Root Sports Rocky Mountain
| Root Sports Rocky Mountain | |
|---|---|
| 200px | |
| Launched | November 1988[specify] |
| Network | Root Sports (carries programming sourced from Fox Sports Networks) |
| Owned by | DirecTV Sports Networks (AT&T Inc.) |
| Picture format | 720p (HDTV) 480i (SDTV) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Broadcast area | Colorado Wyoming Southern Idaho western Kansas western Nebraska northeastern Nevada western South Dakota Nationwide (via satellite) |
| Headquarters | Denver, Colorado |
| Formerly called | Prime Sports Network (1988–1990) Prime Sports Rocky Mountain (1990–1996) Fox Sports Rocky Mountain (1996–2000) Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain (2000–2004) FSN Rocky Mountain (2004–2011) |
| Sister channel(s) | Root Sports Utah |
| Website | rockymountain.rootsports.com |
|
Availability
|
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| Satellite | |
| DirecTV | 683 (SD/HD) |
| Dish Network | 414 (SD) 5414 (HD) |
| Cable | |
| Comcast (Denver) | 26 (SD) 665 (HD) |
| Available on most other cable systems in designated broadcast area | Consult your local cable provider or program listings source for channel availability |
Root Sports Rocky Mountain is an American regional sports network that is owned by the DirecTV Sports Networks subsidiary of AT&T Inc., as an owned-and-operated outlet of Root Sports and is an affiliate of Fox Sports Networks.[1] Headquartered in Denver, Colorado,[2] the network broadcasts regional coverage of sports events throughout the Rocky Mountain region, mainly focusing on professional sports teams based in the Denver metropolitan area.
Root Sports Rocky Mountain is available on cable providers throughout Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Southern Idaho, northern New Mexico, western Kansas, western Nebraska, western South Dakota, northeastern Nevada; it is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV and Dish Network.
Contents
History
Root Sports Rocky Mountain was originally launched in November 1988 as the Prime Sports Network, a joint venture between Bill Daniels and Tele-Communications Inc. The channel was one of the original members of the Prime Network, a group of regional sports networks with the Los Angeles-based Prime Ticket (now Fox Sports West) as its flagship outlet. The network was later renamed Prime Sports Rocky Mountain in 1990.
In October 1995, News Corporation, which formed a sports division for the Fox network two years earlier after it obtained the broadcast rights to the National Football Conference and sought to create a group of regional sports networks, acquired a 50% interest in the Prime Network from TCI parent Liberty Media.[3] Later that year on November 1, News Corporation and Liberty Media relaunched the Prime Network affiliates as part of the new Fox Sports Net group, with the Denver-based network officially rebranding as Fox Sports Rocky Mountain.[4] The channel was rebranded as Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain in 2000, as part of a collective brand modification of the FSN networks under the "Fox Sports Net" banner; subsequently in 2004, the channel shortened its name to FSN Rocky Mountain, through the networks' de-emphasis of the "Fox Sports Net" brand.
On December 22, 2006, News Corporation sold its interest in FSN Rocky Mountain and sister networks FSN Utah, FSN Northwest and FSN Pittsburgh to Liberty Media, in an asset trade in which News Corporation also traded its 38.5% ownership stake in satellite provider DirecTV for $550 million in cash and stock, in exchange for Liberty Media's 16.3% stake in the company.[5] On May 4, 2009, DirecTV Group Inc. announced it would become a part of Liberty's entertainment unit, part of which would then be spun off into the separate company under the DirecTV name, in a deal in which Liberty would increase its share in DirecTV from 48% to 54%, with Liberty owner John Malone and his family owning a 24% interest. DirecTV would operate its newly acquired FSN-affiliated networks through DirecTV Sports Networks,[1] a new division formed when the split off from Liberty Media was completed on November 19, 2009.[6]
On December 17, 2010, DirecTV Sports Networks announced that its four Fox Sports Networks-affiliated regional outlets – FSN Rocky Mountain, FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Northwest and FSN Utah – would be relaunched under the "Root Sports" brand.[7] The network officially rebranded as Root Sports Rocky Mountain on April 1, 2011, with The Dan Patrick Show as the first program to air under the new brand. For nominal purposes, the Root Sports networks continued to carry programming distributed mainly to the Fox Sports regional networks to provide supplementary sports and entertainment programming.
Programming
Professional sports
Root Sports Rocky Mountain holds the regional cable television rights to Major League Baseball games involving the Colorado Rockies. In February 2013, Root Sports Rocky Mountain ordered a pilot for a Colorado Rockies magazine program, Rockies Weekly, with Marc Stout named as its host. The network ordered a full season of Rockies Weekly on February 28, 2013, with the program debuting that April. The network also carries other team-related programming from the Rockies including the documentary program Rockies: Real Time, and the weekly analysis program Rockies Double Play.
On March 31, 2013, Root Sports aired a 24-hour "Rockies Opening Day Countdown" marathon, featuring seven episodes of Rockies All Access, three episodes of Rockies Weekly, and seven classic Rockies games that led up to the hour-long opening day pre-game show and the Rockies' first regular season game of the 2013 season.
The channel formerly served as the regional cable broadcaster of the NBA's Denver Nuggets and the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, losing the broadcast rights in 2004 when the owner of both teams, Stan Kroenke, launched the competing regional sports network Altitude Sports and Entertainment.
College sports
The network also carries many collegiate sports events including Denver Pioneers men's ice hockey, as well as football, baseball and basketball game telecasts distributed by Fox Sports Networks, from the Big 12 Conference, Big Sky Conference, Western Athletic Conference, Conference USA and Mountain West Conference.
On-air staff
Current on-air staff
- Colorado Rockies
- Jenny Cavnar – Rockies pre-game and post-game host
- George Frazier – Rockies analyst
- Drew Goodman – Rockies play-by-play and college basketball play-by-play
- Jeff Huson – Rockies analyst
- Jason Hirsh – Rockies pre-game and post-game analyst
- Tracy Ringolsby – Rockies pre-game and post-game analyst
- Ryan Spilborghs – Rockies pre-game and post-game analyst[8]
- Marc Stout – Rockies pre-game host and on-field reporter
- Cory Sullivan - Rockies pre-game and post-game analyst
- Utah Jazz
- Craig Bolerjack - Jazz play-by-play
- Ron Boone - Jazz analyst
- Steve Brown - Jazz analyst
- Matt Harpring- Jazz analyst
- College sports
- Ceal Barry – college basketball analyst
- Marc Stout - college football and basketball analyst
- Drew Goodman – college basketball play-by-play announcer
- Charlie Host – college hockey analyst
- Mark Johnson[disambiguation needed] – college football analyst
- Jay Leeuwenburg – college football analyst
References
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External links
- Pages with broken file links
- All articles with links needing disambiguation
- Articles with links needing disambiguation from September 2015
- Official website not in Wikidata
- Prime Sports Network
- Television stations in Denver, Colorado
- Sports in Denver, Colorado
- Colorado Avalanche broadcasters
- Colorado Rockies broadcasters
- Denver Nuggets broadcasters
- Fox Sports Networks
- Television channels and stations established in 1988
- 1988 establishments in Colorado
- Root Sports
