The lineups and pricing for sports tiers vary from market to market—and some cable operators such as Cablevision, Adelphia, Cable One and Mediacom do not currently break out sports networks into separately priced tiers. Cablevision, for example, includes sports channels within its iO digital service, while Adelphia offers ESPNews, ESPN Classic, OLN, The Golf Channel, The Outdoor Channel, Speed Channel and Fox Sports Atlantic, Central and Pacific on its digital basic plus lineup; Cable One also offers the Fox Sports diginets and Fox Cable’s extreme sports network Fuel on digital plus. Here’s a sampling separately priced sports tiers from other cable operators: Bright House Networks offers a seven-channel $3.09 "Sports Pak" in its Tampa Bay, Fla., division that includes NBA TV, The Tennis Channel, The Outdoor Channel, Fuel and Fox Sports Atlantic, Central and Pacific. For customers with HDTV, there’s a $9.09 package that adds a four-channel HD Pak (INHD 1 and 2, HDNet and HDNet Movies) to the Sports Pak. Charter Communications charges $4 per digital tier, with sports channel placement varying between markets. In parts of Louisiana, for instance, Cox Sports Television is in its "Digital Family and Information" tier while Fox Sports Southwest and Speed Channel are on expanded basic. Following an April launch in its Baltimore/D.C. market, Comcast started rolling out its $5/month digital sports tier in other markets July 1. The MSO’s sports tiers include NBA TV, the soccer-centric GolTV and three Fox Sports regional diginets plus Fox Sports World. The rolling launch includes News Corp.’s TV Games horse-racing network in wagering states and on-demand programming from NBA TV. Cox Communications’ sports and information digital tier in Fairfax, Va., includes ESPNews, Fox Sports World, The Golf Channel, The Tennis Channel and NBA TV. Pricing depends on level of service; for example, Fairfax’s $68.69 "Super Plus Package" includes any three digital tiers and a choice of one digital premium. Insight Communications is relaunching its digital packages this year (as it has just done in Columbus, Ohio) to break out sports networks into a separate $5 "Sports Pak" of up to 16 channels. Sports networks are currently in its "Sports & Lifestyle Pak," including The Tennis Channel and CSTV: College Sports Television. Time Warner Cable introduced a $3.95 digital sports tier in November to its 1.4 million customers in New York and New Jersey. The six-channel package includes NBA TV, The Tennis Channel, Fuel plus Fox Sports Atlantic, Central and Pacific. (Barry Rosenblum, president of Time Warner Cable of New York and New Jersey, commented at launch: "The goal is to keep prices low to drive penetration.") In Time Warner’s Rochester system, a $4.95 six-channel sports tier includes the Empire Sports Network, which offers Buffalo Sabres hockey games; The Tennis Channel; NBA TV; and Fox Sports Atlantic, Central and Pacific.

The Daily

Subscribe
Thursday–April 25

Reviews

“Franklin,” streaming on Apple TV+ , new eps Fridays. Most people will come to “Franklin” for Michael Douglas , who plays Benjamin Franklin and is an exec prod, along with heavies like former HBO

Read the Full Issue
The Skinny is delivered on Tuesday and focuses on the cable profession. You'll stay in the know on the headlines, topics and special issues you value most. Sign Up

Calendar

Jun 13
2024 American Broadband Congress Conference Registration is Open!
Jun 26
2024 FAXIES Awards Nominations Are Open!
Full Calendar

Jobs

Seeking an INDUSTRY JOB?
VIEW JOBS

Hiring? In conjunction with our sister brand, Cynopsis, we are offering hiring managers a deep pool of media-savvy, skilled candidates at a range of experience levels and sectors, The result will be an even more robust industry job board, to help both employers and job seekers.

Contact Rob Hudgins, [email protected], for more information.