FSN West and FSN Prime Ticket

Infobox Network
network_name = FSN West / FSN Prime Ticket
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network_type = cable television network
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country = United States
available = Southern California, southern Nevada, and Hawaii
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founder = Dr. Jerry Buss & Dr. Bill Daniels (for the original Prime Ticket/FSN West)
Fox Cable Networks (for FSN West 2/FSN Prime Ticket)
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owner = News Corporation through Fox Entertainment Group
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launch_date = FSN West: October 1985 (as the original Prime Ticket)
FSN Prime Ticket: January 1997 (as Fox Sports West 2)
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past_names = FSN West: Prime Ticket, Prime Sports West, Fox Sports West
FSN Prime Ticket: Fox Sports West 2, FSN West 2
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website = [http://msn.foxsports.com/west FSN West] / [http://msn.foxsports.com/primeticket FSN Prime Ticket]
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FSN West and FSN Prime Ticket are Los Angeles-based cable sports networks serving Southern California, southern Nevada, and Hawaii. They are owned by Fox Cable Networks, a subsidiary of News Corporation's Fox Entertainment Group. They are the cable television homes of the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers (National Basketball Association), Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Los Angeles Dodgers (Major League Baseball), Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings (National Hockey League), Los Angeles Sparks (Women's National Basketball Association), C.D. Chivas USA and Los Angeles Galaxy (Major League Soccer), and Los Angeles Avengers (Arena Football League) and local coverage of the Pacific 10, West Coast, and Big West conferences.

To note, Lakers and Angels local cable broadcasts air exclusively on West, and the Dodgers air their cable telecasts exclusively on Prime Ticket. The remaining teams on the West/Prime Ticket roster usually shuffle between the two networks in the case of overlapping coverage of televised events. This reflects the fact that KCAL-TV carries all Lakers away games not on ABC, and also provides "destination viewing" for the Dodgers. Most of the teams, aside from the Kings, have some coverage on an over-the-air station, further reducing conflicts. KCOP (also owned by News Corp.) carries 50 Angels games per year (produced by FSN), while KTLA carries the Clippers and KDOC carries the Ducks (also produced by FSN).

For a small number of selected Lakers home telecasts on FSN West, games are also broadcast on Prime Ticket (referred to as "Courtside View"), usually on a night when there are no other live telecasts airing. Courtside View offers viewers different camera angles (including those from above the baskets), from the perspective of a fan sitting courtside at a Lakers game. Bill McDonald is the host of those "Courtside View" telecasts, however there are no play-by-play accounts of these broadcasts, but the FoxBox scorebar is on-screen at all times, including most timeouts. This experiment was also used on a couple Kings home telecasts in recent years.

FSN West/Prime Ticket's general and sales offices are located in downtown Los Angeles, across from Staples Center. Their studio is located inside Staples Center.

History

1980s

FSN West was founded in October 1985 as the original Prime Ticket network. The network's founders were Dr. Jerry Buss, majority owner of the Lakers and then-majority owner of the Kings hockey team, and cable television pioneer Dr. Bill Daniels, who was a minority-interest owner in both franchises. Unlike many of the regional sports networks that were operating at the time of Prime Ticket's launching, the channel was (and still is) a basic cable channel, as opposed to being a premium cable service. The first contract with Prime Ticket was negotiated and signed by Tony Acone as President of Prime Ticket and Bob Kerstein as Chief Financial Officer of Falcon Cable TV. Prior to the launch of Prime Ticket, Lakers and Kings games (primarily the non-nationally televised home games) were on the ON-TV/SelecTV subscription service. Because of the height of the Lakers popularity in the midst of their 1980s championship run, and the addition of hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky to the Kings in 1988, Prime Ticket became one of the leading regional sports networks in the country, rivaling that of New York's Madison Square Garden Network.

1990s

In 1990, the network became the cable television home of the then-California Angels, as well as serving as the cable home of the Clippers for one season (1990–91), before they moved to the now-defunct SportsChannel Los Angeles (originally Z Channel) the following season.

In August 1994, Buss and Daniels sold off Prime Ticket to Liberty Media, and became a part of its Prime Sports networks, along with Prime Sports Arizona (now FSN Arizona), Prime Sports Midwest (now FSN Midwest), Prime Sports Rocky Mountain (now FSN Rocky Mountain), SportSouth (now FSN South), KBL (now FSN Pittsburgh), Prime Sports Northwest (now FSN Northwest), and PASS (Pro-Am Sports Systems; now FSN Detroit).

In 1996, the now-rechristened Prime Sports West became part of the new Fox Sports Net, which formed after News Corporation purchased the Prime Sports networks from Liberty Media. It was then that the network took on its current name. It was one year later that the new Fox Sports Net merged with SportsChannel America, to undertake its current configuration.

In January 1997, Fox Sports Net West 2 was formed to serve as a cable home for the Clippers, Dodgers, Ducks, and all other events that FSN West didn't have room for. This is after the December 1993 shut-down of SportsChannel Los Angeles, which left their home teams with only over-the-air and part-time cable coverage locally.

