# FanDuel Sports Network SoCal

FanDuel Sports Network SoCal is an American regional sports network owned by Main Street Sports Group (formerly Diamond Sports Group) and operated as part of FanDuel Sports Network, along with its sister network FanDuel Sports Network West. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of professional and collegiate sports events in California, focusing primarily on teams based in the Greater Los Angeles area. Bally Sports SoCal is available on cable providers throughout Southern California, the Las Vegas Valley and Hawaii; it is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV.
The network holds the regional broadcast rights to the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association and West Coast Conference men's and women's basketball. The network also broadcast the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball until 2014, when broadcasts moved to Spectrum SportsNet LA, and broadcast the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League until 2024, when broadcasts moved to KCOP-TV.

## 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 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 and Los Angeles Clippers which had previously broadcast on SportsChannel. However, the Los Angeles Dodgers 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 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 Anaheim Ducks games were moved from Fox Sports West, as well as UCLA and USC basketball games that were not part of Fox's existing Pac-10 package. Other new programming included coverage of other college sports at UCLA and USC, high school basketball and football, and horse racing 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 at Dodger Stadium. 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 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 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 signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, establishing a new team-specific channel known as SportsNet LA.
In 2014, Prime Ticket began broadcasting Arizona Diamondbacks 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 announced plans to acquire all 22 regional Fox Sports networks from 21st Century Fox, including Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket. However, on June 27, 2018, the Justice Department ordered their divestment under antitrust grounds, citing Disney's ownership of ESPN. On May 3, 2019, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios (through their joint venture, Diamond Holdings) bought Fox Sports Networks from The Walt Disney Company 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 to serve as a new naming rights 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 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.
On August 27, 2024, the Anaheim Ducks announced partnerships with KCOP-TV, a MyNetworkTV 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, 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 KCOP-TV (Channel 13), the local MyNetworkTV 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. 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 — 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 – Los Angeles Clippers analyst
* Michael Cage – 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 – Pac-12 basketball commentator and (2007) Trojans Live March Madness analyst
* Eric Karros – Dodgers postseason studio analyst (2003)
* Kevin Kennedy – Major League Baseball analyst
* Ralph Lawler - former Los Angeles Clippers play-by-play announcer
* Steve Lyons – Los Angeles Dodgers road commentator and Dodgers Live analyst
* Bill Macdonald – baseball, basketball, football and hockey announcer
* Adrian Garcia Marquez – Dodgers Live reporter
* Chris McGee – Clippers Live reporter, and high school football announcer
* Marty McSorley – NHL analyst (2006)
* Rick Monday – Dodgers play-by-play announcer and Dugout analyst
* Petros Papadakis – USC football analyst and Pac-12 football commentator
* Steve Physioc – 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 – Los Angeles Dodgers announcer (2005–2013, retired)
* Charley Steiner – Dodgers road announcer
* Matt Stevens – UCLA football analyst
* Paul Sunderland – 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 – Anaheim Ducks 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. However, the two major providers in the area, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications, 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, 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 Las Vegas Valley, though with the inaugural season of the Vegas Golden Knights, 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; Kings games remain available through ESPN+ in Southern Nevada.