Prime Network
Encyclopedia
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cable televisionCable televisionCable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
specialty channelSpecialty channelA specialty channel can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targeted television market at a specific demographic....
formerly known as "Prime", see TVtropolisTVtropolisTVtropolis is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Shaw Media and Rogers Media.The channel operates two time shifted feeds: East and West .-Programming:...
. for the AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n television networkTelevision networkA television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
, see Prime TelevisionPrime TelevisionPRIME7 is an Australian television network owned by Prime Media Group Limited. Prime Television launched on 17 March 1962 as CBN/CWN in Orange and Dubbo, New South Wales, and has since expanded to cover regional New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory as a Seven Network...
.
The Prime Network was a group of regional sports network
Regional sports network
In the United States of America and Canada, a regional sports network, or RSN, is a cable television station that presents sports programming to a local market. The most important programming on an RSN consists of live broadcasts of professional and college sporting events, as those games generate...
s owned by Liberty Media
Liberty Media
Liberty Media Corporation is an American media conglomerate and the control is exercised by company Chairman John C. Malone, who owns a majority of the voting shares....
that served several regionalized areas that was in operation between 1983
1983 in television
The year 1983 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1983.For the American TV schedule, see: 1983-84 United States network television schedule.-Events:...
and late-1997
1997 in television
The year 1997 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1997.- Events :-Debuts:-Miniseries:*Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac, a reunion of the 1979–93 series*The Last Don...
. While Liberty owned many of these stations, some were affiliates and owned by other companies. As a result, affiliate stations had a choice of what the Prime Network programming they would air and when.
Notable programming
The Prime Network was revolutionary in the sense that it was one of the first sports networks to give live national coverage to regional auto racing series, such as the NASCAR West Series and lower-division national series, such as the ARCA stock car series. They were also the exclusive live broadcast home to the USAR Hooters ProCup Series from the series' inception in 1994 until Prime Sports' demise in November 1997, when ESPN2ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American sports cable television network owned by ESPN. The channel debuted on October 1, 1993.Originally nicknamed "the deuce," ESPN2 was initially branded as a network for a younger generation of sports fans featuring edgier graphics as well as extreme sports like motocross,...
secured the rights to the series from 1998–1999. In addition to this, Prime also televised a great deal of ASA (American Speed Association
American Speed Association
The American Speed Association is a sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States formed in 1968. The Association was based in Pendleton, Indiana and currently is headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida. ASA was most famous for a national touring series which began in 1973 but was...
) races in the 1980s and 1990s, sharing broadcast rights with now-defunct TNN
The Nashville Network
The Nashville Network, usually referred to as TNN, was an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming included music videos, taped concerts, movies, syndicated programs, and numerous talk shows...
. The network also was the first to televise NASCAR Sprint (then Winston) Cup qualifying on a regular basis, mainly for races televised
NASCAR on TBS
NASCAR on TBS is the name of former television program that broadcast NASCAR races on the TBS cable network. Select NASCAR Winston Cup Series , Busch Series , and Craftsman Truck Series races were aired on TBS up to the 2000 season.Races were switched to TNT in 2001 as part of the then-new NASCAR...
by TBS
TBS (TV channel)
TBS , stylized in the logo as tbs, is an American cable television channel owned by Time Warner that shows a variety of programming, with a focus on comedy. TBS was originally known as WTCG, a UHF terrestrial television station that broadcast from Atlanta, Georgia, during the late 1970s...
. Prime also televised a number of NASCAR Busch Series races, including the Goody's 300 at Daytona, in the early 1990s.
Prime was well known for its broadcasting of both USA and Canadian equestrian
Equestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
competitions, at a level not since matched by any other North American network. The station developed a significant reputation among those who followed that sport. Prime also televised a number of regional NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
hockey games, college basketball
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
, and college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
games, along with bodybuilding
Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is a form of body modification involving intensive muscle hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In competitive and professional bodybuilding, bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their...
and wrestling
Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
matches. They would also occasionally air workout programs, like Body by Jake. The network also was an early broadcaster of Arena Football League games up through the early 1990s.
Time-sharing
Some of the Prime Network's affiliates were "time-share" stations. In other words, they shared time with other cable networks on some cable systems. For example, Home Sports Entertainment (now FSN SouthwestFSN Southwest
Fox Sports Southwest is a regional sports network that operates in all or parts of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arkansas...
) shared time with QVC
QVC
QVC is a multinational corporation specializing in televised home shopping. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania, United States, QVC broadcasts in five countries as QVC US, QVC UK, QVC Germany, QVC Japan and – QVC Italy to 200 million households...
network on some cable outlets, mainly in Texas. Ironically, QVC is now owned by Liberty Media, who owned Prime. However, during the Prime/QVC timeshare, QVC was owned by Comcast. Usually, QVC would air from about 3 a.m.-1 p.m. on a given day, and then Prime would take over with its feed and feature a brief sign-on and display its bright red HSE symbol in a large font. They would then give a program listing of the day's shows, which was usually superimposed over a decorative sports-related background, such as a basketball court. Some cable systems would scramble HSE when its feed took over because they treated it as a premium channel, such as Sports Time
Sports Time
Sports Time was a regional sports network in the United States. It was owned by Anheuser-Busch and was launched on April 2, 1984. Sports Time was available in 15 states from Colorado to West Virginia.-Coverage:...
