FanDuel Sports Network Southwest originally launched on January 4, 1983, as
Home Sports Entertainment (HSE), a unit of
Warner-Amex Cable. As one of the first regional sports networks in
North America, it served as the cable television home of professional and collegiate sports teams throughout Texas and surrounding states. In 1988, HSE became an affiliate of
Prime Sports Networks. Like many Prime Sports-affiliated networks, it shared channel space with other networks on several cable providers in its service area (most often resulting in its programming being restricted to nighttime periods) until the early 1990s, when cable systems began upgrading their
headend infrastructures to increase channel capacity, reassigning most of the cable channels that shared time with HSE to other channel slots once these upgrades were complete. In 1994,
Liberty Media acquired HSE, converting it into an owned-and-operated affiliate of Prime Sports and changing its name to
Prime Sports Southwest. In 1996,
News Corporation, which formed its own
sports division for the
Fox network two years earlier, acquired a 50% interest in the Prime Network from Liberty Media; the network was officially rebranded as
Fox Sports Southwest on November 1 of that year, as part of a relaunch of the Prime Network affiliates as the cornerstones of the new
Fox Sports Net. The channel was then rebranded as
Fox Sports Net Southwest in 2000, as part of a collective brand modification of the FSN networks under the "Fox Sports Net" banner. In 2004, the channel shortened its name to
FSN Southwest, through the networks' de-emphasis of the brand, before reverting to the Fox Sports Southwest moniker in 2008. In 2007, a
high definition simulcast feed of Fox Sports Southwest, which broadcasts in the
720p format was launched. Initially, the channel did not provide a 24-hour simulcast but it broadcast various Mavericks (prior to the
2024–25 NBA season), Rangers (prior to 2025), Spurs and Stars games (prior to July 6, 2024), as well as several
NCAA football and basketball games shown nationally on FSN and other programming distributed nationally by Fox Sports Networks in high definition. Today, nearly all programming is shown in HD. In July 2013, News Corporation
spun off the Fox Sports Networks and most of its other U.S. entertainment properties into
21st Century Fox. On December 14, 2017,
The Walt Disney Company announced plans to acquire all 22 regional Fox Sports networks from 21st Century Fox as part of
their acquisition of Fox, including Fox Sports Southwest. However, on June 27, 2018, the
Justice Department ordered their divestment under antitrust grounds, citing Disney's ownership of
ESPN (ESPN also owned a stake in the
Longhorn Network until its shutdown on June 30, 2024). 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. The deal closed on August 22, 2019, thus placing Fox Sports Southwest in common ownership with 17 Sinclair stations in Texas. 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
2021 Major League Baseball season, Fox Sports Southwest was rebranded as
Bally Sports Southwest.
Bankruptcy On February 15, 2023, Diamond Sports Group, the owner of Bally Sports Southwest, failed to make a $140 million interest payment, instead opting for a 30-day grace period to make the payment. On March 14, 2023, Diamond Sports Group filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. During its bankruptcy, Diamond missed a payment to the
Texas Rangers. On April 5, 2023, the Rangers filed an emergency motion asking the bankruptcy judge to order Diamond to pay the Rangers fully or give its media rights back to
Major League Baseball. Diamond argued that because of
cord-cutting the contract rate for the media rights of the teams was too high. A hearing on the matter was set for May 31, 2023. As an interim, on April 19, the bankruptcy judge ordered Diamond Sports to pay 50% of what the Rangers were owed. On June 1, 2023, after a two day long hearing, the bankruptcy judge ordered Diamond to pay the Rangers fully within five days. On July 3, 2024, Diamond Sports Group filed a motion requesting that its contract with the
Dallas Stars be terminated. On July 8, the Stars subsequently announced that it would partner with A Parent Media Co. to stream all of its games for free via the team-run streaming service
Victory+ beginning in the
2024–25 season. On August 23, 2024, Diamond Sports Group terminated its contract with the
Dallas Mavericks prior to the
2024–25 NBA season. On September 6, 2024, the Mavericks had reached a multi-year deal with
Tegna to broadcast their regionally televised games over-the-air on either
WFAA (Channel 8) or
KFAA-TV (Channel 29, previously KMPX). In addition to the deal, 15 games will be simulcast on both WFAA and KFAA-TV. On October 6, 2024, The
Texas Rangers ended their agreement with Diamond Sports Group, with the team searching for options to broadcast its games, including the possible creation of their own regional sports network, for the
2025 MLB season. Prior to their departure, the Rangers owned a 10% equity stake in the network. On January 15, 2025, the Rangers and A Parent Media Co. reached a multiyear deal to stream its games on Victory+, with a subscription of $100 per season. Later on January 27, the Rangers announced the creation of their own regional sports network dubbed Rangers Sports Network, which will produce and distribute game broadcasts. Two days later, the Rangers reached an agreement with Nexstar Media Group and Gray Media to broadcast 15 games over-the-air, the first time the club has included OTA games since 2014. In the DFW area, the 15 games will be broadcast on
KDAF (CW33). 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==