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Bally Sports New Orleans

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Bally Sports New Orleans
CountryUnited States
Broadcast areaLouisiana
Mississippi
East Texas
South Alabama
Florida Panhandle
Nationwide (via satellite)
NetworkBally Sports
HeadquartersNew Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Programming
Language(s)English
Picture format720p (HDTV)
480i (SDTV)
Ownership
OwnerDiamond Sports Group (Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios)
Sister channelsBally Sports Southwest
History
LaunchedOctober 31, 2012 (2012-10-31)
ClosedOctober 21, 2024 (2024-10-21)
Former namesFox Sports New Orleans (2012-2021)
Links
Websitewww.ballysports.com/southwest/
Availability
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 New Orleans was an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group (a joint-venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios), and operated as an affiliate of Bally Sports before it got renamed into the FanDuel Sports Network on October 21, 2024. Before the channel shut down in relation to Bally Sports' rebranding, the channel broadcast local coverage of professional and collegiate sports events within New Orleans and the state of Louisiana.

Bally Sports New Orleans was available on cable providers throughout Louisiana, East Texas, South Alabama, the Florida Panhandle, and most parts of southern Mississippi (including Cox Communications, AT&T U-verse, Charter Spectrum, Suddenlink Communications and Comcast), with an estimated regional reach of 2.5 million households with a paid television subscription; it was also available on satellite via DirecTV until services for the New Orleans channel shut down in 2024.[1][2]

The network quietly closed down on October 21, 2024 as the network's professional sports rights had been fully exhausted and moved to other venues. The Pelicans moved to Gray Television's new Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network, available over-the-air and streaming, with WVUE-DT as its flagship, while the Dallas Stars already left the network for the Victory+ streaming service and the Texas Rangers will not have their rights renewed due to an opt-out with Diamond's bankruptcy.

History

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The formation of Fox Sports New Orleans was announced on June 25, 2012, after Fox Sports Networks signed a new long-term agreement with the New Orleans Hornets (now the New Orleans Pelicans) to broadcast the NBA team's games.[3] Fox acquired the regional cable television rights to the Hornets after Cox Sports Television declined to renew its contract with the team.[4] The channel launched on October 31, 2012, at the start of the New Orleans Hornets regular season that year; Fox Sports New Orleans broadcast 75 Hornets games during the first year of the team's agreement with the channel.[5]

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 New Orleans. 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.[6] The deal closed on August 22, 2019.[7] 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.[8] On March 31, 2021, coinciding with the 2021 Major League Baseball season, Fox Sports New Orleans was rebranded as Bally Sports New Orleans, resulting in 18 other Regional Sports Networks renamed Bally Sports in their respective regions.[9]

Bankruptcy and shut down

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See also: Diamond Sports § Bankruptcy

On March 14, 2023, Diamond Sports, the parent company for Bally Sports, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy,[10] 30 days after they failed to make a $140M interest payment.[11]

The network would soon meet its end starting with the July 3, 2024 announcement that the Dallas Stars (which airs select games onto Bally Sports New Orleans) would terminate their deal with Bally Sports and later air their games for free onto the Victory+ streaming service. Then, on August 23, Diamond Sports announced they had secured new long-term agreements with both the NHL and NBA. The agreements will result in NHL teams having a 20 percent reduction in their rights fees and NBA teams having a 30 to 40 percent reduction in their rights fees. As part of the agreement in question with the NBA, however, the New Orleans Pelicans and Dallas Mavericks had their contracts with Diamond Sports ended (with the Pelicans later creating the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network with Gray Television), leaving Bally Sports New Orleans without its big draw. Despite being a long-term deal, if Diamond Sports is unable to get a bankruptcy plan approved by the court, the NBA and NHL agreements will expire following the end of each league's 2024–25 season.[12][13] Not only that, but the Texas Rangers (which airs games on the New Orleans channel also) would have their own agreement with Bally Sports expire after the end of their 2024 season as well, thus leaving Bally Sports New Orleans without any professional teams to work with for airing games in the near future.