, which was on in the 1980s.
Prime SportsChannels America
In 1993, Liberty, NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and Cablevision created a new venture called Prime SportsChannels America sharing programming and sales agreements between Prime and SportsChannel America
SportsChannel America
SportsChannel America was a cable television network operated by Cablevision. It was the country's first regional sports network, and thus an important ancestor to many of the United States' regional sports outlets, especially Fox Sports Net and Comcast SportsNet. SportsChannel New York was the...
. In 1996, Liberty Media
Liberty Media
Liberty Media Corporation is an American media conglomerate and the control is exercised by company Chairman John C. Malone, who owns a majority of the voting shares....
sold 50 percent of their regional Prime Sports channels to News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
creating Fox Sports Net
Fox Sports Net
The Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net , are a collection of cable TV regional sports networks in the United States owned and operated by News Corporation.- Beginnings :...
and a new company, FOX/Liberty Networks. In 1997, FOX/Liberty merged with SportsChannel America
SportsChannel America
SportsChannel America was a cable television network operated by Cablevision. It was the country's first regional sports network, and thus an important ancestor to many of the United States' regional sports outlets, especially Fox Sports Net and Comcast SportsNet. SportsChannel New York was the...
creating National Sports Partners, and the Prime Network and SportsChannel names were dropped for the FSN name nationwide.
In 2007, Liberty bought back FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Rocky Mountain, and FSN Northwest from News Corporation.
Some of Prime's programming rights are held by Margate Entertainment
Margate Entertainment
Margate Entertainment LLC is a worldwide communications company based in Henderson, Nevada. Operated by Tom Ficara and Charry Kennedy, it supplies sports and entertainment programming to new electronic media distributors from its 10,000 title program library...
, who also owns the TVS Television Network
TVS Television Network
The TVS Television Network, or TVS for short, was a syndicator of American sports programming. It was one of several "occasional" national television networks that sprang up in the early 1960s to take advantage of the establishment of independent television stations and relaxation of the AT&T...
. Reruns of Prime sports coverage are included on Margate's TVSSports.com.
Affiliates
Affiliates included:- Prime Sports Arizona (now Fox Sports Arizona)
- Prime Sports Midwest (now Fox Sports Midwest)
- Prime Sports Rocky Mountain (now Root Sports Rocky Mountain)
- Prime Sports Intermountain West (now Root Sports UtahRoot Sports UtahRoot Sports Utah is a regional sports network that serves Utah. It carries the NBA's Utah Jazz, college sports from the University of Utah and Utah State University, as well as Fox Sports Net programming. It originally launched in 1988 as an affiliate of the Prime Network known as Prime Sports...
) - SportSouth (now Fox Sports South)
- Prime Sports Southwest (formerly Home Sports Entertainment (HSE), now Fox Sports Southwest)
- KBL (now Root Sports Pittsburgh)
- PASS SportsPro-Am Sports SystemThe Pro Am Sports System, better known as PASS Sports or just PASS, was a regional sports network in Detroit, Michigan that lasted from 1984-1997. It mainly covered professional Detroit sports and the Central Collegiate Hockey Association...
(now defunct, replaced by Fox Sports DetroitFox Sports DetroitFox Sports Detroit , is a regional sports network that covers local sports teams in the state of Michigan, mostly those in the Metro Detroit area. It is an owned and operated affiliate of Fox Sports Net...
) - Prime Sports Northwest (formerly Northwest Cable Sports, now Root Sports Northwest)
- Prime Ticket (now an FSN affiliate, sister station to Fox Sports West)
- Empire Sports NetworkEmpire Sports NetworkEmpire Sports Network was a regional sports network on cable television which served upstate New York from Buffalo to Albany, parts of northern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio...
(replaced by Time Warner Cable SportsNet) - Sunshine Network (currently Sun SportsSun SportsSun Sports is a Florida sports broadcasting network, with its headquarters in Orlando. Launched in 1988 as Sunshine Network, the station is now affiliated with virtually every cable company throughout the state of Florida and can be picked up by some satellite providers around the United...
) - Home Team Sports (currently Comcast SportsNet Mid-AtlanticComcast SportsNet Mid-AtlanticComcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic is a regional sports network that delivers live-game coverage and sports news and entertainment television programming to more than 4.7 million households throughout the Washington, D.C...
) - Midwest Sports Channel (currently Fox Sports North)
- NESNNew England Sports NetworkThe New England Sports Network, or NESN [NESS-en], is a regional cable television network that covers the six New England states except Fairfield County, Connecticut and Southbury, Connecticut, a town in New Haven County, Connecticut which is covered by New York City sports networks...
- MSG NetworkMSG NetworkThe MSG Network, now shortened to simply MSG, is a regional cable television and radio network serving the Mid-Atlantic United States. It is focused on New York City sports teams...
- Prime Sports AsiaPrime SportsPrime Sports Asia is a cable sports network owned by STAR TV and Prime Network. It is available in Philippines, Hong Kong, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and Singapore, India and other Asian Territories....
(now known as STAR SportsSTAR SportsSTAR Sports is a cable sports network owned by STAR TV and ESPN. It shows sports programs. In partnership with ESPN, its corporate name is ESPN STAR Sports. They are the official Asian station of the Barclays Premier League...
)