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Root Sports Utah was an American regional sports network that was owned by the AT&T Sports Networks subsidiary of AT&T Inc., as part of the AT&T SportsNet brand of networks and is an affiliate of Fox Sports Networks. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, the channel broadcasts regional coverage of sports events throughout Utah, namely the NBA's Utah Jazz and college teams including the Utah State Aggies, Utah Utes, BYU Cougars, and several other schools. Root Sports Utah was available on cable providers throughout the state of Utah, and nationwide on satellite via DirecTV and Dish Network.

History

Origins

In 1986, Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI) and the Utah Jazz formed a joint-venture to broadcast 20 Jazz games during the 1986-87 season to cable subscribers in five western states starting. The channel, named Jazz Cable Network was ad-supported and offered as a basic service. In addition to the 20 live games, 4 classic games were also aired. Due to a lack of other sports content, the channel was part-time and only operated during the basketball season. The number of games were increased to 25 and then 26 for the 1987–88 and 1988-89 seasons respectively. In 1989, TCI announced a partnership with Bill Daniels to combine the two companies regional sports offerings into the Prime Sports Network.

Network history

The network launched in November 1989 as Prime Sports Network Utah; owned by TCI's Liberty Media, it served as an owned-and-operated outlet of the Prime Network group of regional sports networks. In its first year, the network carried 25 Utah Jazz games. At some point, the network was rebranded as Prime Sports Intermountain West. In 1995, Prime Sports began to carry Utah Grizzlies (IHL) games when the team relocated to the state.

In 1996, News Corporation, which formed a sports division for the Fox network two years earlier after it obtained the broadcast rights to the National Football Conference, acquired a 50% interest in the Prime Network from Liberty Media. On November 1, 1996, News Corporation and Liberty Media relaunched the Prime Network affiliates as part of the new Fox Sports Net group, with the Salt Lake City-based network officially rebranding as Fox Sports Utah. The channel was rebranded as Fox Sports Net Utah in 2000, as part of a collective brand modification of the FSN networks under the "Fox Sports Net" banner; subsequently in 2004, the channel shortened its name to FSN Utah, through the networks' de-emphasis of the "Fox Sports Net" brand.

On December 22, 2006, News Corporation sold its interest in FSN Utah and sister networks FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Northwest and FSN Rocky Mountain to Liberty Media, in an asset trade in which News Corporation also traded its 38.5% ownership stake in satellite provider DirecTV for $550 million in cash and stock, in exchange for Liberty Media's 16.3% stake in the company.

On May 4, 2009, DirecTV Group Inc. announced it would become a part of Liberty's entertainment unit, part of which would then be spun off into the separate company under the DirecTV name, in a deal in which Liberty would increase its share in DirecTV from 48% to 54%, with Liberty owner John Malone and his family owning a 24% interest. DirecTV would operate its newly acquired FSN-affiliated networks through DirecTV Sports Networks, a new division formed when the split off from Liberty Media was completed on November 19, 2009.

On December 17, 2010, DirecTV Sports Networks announced that its four Fox Sports Networks-affiliated regional outlets – FSN Utah, FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Northwest and FSN Rocky Mountain – would be relaunched under the "Root Sports" brand. The network officially rebranded as Root Sports Utah on April 1, 2011. On April 8, 2016, DirecTV Sports Networks rebranded under the AT&T name as AT&T Sports Networks.

On June 12, 2017, AT&T Sports Networks announced its networks would rebrand under the name AT&T SportsNet Utah, with all network programming and on-air talent remaining intact. On July 14, 2017, Root Sports Utah was merged into AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, while a separate subfeed is still maintained, Utah is no longer part of the branding.

Programming

Roots Sports Utah held the regional cable television rights to the NBA's Utah Jazz. The Jazz signed a new exclusive 12-year agreement with the channel on October 20, 2009, ending the team's broadcasts on KJZZ-TV (channel 14).

The network also carried Colorado Rockies baseball, the annual Tour of Utah cycling event, and a variety of collegiate sporting events, including football and basketball from Mountain West Conference (including local favorite Utah State), Big Sky Conference football (including local favorites Southern Utah and Weber State), West Coast Conference men's basketball (including local favorite BYU), and Pac-12 Conference football and basketball (including local favorite Utah).

On-air staff

Utah Jazz

• Thurl Bailey – Jazz Live studio analyst
• Craig Bolerjack – Utah Jazz play-by-play
• Ron Boone – Utah Jazz color commentary
• Steve Brown – Utah Jazz sideline reporter
• Alema Harrington – Jazz Live studio host
• Matt Harpring – Utah Jazz color commentary
• Phil Johnson – Jazz Live studio analyst

References

1. "All that Jazz" (PDF). Broadcasting Magazine: 10. October 20, 1986. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
2. Hudson, Bob (November 3, 1986). "Provo cable system to add more channels". The Daily Herald. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
3. "Basketball 87". Broadcasting Magazine: 52. October 19, 1987. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
4. "Basketball 88" (PDF). Broadcasting Magazine: 43. October 24, 1988. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
5. "TCI, Daniels, McMullen play ball" (PDF). Broadcasting Magazine: 44–45. March 27, 1989. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
6. ^ Walker, Joseph (November 3, 1990). "53 JAZZ GAMES ON TV THIS SEASON". Deseret News. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
7. Walker, Joseph (November 9, 1989). "TCI NOT CARRYING COMEDY CHANNEL". Deseret News. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
8. "SPORTS BRIEFLY". Deseret News. 15 September 1995. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
9. R. Thomas Umstead (July 8, 1996). "Liberty Sports regionals will become Fox Sports net". Multichannel News. The Walt Disney Company. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
10. "FOX SPORTS NET DEBUTS ON NOV. 1". The Columbian. Columbian Publishing Company. Associated Press. September 13, 1996. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
11. "News Corp. Reaches Deal with Liberty Media". The New York Times. December 22, 2006. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
12. Todd Spangler (May 4, 2009). "DirecTV, Liberty Media Announce Spin-Off Plan". Multichannel News. Reed Business Information. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
13. Mike Reynolds (November 20, 2009). "Liberty Sports Rebrands As DirecTV Sports Networks". Multichannel News. NewBay Media. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
14. "'Root Sports' new name for sports networks". Denver Business Journal. American City Business Journals. December 17, 2010.
15. "Root Sports regional nets now part of AT&T Sports Networks". Awful Announcing. Ken Fang. April 9, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
16. "Root Sports regional nets now part of "AT&T Sports Networks"". Awful Announcing. 2016-04-09. Retrieved 2017-06-30.
17. "AT&T SPORTS NETWORKS WILL REBRAND ROOT SPORTS IN SUMMER 2017". ROOT SPORTS. Retrieved 2017-06-30.
18. "Jazz sign 12-year agreement with FSN Utah". Salt Lake Tribune. MediaNews Group. October 20, 2009.

External links

• Prime Sports
• Fox Sports Networks
• Television channels and stations established in 1989
• 1989 establishments in Utah
• AT&T SportsNet
• 2017 disestablishments in Utah
• Television channels and stations disestablished in 2017