2000s

On April 3, 2006, FSN West 2 officially became FSN Prime Ticket, making its change with the season opener between the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. The network's new philosophy is to concentrate more on local originally-produced content (such as "Before the Bigs", "In My Own Words", and team-themed "Insider" shows) and less on the supplemental programming provided nationally from Fox Sports Net.

Personalities

* John Ahlers - Anaheim Ducks announcer
* Dain Blanton - High School Spotlight reporter, Lexus Gauntlet reporter
* Michael Cage - USC commentator, Clippers Live analyst, Lakers Live analyst, Bruins Live analyst
* Michael Eaves - Clippers Live anchor, former Clippers Courtside anchor, former Southern California Sports Report anchor
* Sean Farnham - NCAA basketball analyst, host The Lexus Guantlet, The High School Spotlight, sideline reporter
* Jim Fox - Los Angeles Kings commentator, former Kings "Break The Ice" analyst
* Adrian Garcia- Dodgers Live reporter
* Mark Gubicza - MLB analyst, Angels commentator
* Brandon Hancock - Lexus Gauntlet reporter, co-host of High School Game of the Week coverage
* Brian Hayward - Anaheim Ducks commentator
* Rex Hudler - Los Angeles Angels commentator, former "Angels in the Infield" analyst, Angels Live Analyst
* Marques Johnson - Pacific 10 basketball commentator, 2007 Trojans Live March Madness analyst
* Kevin Kennedy - MLB analyst
* Stu Lantz - Los Angeles Lakers commentator
* Ralph Lawler - Los Angeles Clippers announcer
* Steve Lyons - Los Angeles Dodgers road commentator and Dodgers Live analyst
* Bill Macdonald - Angels Live anchor, Ducks Live anchor, Lakers Live anchor, Avengers football announcer, UCLA football and basketball announcer, former Kings "Break The Ice", "Duck on Ice" and "Angels in the Infield" anchor
* Don MacLean - Clippers Live analyst and UCLA basketball commentator
* Rory Markas - Angels announcer
* Chris McGee - Lakers Live reporter, Clippers live reporter, High School football announcer
* Jose Mota - Los Angeles Angels announcer and reporter
* Joel Meyers - Los Angeles Lakers and Big 12 football announcer
* Bob Miller - Los Angeles Kings announcer
* Tom Murray - NHL analyst
* Christine Nubla - anchor
* Patrick O'Neal - Kings Live anchor, 2005 Kings "Break The Ice" anchor, former Southern California Sports Report anchor
* Petros Papadakis - USC football analyst and Pacific 10 football commentator
* Steve Physioc - Los Angeles Angels announcer, former Pacific 10 basketball announcer
* Ted Robinson - Pacific 10 basketball announcer
* Vin Scully - Los Angeles Dodgers announcer (Beginning in the 2005 season, Scully works only Dodger away games versus AL and NL West opponents as well as all Dodger home games. Scully normally will not travel further east than the Dodger road games versus the Colorado Rockies.)
* Michael Smith - Clippers commentator
* Lindsay Soto - Trojans Live anchor, sideline reporter, former Southern California Sports Report anchor
* Charley Steiner - Dodgers road announcer
* Matt Stevens - UCLA football analyst
* Paul Sunderland - Pacific 10 and Big West basketball announcer, former Lakers announcer
* Barry Tompkins - Pacific 10 football and basketball announcer
* Jim Watson - Dodgers Live anchor, Pacific 10 announcer, sideline reporter, former "Dodgers Dugout" anchor, LA Galaxy announcer

Former personalitites

* Todd Donoho - Southern California Sports Report Anchor
* John Fricke - Southern California Sports Report Anchor
* Suzy Schuster - Southern California Sports Report Anchor
* Carolyn Hughes - Southern California Sports Report Anchor, 2005 Dodgers Dugout Anchor
* Barry Lebrock - Southern California Sports Report Anchor
* Van Earl Wright - Southern California Sports Report Anchor, 2004 Dodgers Dugout Anchor and 2004 Kings "Break the Ice" Anchor
* Chick Hearn - Lakers Announcer (deceased)
* Pooh Richardson - 2006 Clippers Live Analyst
* Mark Langston - 2002 Angels Postseason Studio Analyst
* Eric Karros - 2003 Dodgers Posteason Studio Analyst
* Marty McSorley - 2006 NHL Analyst
* Tom Kelly - USC commentator
* Rick Monday - Dodgers Dugout analyst
* Ross Porter - Dodgers play-by-play announcer
* Jack Haley - Lakers Live analyst, Big West basketball commentator
* Paul Westphal - NBA analyst, USC basketball commentator
* Christian Steckel - High School Spotlight reporter

ee also

*Broadcasting of sports events
*Fox Broadcasting Company
*Fox Sports
*Fox Sports Net
*SportsChannel Los Angeles

External links

* [http://www.foxsports.com/regional/west Official Site]
* [http://msn.foxsports.com/name/HD FSN HD]