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 intended to rebrand Bally Sports as the FanDuel Sports Network; on October 18, 2024, Diamond officially announced the rebranding, which would take effect October 21.[14][15] Under the agreement, FanDuel would have the option to take a minority equity stake of up to 5% once Diamond Sports exits bankruptcy. The FanDuel branding will be downplayed within programming related to high school sports.[16][17] With no professional rights remaining, the New Orleans iteration of the network quietly shut down on October 21, the day the new FanDuel rebranding took effect.

Programming

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In addition to carrying the Pelicans' exhibition, regular season and early-round conference playoff games, Bally Sports New Orleans also aired Major League Baseball games featuring the Texas Rangers and select broadcasts of the NHL's Dallas Stars televised by sister channel Bally Sports Southwest. The network also formerly carried collegiate sporting events from the Big 12 Conference and Southeastern Conference.[3]

In 2014, Fox Sports New Orleans began airing select Tulane Green Wave college football games, beginning with the September 9 matchup against the Duke Blue Devils.[18] From its foundation, it also reported that the channel would negotiate for the television rights to the New Orleans Saints' team-related programs and events involving the LSU Tigers.[1] While they were successful in acquiring some LSU Tigers sports programming such as Tigers football, basketball, and volleyball, attempts to acquire Saints-related programming were unsuccessful.

On June 16, 2018, FSNO carried a group-stage game in the FIFA World Cup from Fox between the Argentina and Iceland teams; WVUE-DT opted out of carrying the game due to issues with fulfilling their weekly E/I educational programming requirements with the numerous World Cup matches airing that week through Fox.[19]

Notable on-air staff

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New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Fox Sports New Orleans Details". 24/7 Hornets. October 12, 2012.
  2. ^ "Fox Sports New Orleans on Charter and More". 24/7 Hornets. October 30, 2012.
  3. ^ a b "Hornets, FOX Sports announce new TV rights agreement". WWL-TV. Belo Corporation. June 25, 2012. Archived from the original on July 7, 2012.
  4. ^ "Is Cox changing sports strategy?". Sports Business Journal. May 28, 2012.
  5. ^ "FOX SPORTS NEW ORLEANS TO BROADCAST 75 REGULAR SEASON GAMES IN 2012-13". NBA.com (Press release). August 22, 2012.
  6. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (3 May 2019). "Sinclair Clinches Disney-Regional Sports Networks Deal, Byron Allen Joins as Partner". Variety. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  7. ^ "Sinclair completes acquisition of regional sports networks from Disney". Bloomberg. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  8. ^ Novy-Williams, Eben (2020-11-19). "Bally's Buys Sinclair RSN Naming Rights As Part of Sports Betting Push". Sportico.com. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  9. ^ "Bally Sports Southwest/Oklahoma/New Orleans FAQ". FOX Sports. FOX Sports Southwest. 17 March 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  10. ^ "Diamond Sports Group Commences Voluntary Chapter 11 Proceedings to Strengthen Balance Sheet". Business Wire (Press release). March 14, 2023. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  11. ^ Ourand, John (February 15, 2023). "Diamond Sports Group not making $140M interest payment". Sports Business Journal. Leaders Group. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
  12. ^ Kaplan, Daniel (August 23, 2024). "Bally Sports RSNs reach new agreements with NHL, NBA for 2024-2025 seasons". Awful Announcing. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  13. ^ Crupi, Anthony; McCann, Michael (August 23, 2024). "Diamond Sports Group Reaches Deals With NBA, NHL". Sportico. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  14. ^ Steinberg, Brian (2024-10-18). "FanDuel Takes Over Naming Rights to Diamond Sports RSNs". Variety. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  15. ^ "Diamond Sports branded as FanDuel in new deal". ESPN.com. 2024-10-18. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  16. ^ Paul, Tony. "Bally Sports Detroit set to become FanDuel Sports Network; what you need to know". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  17. ^ Randles, Jonathan (2024-10-16). "Diamond Seeks Approval to Rebrand From Bally Sports to FanDuel". BNN Bloomberg. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  18. ^ "Where can I find the Tulane-Duke Football Game?". Tulane University. September 18, 2014.[permanent dead link‍]
  19. ^ "World Cup Programming Notice: Argentina vs. Iceland". WVUE-DT. June 15, 2018.
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