FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of FanDuel Sports Network. Operating as the "Wisconsin" sub-feed of Fox Sports North until 2007, the channel was known as Fox Sports Wisconsin until 2021. It broadcasts regional coverage of sports events throughout the state of Wisconsin, with a focus on professional sports teams based in Milwaukee, namely the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association. It primarily operates from a studio/office facility in downtown Milwaukee, with secondary offices and production studio/office hub based in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.
 | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Wisconsin Eastern Minnesota Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan Northwestern Illinois Iowa Nationwide (via satellite) |
| Network | FanDuel Sports Network |
| Headquarters | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Picture format | 720p (HDTV) 480i (SDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Diamond Sports Group (Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios) |
| Sister channels | WVTV "CW18" & "My24" WMSN-TV WLUK-TV |
| History | |
| Launched | April 1, 2007 |
| Replaced | FSN North (in broadcast area only) |
| Former names | FSN Wisconsin (2007–2012) Fox Sports Wisconsin (2012–2021) Bally Sports Wisconsin (2021-2024) |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
| Availability (some events may air on an overflow feed due to event conflicts) (Spectrum systems auto-tune to the standard definition channel position in high definition using their cable boxes and streaming platforms) | |
| Streaming media | |
| FanDuel Sports Network app/website | (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) |
| DirecTV Stream | Internet Protocol television |
| FuboTV | Internet Protocol television |
Bally Sports Wisconsin is available on cable providers throughout Wisconsin, extreme eastern Minnesota, the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan, northwestern Illinois, and Iowa; it is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV.
Bally Sports Wisconsin broadcasts 2,600 hours of locally produced programming per year and reaches more than 1.7 million homes.[1]
History
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2021) |
Origins
The first effort to air the Bucks and Brewers on cable, Sportsvue in 1984, was hampered by multiple factors, including dispersed systems and uncabled parts of the state of Wisconsin (including Milwaukee itself), team nadirs for the Bucks and Brewers and the availability of Chicago Cubs games via superstation WGN-TV throughout the state. Sportsvue was discontinued at the beginning of 1985 and resulted in the sale of the Bucks to future senator Herb Kohl. In the meantime, the Bucks and Brewers returned to a statewide broadcast network originated by Gaylord Broadcasting's WVTV, and later WCGV-TV, which was hampered by the two teams limiting their schedule to mainly road games.
Wisconsin Sports Network (unrelated to the current-day high school-focused sports publishing operation), a gametime-only network that broadcast Milwaukee Brewers baseball and Milwaukee Bucks basketball games. The channel was owned by Time Warner Cable's Milwaukee franchise and Group W.[2] In 1996, it was taken over by the Minneapolis-based Midwest Sports Channel (MSC), which was owned by CBS (as a result of CBS' 1995 merger with Group W's corporate parent Westinghouse).[3] Shortly afterward, MSC became an affiliate of the fledgling Fox Sports Net in the fall of 1996.
From then on until 2007, Wisconsin was served by one of three regional subfeeds of MSC/FSN North; the other two being a feed for the Twin Cities metropolitan area and a feed for the rest of Minnesota (as well as Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota). CBS sold the network to News Corporation in 2000, ultimately rebranding as FSN North in April 2001. Despite being well out of the station's market area, MSC's late night encore of WCCO's 10:00 p.m. newscast also aired on the Wisconsin network until the Fox purchase. The network then began maintaining offices at the studios of Fox owned-and-operated station WITI (channel 6, now an affiliate of the network) in the Milwaukee suburb of Brown Deer, along with sharing limited programming with that station.
Wisconsin gets its own channel
FSN North converted the Wisconsin feed into a separate channel, FSN Wisconsin. The channel launched on April 1, 2007, coinciding with the start of the 2007 Milwaukee Brewers season, originating from facilities in Milwaukee. That year it aired 125 Brewers games and 70 Bucks games. Other programming included the Minnesota Wild (NHL), University of Wisconsin athletic events, WIAC events, and WIAA high school sports, including live telecasts of the annual football championships. At launch FSN Wisconsin was available to more than 1.5 million homes and produced nearly 2,600 hours of local programming.[4]
After Fox Television Stations sold WITI to Local TV in 2008, FSN Wisconsin relocated its operations to facilities in downtown Milwaukee. As part of the national rebranding of the Fox Sports Networks in 2012, FSN Wisconsin was rebranded as Fox Sports Wisconsin.
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 Wisconsin. 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.[5] The deal closed on August 22, 2019, thus placing Fox Sports Wisconsin in common ownership with the Milwaukee and Green Bay duopolies of WVTV/WVTV-DT2, WLUK-TV/WCWF and Madison Fox affiliate WMSN.[6] 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.[7] On March 31, 2021, coinciding with the 2021 Major League Baseball season, Fox Sports Wisconsin was rebranded as Bally Sports Wisconsin, resulting in 18 other Regional Sports Networks renamed Bally Sports in their respective regions.[8]
In February 2021, the Brewers and Sinclair announced a new contract that gave the Brewers a minority share in the network. The deal is reportedly worth around $34 million per year for four years.[9] The network also originated the official team coverage of the Bucks' 2021 championship parade.
