FanDuel Sports Network Florida was launched on December 29, 1987, as
SportsChannel Florida. It was originally owned by
Rainbow Media (a subsidiary of
Cablevision Systems Corporation), and was the fourth regional network of
SportsChannel America. The network originally featured coverage of local college teams, holding the broadcast rights to televise select games from the
University of Florida,
Florida State University,
University of Miami,
University of South Florida and
Jacksonville University. In addition to national SportsChannel programming, the channel also showed a combined 100 baseball games that featured the
New York Yankees and
New York Mets from
SportsChannel New York, and
Chicago White Sox games broadcast by
SportsChannel Chicago. In the spring of 1988, SportsChannel Florida obtained the regional cable television rights to broadcast
NBA games from the
Miami Heat, effective with the
1988–89 season. In 1992, SportsChannel lost the television contract to the Heat to then-rival
Sunshine Network. Heat games would return to the channel in the late 1990s when both networks came under the ownership of Fox Sports parent
News Corporation. In 1996,
Florida Panthers owner
Wayne Huizenga purchased a 70% controlling interest in SportsChannel Florida, with Rainbow Media (by that time, a
joint venture between Cablevision and
NBC) retaining a minority 30% interest. That led Huizenga to move the
NHL franchise's game telecasts from Sunshine Network to SportsChannel Florida for the
1996–97 season. The following year in 1997, SportsChannel Florida obtained the rights to the
Florida Marlins – also owned by Huizenga – which moved 35 games (half the schedule) from the Sunshine Network in
that year's Major League Baseball season, with all games moving the following season. In 1998, SportsChannel Florida also gained the regional cable rights to the
Tampa Bay Devil Rays Major League Baseball expansion team. Unlike the other networks that were members of the SportsChannel America chain, Huizenga's control of SportsChannel Florida prevented the channel from joining
Fox Sports Net. Shortly after Cablevision and Fox Sports announced the merger in 1997, Cablevision ceased production of its national SportsChannel programming in favor of Fox Sports Net's programming (though the networks would not officially rebrand until early the next year). Since SportsChannel Florida did not have rights to the Fox Sports Net programming, SportsChannel Florida made an affiliation agreement with
CNN/SI to carry its programming instead. Cablevision finally repurchased Huizenga's share of the network in November 1999. The network was relaunched as
Fox Sports Net Florida on March 1, 2000, making it the last SportsChannel network to adopt the Fox Sports Net brand. At this time Fox Sports Net programming was moved from the Sunshine Network (which Fox only had a minority-interest in) and CNN/SI programming was phased out. In February 2005, News Corporation acquired Cablevision's ownership stakes in Fox Sports Florida and
Fox Sports Ohio, following an asset trade in which Fox sold its interest in Madison Square Garden and the arena's NBA and NHL team tenants, the
New York Knicks and
New York Rangers, to Cablevision, in exchange for acquiring sole ownership of the two Fox Sports regional networks. News Corporation
spun off most of its entertainment properties into
21st Century Fox in July 2013. 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 Florida. 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 Sports Group) bought
Fox Sports Networks from
The Walt Disney Company for $10.6 billion. The deal closed on August 22, 2019. 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. On March 31, 2021, coinciding with the start of the
2021 Major League Baseball season the next day, Fox Sports Florida and sister network Fox Sports Sun rebranded as
Bally Sports Florida and
Bally Sports Sun, which resulted in 18 other Regional Sports Networks renamed Bally Sports in their respective regions. The first live sporting event on Bally Sports Florida was the Marlins home opener against the Rays on April 1.
Bankruptcy On March 14, 2023, Diamond Sports, the parent company of Bally Sports, filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy, 30 days after they failed to make a $140M interest payment. Diamond’s first-lien lenders will not be affected as part of the restructuring support agreement, but other creditors will convert their debt into equity. Diamond also plans to separate from Sinclair and become an entirely new entity. On July 2, 2024, Bally Sports Florida and the
Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League mutually agreed to terminate their broadcasting contract early. That same day, the Panthers announced a new broadcast deal with the
E. W. Scripps Company's
Scripps Sports, which would put games over-the-air on Scripps-owned
WSFL-TV in
Miami and
WHDT in
West Palm Beach. On October 16, 2024, it was revealed in a court filing that Diamond had reached a new sponsorship agreement with
FanDuel Group, under which it intended to rebrand Bally Sports as the
FanDuel Sports Network; on October 18, 2024, Diamond officially announced the rebranding, which took effect October 21. Under the agreement, FanDuel has the option to take a minority equity stake of up to 5% once Diamond Sports exits bankruptcy. The branding is downplayed during programming related to high school sports. ==Programming==