AT&T SportsNet

*"Root Sports" redirects here. For the channel in Seattle, Washington, see Root Sports Northwest.*

## Programming

### Picture format

720p (HDTV)
480i (SDTV)

## Ownership

### Owner

AT&T Sports Networks, LLC
(WarnerMedia News & Sports)

### Sister channels

CNN
Cartoon Network
Cinemax
HBO
TBS
TruTV
Turner Classic Movies
The CW
TNT
Boomerang
Adult Swim
HLN

## History

### Launched

02011-04-01-0000April 1, 2011; 9 years ago

### Former names

Root Sports (2011–2017)

**AT&T SportsNet** (**ATTSN**) is the name for a group of regional sports networks in the United States that are primarily owned and operated by **AT&T Sports Networks, LLC** (formerly **Liberty Sports Holdings** and **DirecTV Sports Networks, LLC**), a subsidiary of WarnerMedia News & Sports, which in turn is a division of AT&T's WarnerMedia. Each of the networks carries regional broadcasts of sporting events from various professional, collegiate and high school sports teams (with broadcasts typically exclusive to each network, although they show some on more than one AT&T-branded network within a particular team's designated market area).

In addition to carrying the team and conference-related magazine, analysis and discussion programs exclusive to each region, most of the networks (with the current exception of AT&T SportsNet Southwest) also broadcast nationally distributed sports events, documentary and entertainment programs through a programming agreement with Fox Sports Networks (FSN), a remnant of their former ownership under their previous corporate parents.

While previously operating under the FSN name, these four networks relaunched under the brand **Root Sports** on April 1, 2011, coinciding with the Major League Baseball regular season. On July 14, 2017, following the acquisition of DirecTV by AT&T, the networks (besides Root Sports Northwest as it is majority-owned by the Seattle Mariners and minority-owned by AT&T) were re-branded under the name AT&T SportsNet, coinciding with the second half of the 2017 Major League Baseball season. Collectively, the networks serve 13 million cable and satellite subscribers in 22 states. AT&T SportsNet master control operations are in Atlanta, Georgia.

## History

On December 22, 2006, Liberty Media acquired four Fox Sports regional networks as part of a deal with News Corporation, which exchanged the networks and its controlling 38.5% ownership interest in satellite provider DirecTV for US$550 million in cash and stock, in exchange for the 16.3% stake in News Corporation that had been owned by Liberty. These three FSN affiliates became part of the Liberty Entertainment division, which also held a stake in the Game Show Network.

On May 4, 2009, DirecTV Group Inc. announced it would become a part of Liberty Entertainment and spin-off specific properties into a separate company under the DirecTV name, in a deal in which Liberty would increase its share in DirecTV from a minority 48% to a controlling 54%, while Liberty owner John Malone and his family would own a 24% interest. DirecTV would then operate the four acquired FSN-affiliated networks through DirecTV Sports Networks, a new division formed on November 19, 2009, upon the spin-off's completion.

In December 2010, DirecTV announced that it would rebrand its FSN affiliates collectively under the "Root Sports" brand. They created the new brand to emphasize connections between the network and fans who passionately support (or "root" for) their local teams. According to Mark Shuken, president and chief executive officer of DirecTV Sports Networks at the time, the networks would have a "mindset" that "enables us to go from simply covering teams and games to providing an immersive experience as a fan and for the fan." Root Sports' introduction signifies independence from FSN; however, the Root Sports networks will maintain their current affiliations with the group through a programming agreement. The Root Sports brand commenced on the networks during the first quarter of 2011 and officially replaced FSN branding (FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Northwest, FSN Rocky Mountain and FSN Utah) on April 1, 2011. Root Sports' launch coincided with the opening weekend of the 2011 Major League Baseball season, as Root Sports holds broadcast rights for all of the MLB teams in their respective regions.

On August 6, 2014, DirecTV and AT&T (which was in the process of acquiring DirecTV) acquired Comcast SportsNet Houston – which had earlier been granted a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection placement through an involuntary petition filed by Comcast and NBCUniversal in September 2013 – like a 60/40 joint venture (with DirecTV as majority owner). The network was subsequently rebranded as Root Sports Southwest on November 17, 2014, becoming the first Root Sports network to not be a rebranded Fox Sports Networks affiliate.

In April 2016, following the completion of the acquisition of DirecTV by AT&T, DirecTV Sports Networks rebranded under the AT&T name as AT&T Sports Networks. Following this announcement, the channels began to downplay the Root Sports brand by replacing their logo bugs with an AT&T Sports Networks logo, restricting the Root Sports brand to station identification only. Three of the channels were rebranded as **AT&T SportsNet** on July 14, 2017, introducing new logos and on-air graphics. Root Sports Northwest adopted the new AT&T SportsNet graphics but remains under the Root Sports brand; it is the only network in the group that is not majority-owned by AT&T.

Following AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner in 2018, AT&T SportsNet was moved into the WarnerMedia News & Sports division in March 2019, alongside Time Warner's existing national sports unit Turner Sports. CNN president Jeff Zucker leads the division.

In February 2020, the *New York Post* reported that AT&T had abandoned a plan to divest the channels after only receiving bids over $500 million (rather than the $1 billion valuations it had expected).

## Networks

The AT&T SportsNet group consists of three FSN-affiliated and one former CSN-affiliated sports network(s):

## Related services

### AT&T SportsNet HD

**T&T SportsNet HD** is a high definition simulcast feed of select programs from AT&T SportsNet, including live sports events, studio shows and Fox Sports Networks-distributed national programming. Each regional channel (and in some cases, their alternate feed) has its separate high-definition feed, with their set schedules of programming made available in HD.

### AT&T SportsNet Plus

Currently, AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh and AT&T SportsNet Southwest maintain alternate (or overflow) feeds under the **AT&T SportsNet Plus** brand (with the network's regional name suffixed preceding the "Plus" title) for the broadcast of two or more events involving teams that the respective networks hold the broadcast rights to carry. These overflow feeds are available via digital cable, telco and satellite providers in their home markets, providing alternate programming when not used to carry conflicting scheduled game broadcasts.

### Video streaming

Since 2017, AT&T SportsNet streaming is available to TV Everywhere authenticated subscribers. AT&T SportsNet Southwest will be added to FuboTV starting February 11, 2019, becoming the first over-the-top streaming service to provide any AT&T SportsNet channel.