On March 14, 2023, Diamond Sports filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.[10]
On October 9, 2024, the Milwaukee Brewers announced a new deal with MLB Local Media, ending the network's run on Bally Sports Wisconsin.[11] Later on October 16, it was revealed in a court filing that Diamond had reached a new sponsorship agreement with FanDuel Group, under which it intends to rebrand Bally Sports as the FanDuel Sports Network; on October 18, 2024, Diamond officially announced the rebranding, which will take effect October 21.[12][13] Under the agreement, FanDuel will have the option to take a minority equity stake of up to 5% once Diamond Sports exits bankruptcy.[14][15]
Programming
FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin holds the regional cable television rights to NBA games from the Milwaukee Bucks (whose telecasts became exclusive to the network starting with the 2007–08 season) and since 2000, simulcasts most of the NHL games from the Minnesota Wild televised by Bally Sports North (usually through Bally Sports Wisconsin Extra), as well as pre-game, post-game and fan shows for all three teams. In 2018, simulcasts of Major League Soccer's Minnesota United FC matches were added to Fox Sports Wisconsin after Fox Sports North assumed that team's rights.
Until 2023, the channel carried high school sports competitions sanctioned by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, outside the girls' and boys' state basketball and hockey tournaments, which were carried by a statewide network coordinated by Allen Media Group's station group in the state, leaving it with sports such as the state football and soccer championships. The WIAA and AMG, along with affiliates in Milwaukee and Green Bay, began to carry the full complement of championships in the fall of 2023 with the expansion of over-the-air subchannel networks, and the WIAA departed Bally at that time. Other NCAA competitions from the Big East Conference, Big Ten Conference and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and a limited schedule of Marquette men's games also departed over time with new media deals. The channel now carries select programming from FanDuel TV as part of its naming rights agreement with FanDuel, along with other FDSN network programming and locally-contracted outdoors programming on weekends.
From 2007 to 2011, FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin sub-licensed a package of fifteen Milwaukee Brewers games for broadcast on Milwaukee independent station WMLW-CA (channel 41, now Me-TV owned-and-operated station WBME-CD); the Fox Sports-produced broadcasts aired outside of the Milwaukee market on Bally Sports Wisconsin, while WMLW owner Weigel Broadcasting sold advertising for those telecasts.[16] The deal was discontinued after the 2011 season due to the Brewers wanting a schedule of games entirely in high definition (until a move of WMLW's schedule to a full-power signal in August 2012, this was impossible for them to do, along with multiplexing limitations) and the launch of a secondary feed allowing live coverage of both Brewers and Bucks games, making the team exclusive to the network. In the 2023-24 NBA season, ten games produced by BSW aired over a statewide over-the-air network led by WMLW. whose sister station WDJT-TV is an official team broadcast and weather sponsor.
Team and conference coverage
- Minnesota Wild (through Bally Sports North)
- NCAA Division I athletics
- Wisconsin Badgers (coaches shows only)
- Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off men's hockey tournament
Other services
FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin HD
FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin HD is the network's main 720p high definition feed, which is downscaled at either the headend or customer set-top box level for standard definition viewers. Outside classic games, all current programming on the network is broadcast in HD.
FanDuel Sports Network Extra
FanDuel Sports Network Extra is an overflow feed that launched on April 9, 2012, and is available in both high definition and standard definition on most cable and satellite providers.[17] The channel is mainly used to allow the network to air games that cannot air on Bally Sports Wisconsin due to events with conflicting scheduling – for example in the past, when a Brewers game aired on Bally Sports Wisconsin, a Milwaukee Bucks game scheduled to start during the duration of the game was carried over Bally Sports Wisconsin Extra (occurring from March to April (or as late as June), when the NBA and Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons overlap, although the reverse situation occurred whenever the Bucks are involved in a first round playoff game). also carried national college sports rights they held as FSN, such as the lower-interest Big 12 Conference matchups which were usually pre-empted locally, and were of spare interest to Wisconsin viewers.
FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin Extra also airs Minnesota Wild hockey games simulcast from Bally Sports North that can be shown in-market when Bally Sports Wisconsin is airing a game of local interest, and formerly before the move of MLS regular season games to Apple TV+, Minnesota United FC matches. Due to blackout restrictions imposed by the NBA, Timberwolves games are not broadcast on Bally Sports Wisconsin, although games from both teams are cleared to air via Bally Sports North in parts of Wisconsin. Some systems carry the Extra channel on a full-time basis, while others carry it only for game telecasts; non-game Extra programming contains a loop of national Bally Sports Networks programming such as the World Poker Tour.[18]
On-air staff
Current
Milwaukee Bucks telecasts
- Lisa Byington – play-by-play announcer
- Dave Koehn – alternate play-by-play announcer
- Steve Novak - color analyst
- Marques Johnson - color analyst
- Craig Coshun – Bucks Live host
- Stephen Watson – Bucks Live host (mostly for road games)
- Melanie Ricks – sideline reporter
Wisconsin Badgers telecasts
- Matt Lepay – host of syndicated Badger Sports Report, for Wisconsin Badgers athletics
Former
MSC and FSN eras
- Davey Nelson – Brewers Live analyst (deceased)
- Jerry Augustine – Brewers Pregame/Postgame analyst (moved to the Milwaukee Brewers Radio Network in 2021)
- Jon McGlocklin - Bucks color analyst
- Telly Hughes – Bucks & Brewers field reporter
- Jim Paschke - Bucks play-by-play announcer
- Katie George – Bucks sideline reporter (now at ESPN and ESPN on ABC)
- Zora Stephenson – sideline reporter & fill-in play-by-play announcer
Bally era
- Jeff Levering - lead play-by-play announcer
- Brian Anderson – alternative play-by-play announcer
- Bill Schroeder – color analyst
- Chris Singleton - alternative color analyst
- Craig Coshun – Brewers Pregame/Postgame host, field reporter, and alternative play-by-play announcer
- Stephen Watson – Brewers Pregame/Postgame host (mostly for road games)
- Sophia Minnaert – field reporter
- Tim Dillard – Brewers Pregame/Postgame analyst
- Vinny Rottino – Brewers Pregame/Postgame analyst
References
External links
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