The channel was launched on March 12, 2006, as
SportsTime Ohio; it was founded by the family of
Cleveland Indians owner
Larry Dolan, becoming the second regional sports network in the Cleveland area, after
Fox Sports Ohio (which launched in February 1989 as
SportsChannel Ohio). SportsTime Ohio assumed the regional cable television rights to
Major League Baseball games involving the Indians from Fox Sports Ohio, which had served as the exclusive local broadcaster of the Indians from 2002 to 2005, when it was majority-owned by
Cablevision Systems Corporation (a New York-based company owned by Dolan's brother,
Charles) until an asset trade with then-Fox Sports Net parent
News Corporation who also owned
20th Century Fox and
Fox News. Jim Liberatore, former President of Fox Sports owned Speed Channel helped start the network and served as its first President. His knowledge of the cable industry served a vital role in the success the network enjoyed while so many other team facilitated network launches failed across the country. Starting off as rivals with
Gannett-owned
WKYC providing studio operations for the cable channel, the two networks would soon become corporate sisters, when on December 3, 2012, the Indians announced that it would sell SportsTime Ohio to Fox Sports Ohio parent
Fox Entertainment Group. The deal was finalized four weeks later on December 28. Fox retained SportsTime Ohio's existing staff despite coming under common ownership with Fox Sports Ohio, with Katie Witham becoming a traveling reporter with the team. Now under new ownership, the network became a member of
Fox Sports Networks. In April 2013, at the beginning of the
2013 Major League Baseball season, SportsTime Ohio transitioned to the
Fox Sports branding and imagery, but maintained the SportsTime Ohio branding (following the model of FSN's similar secondary channels
Sun Sports,
SportSouth, and
Prime Ticket). 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 SportsTime Ohio, sister network Fox Sports Ohio, and Fox's 50% stake in the network's Cincinnati sub-feed. 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 Holdings) bought
Fox Sports Networks from
The Walt Disney Company for $10.6 billion. The deal closed on August 22, 2019, thus putting SportsTime Ohio and Fox Sports Ohio under common ownership with several Sinclair stations in Ohio and Pennsylvania (though none in Cleveland itself). 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, SportsTime Ohio was rebranded as
Bally Sports Great Lakes, with all other former Fox Sports Networks also rebranded as "Bally Sports" accompanied by a regional description appropriate for each network. The first live sporting event to air on Bally Sports Great Lakes under the Bally banner was the opening-day coverage of the Indians visiting the Tigers on April 1, which was preceded up by the
Indians Live pregame show.
Bankruptcy and closure On February 15, 2023, Diamond Sports Group, the owner of Bally Sports Great Lakes, 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
Cleveland Guardians. On April 5, 2023,
Major League Baseball, on behalf of the Guardians, filed an emergency motion asking the bankruptcy judge to order Diamond to pay the Guardians fully or give its media rights back to the MLB. 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 Guardians were owed. On June 1, 2023, after a two day long hearing, the bankruptcy judge ordered Diamond to pay the Guardians fully within five days. 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 on October 21. Though Bally Sports Great Lakes did take on a new name on-air as FanDuel Sports Network Great Lakes for its last few months, it never originated any local sports coverage under the name, as the Guardians season ended two days before with their loss in the
2024 ALCS. The team had already moved to distribution through
MLB Local Media on October 9 starting with the 2025 season, as Diamond did not renew their agreement as part of the bankruptcy. On March 1, 2025, FanDuel Sports Network Great Lakes was shut down with a message saying "Thank you for your loyal viewership over the years. Please check your local listings to access broadcasts of the Cleveland Guardians". ==Programming==