Bally Sports San Diego
Bally Sports San Diego was an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between Diamond Sports Group (itself a 50-50 joint venture between the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios),[1] and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. Prior to the team parting ways with the network in 2023, the San Diego Padres owned a 20% stake. It was launched on March 17, 2012.
Country
San Diego County
Imperial County
Palm Springs Area
Las Vegas Valley
Southern Arizona
Hawaii
Nationwide (via satellite)
March 17, 2012
Fox Sports San Diego (2012–2021)
www
(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 imposed by Major League Baseball)
The channel broadcast local coverage of sports events within the San Diego market. Bally Sports San Diego was available on cable providers throughout San Diego County, neighboring Imperial County, as well as the Palm Springs Area and Las Vegas Valleys, Southern Arizona and Hawaii; it is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV. Within the San Diego market, Cox Communications and Spectrum provided an alternate Spanish play-by-play feed during Padres games via a second audio program feed from the team's Spanish radio network.
Programming[edit]
Professional[edit]
The channel airs professional sports teams from the neighboring Los Angeles-Orange County market, namely the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, and the NHL's Anaheim Ducks & Los Angeles Kings, simulcasting those televised games by its sister networks Bally Sports SoCal and Bally Sports West (blacked out in Imperial County). Previously, Bally Sports San Diego also aired Arizona Coyotes games in Imperial County, simulcasting from its now defunct sister channel Bally Sports Arizona. Until the team folded in 2014, the network also carried simulcasts of MLS's Chivas USA games from Prime Ticket for the 2012 MLS Season.The channel also aired telecasts of the AHL's San Diego Gulls[1]
Liga MX[edit]
In May 2018, Fox Sports acquired the English-language rights to broadcast the home matches of Liga MX clubs C.F. Monterrey and Club Tijuana across the Fox Sports family of networks, the latter being located in neighboring Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico as well as having an established fan base in the San Diego area. The first match under this contract aired on July 21, 2018, with a match between Tijuana and Guadalajara which was also simulcast nationally on FS1 as well as other nearby Fox Sports regional networks. Bally Sports San Diego does not currently broadcast LigaMX matches.
Availability[edit]
Cox Communications and DirecTV have carried the channel since its launch.[1][15] Initially, DirecTV only carried Fox Sports San Diego as a part-time feed for live game broadcasts; it later added the dedicated, 24-hour feed on April 1, 2013.[16] AT&T U-verse reached a carriage deal in September 2012, on the final day of the Padres regular season. Dish Network reached an agreement to carry Fox Sports San Diego on February 7, 2013, adding the channel to its lineup two months later on April 1.[17]
Of the five major television providers serving the San Diego region, Time Warner Cable (which is now known as Spectrum that serves roughly 22% of the market)[18] was a notable holdout in carrying the network on launch;[17] by contrast, during the Padres' later tenure with the channel, TWC did carry 4SD (which was also, by contrast, not offered by U-verse or on satellite providers, leading to complaints filed by AT&T to the Federal Communications Commission that eventually led to the removal of the "terrestrial loophole" in 2010).[19] In March 2013, the San Diego City Council held a hearing approving a symbolic resolution pressuring Fox and Time Warner Cable to reach a deal by the opening of the 2013 season, citing "the importance of professional baseball in San Diego."[20] On February 10, 2014, Fox announced that they had finally reached an agreement with TWC to carry Fox Sports San Diego; the provider began carrying the channel on March 30, 2014, in time for the 2014 season.[18]
In 2015, Frontier FiOS agreed to carry Fox Sports San Diego for the Coachella Valley in time for the 2015 season.
The only cable TV providers that haven't carried Bally Sports San Diego since its launch in 2012 are CenturyLink Prism TV in the Las Vegas Valley and Hawaiian Telcom in Hawaii.