Bally Sports New Orleans

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]

History

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

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]

launch date	October 31, 2012
closed date	October 21, 2024
picture format	720p (HDTV) 480i (SDTV)
network	Bally Sports
owner	Diamond Sports Group (Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios)
country	United States
language	English
area	Louisiana Mississippi East Texas South Alabama Florida Panhandle Nationwide (via satellite)
headquarters	New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
former names	Fox Sports New Orleans (2012-2021)
replaced by	Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network
sister channels	Bally Sports Southwest
website	https://www.ballysports.com/southwest/

Bally Sports New Orleans

History

Bankruptcy and shut down

Programming

Notable on-air staff

New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans

External links

References