CSN Bay Area

Infobox TV channel
name = Comcast SportsNet Bay Area
logofile = Csn bayarea.png logosize = 200px
logoalt = CSN Bay Area logo
logo2 =
launch = 1990 (as SportsChannel Bay Area)
closed date =
picture format =
share =
share as of =
share source =
network = Comcast Sports Net
owner = Comcast
Fox Broadcasting Company
San Francisco Giants
slogan =
country = United States
language = American English
broadcast area = San Francisco Bay Area
Northern California
headquarters =
former names = SportsChannel Bay Area (1990-1991)
SportsChannel Pacific (1991-1998)
Fox Sports Bay Area (1998-2000)
Fox Sports Net Bay Area (2000-2004)
FSN Bay Area (2004-2008)
replaced names = Pacfic Sports Network
replaced by names =
sister names = CSN California
timeshift names =
web = [http://bayarea.comcastsportsnet.com CSN Bay Area]
terr serv 1 =
terr chan 1 =
sat serv 1 = DirecTV
sat chan 1 = 696 (SD)
696-1 (HD)
sat serv 2 = Dish Network
sat chan 2 = 419 (SD)
369 (HD)
cable serv 1 = Available on select cable systems
cable chan 1 = Check local listings for channels
sat radio serv 1 =
sat radio chan 1 =
adsl serv 1 =
adsl chan 1 =
online serv 1 =
online chan 1 =

Comcast SportsNet Bay Area (CSN Bay Area for short) is the regional sports network that serves cable outlets throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as other parts of Northern California and Northern Nevada.

History

Originally launched as SportsChannel Bay Area in April 1990, it merged with the Pacific Sports Network in the July 1991 and became SportsChannel Pacific. When the SportsChannel networks joined the Fox Sports Net family, the channel was rebranded as Fox Sports Bay Area in January 1998, and to FSN Bay Area in 2004. With the network being 45% owned by Comcast, 30% owned by the San Francisco Giants and 25% owned by Fox, the network was rebranded as a part of the Comcast SportsNet family on March 31, 2008. [ [http://fsnbayarea.com/AuthenticOpeningDay.jsp Authentic Opening Day ] ]

Programming

CSN Bay Area is the main television channel for the MLB's Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants, the NBA's Golden State Warriors, the NHL's San Jose Sharks and MLS's San Jose Earthquakes. It also airs the AFL's San Jose SaberCats, but infrequently.

The channel also broadcasts college sports, mainly involving the Stanford Cardinal and the California Golden Bears as well as sports involving the Pacific-10, Western Athletic, Mountain West and West Coast Conferences.

Until 2004, the network also broadcast games involving the NBA's Sacramento Kings and the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs. Following the expiration of their contracts with the then-FSN Bay Area, the owners of the Kings and Monarchs went on to create CSN Bay Area's sister station, CSN West (now CSN California). CSN California is still the main channel for other Bay Area teams like MLL's San Francisco Dragons and NLL's San Jose Stealth.

Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area still features Fox Sports Net original shows like FSN Final Score, Sports Science and The Best Damn Sports Show Period.

CSN original programming

Every Thursday night, CSN Bay Area airs an out-of-market National Hockey League game, usually either from CSN Philadelphia or CSN Mid-Atlantic.

Beginning with the Comcast SportsNet era, most A's and Giants home games and California road games are preceded and followed by a half an hour plus show previewing and analyzing the day's game respectively.

Although the Warriors and Sharks were still playing when CSN launched, their games did not feature pre-game and post-game shows (except a few Sharks playoff games which had pre-game shows, and the Warriors who already had their own pre-game show), but both are planned for their 2008-2009 seasons.

CSN is the main channel for "Shark Byte", a show aired during the Sharks season which features interviews and segments on players and coaches. The A's launched a show called "All A's '08" which has the same idea.

In July, CSN purchased a new studio in San Francisco, which will be the set for future news shows for the network.

Additional channels

CSN Bay Area also operates three additional channels for their programming. "CSN Plus" and "CSN Plus2" are overflow channels utilized for scheduling conflicts when more than one team broadcast by the station is playing at the same time. "CSN HD" is the high definition feed of the network. Like the CSN+ channels, this channel is only used for select HD broadcasts, and shows no other programming. A select number of Giants, Athletics, Warriors, Sharks and SaberCats games are broadcast in HD.

Personalities

*Shooty Babitt, Athletics pre-game and post-game host
*Mindi Bach, Athletics pre-game and post-game host
*Jamie Baker, Sharks pre-game and post-game host
*Jim Barnett, Warriors color analyst
*Troy Dayak, Earthquakes color analyst
*Ray Fosse, Athletics color analyst
*Bob Fitzgerald, Warriors and SaberCats play-by-play announcer
*Amy Gutierrez, Giants sideline reporter
*Randy Hahn, Sharks play-by-play announcer
*Duane Kuiper, Giants play-by-play announcer
*Glen Kuiper, Warriors and Athletics play-by-play announcer
*Mike Krukow, Giants color analyst
*Kate Longworth, Earthquakes sideline reporter
*Greg Papa, Giants pre-game and post-game host, Giants substitute play-by-play announcer
*Scott Reiss, Sharks pre-game, intermission and post-game host
*Drew Remenda, Sharks color analyst
*Bip Roberts, Giants studio analyst
*FP Santangelo, Giants and Athletics game analyst
*John Shrader, Earthquakes play-by-play announcer
*Jaymee Sire, Athletics and Warriors sideline reporter
*Matt Steinmetz, Warriors game analyst

References