned high school sports broadcasts pertaining to local teams and state tourneys over a network of affiliates spread throughout Kentucky via syndication, and offered almost all of their high school programming via video on demand through the network's website.

Besides high school sports, programming of interest produced, aired in archive form, or part of a network Wazoo Sports was associated with included the following sports and teams;

References
  1. "WHAS11 partners with Wazoo Sports to carry 24/7 local sports channel on WHAS11.3" (Press release). Belo Corp. and Wazoo Sports. September 28, 2009. Archived from the original on December 7, 2009. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
  2. "WLEX creates channel to air classic UK games, prep sports | KentuckySports.com". www.kentucky.com. Archived from the original on 2009-11-25. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
  3. "WLEX, Wazoo Sports Debut Channel - TVNewsCheck.com".
  4. "WEHT To Debut Local Sports Channel". TVNewsCheck. July 19, 2010. Archived from the original on December 18, 2021. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
  5. Newkirk, Jacob (December 22, 2011). "WHAS11 joins WEHT in dumping Wazoo Sports". Jake's DTV Blog. Archived from the original on May 8, 2014. Retrieved January 9, 2012. The article was updated on December 27.
  6. "Wazoo no longer available on 11.3 or digital channels". WHAS11.com. December 18, 2011. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
  7. Sloan, Scott (January 9, 2012). "Kentucky broadcaster Wazoo Sports files for bankruptcy". Lexington Herald-Leader. Archived from the original on January 12, 2012. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
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