Prime Network

:"For the Canadian cable television specialty channel formerly known as "Prime", see TVtropolis. for the Australian television network, see Prime Television."Prime Network was a cable sports network owned by Liberty Media that served several regionalized areas between 1983 and late-1997. While Liberty owned many of these stations, some were affiliates and owned by another company. Affiliates also had the choice of what Prime programming they wanted to air and when.

Notable programming

Prime Network was revolutionary in the sense that it was one of the first sports networks to give live national coverage to regional auto racing series, such as the NASCAR West Series and ARCA stock car series. They were also the exclusive live broadcast home to the USAR Hooters ProCup Series from the series' inception in 1994 until Prime Sports' demise in November 1997, when ESPN2 secured the rights to the series from 1998–1999. In addition to this, Prime also televised a great deal of ASA (American Speed Association) races in the 1980s and 1990s, sharing broadcast rights with now-defunct TNN (The Nashville Network). The network also was the first to televise NASCAR Nextel (then Winston) Cup qualifying on a regular basis, mainly for races televised by TBS (Turner Broadcasting System). Prime was well known for its broadcasting of international and both USA and Canadian domestic equestrian competitions, at a level not since matched by any other North American network. The station developed a well known reputation among those who followed that sport. Prime also televised a number of regional NHL hockey games and college basketball games, along with bodybuilding and wrestling matches. They would also occasionally air workout programs, like Body by Jake.

Time-sharing

Some of Prime Networks affiliates were "time-share" stations. In other words, they shared time with other cable networks on some cable systems. For example, Home Sports Entertainment (now FSN Southwest) shared time with QVC network on some cable outlets. Ironically, QVC is now owned by Liberty Media, who owned Prime. However, during the Prime/QVC timeshare, QVC was owned by Comcast. Usually, QVC would air from about 3 a.m.-1 p.m. on a given day, and then Prime would take over with its feed and feature a brief sign-on and display its bright red HSE symbol in a large font. They would then give a program listing of the day's shows, which was usually superimposed over a decorative sports-related background, such as a basketball court. Some cable systems would scramble HSE when its feed took over because they treated it as a premium channel, such as Sports Time, which was on in the 1980s.

Prime SportsChannels America

In 1993, Liberty, NBC and Cablevision created a new venture called Prime SportsChannels America sharing programming and sales agreements between Prime and SportsChannel America. In 1996, Liberty Media sold 50 percent of their regional Prime Sports channels to News Corporation creating FOX Sports Net and a new company, FOX/Liberty Networks. In 1997, FOX/Liberty merged with SportsChannel America creating National Sports Partners, and the Prime Network and SportsChannel names were dropped for the FSN name nationwide.

In 2007, Liberty bought back FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Rocky Mountain, and FSN Northwest from News Corporation.

Affiliates

Affiliates included:
*Prime Sports Arizona (now FSN Arizona)
*Prime Sports Midwest (now FSN Midwest)
*Prime Sports Rocky Mountain (now FSN Rocky Mountain)
*Prime Sports Intermountain West (now FSN Utah)
*SportSouth (now FSN South)
*Prime Sports Southwest (formerly Home Sports Entertainment (HSE), now FSN Southwest)
*KBL (now FSN Pittsburgh)
*PASS (Pro-Am Sports Systems; replaced by FSN Detroit)
*Prime Sports Northwest (now FSN Northwest)
*Prime Ticket (now FSN West)
*Empire Sports Network (replaced by Time Warner Sports 26)
*Sunshine Network (currently Sun Sports)
*Home Team Sports (currently CSN Mid-Atlantic)
*Midwest Sports Channel (currently FSN North)
*New England Sports Network
*Madison Square Garden Network