Sun Sports is a Florida sports broadcasting network, with its headquarters in the former Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando. Launched in 1988 as Sunshine Network, the station is now affiliated with most cable companies throughout the state of Florida and can be picked up by some satellite providers around the United States.
Sunshine Network changed its name to Sun Sports in 2004 to reflect its sports-focused programming. Originally an affiliate of Prime Network, it was acquired with the rest of Prime by Fox Sports Net in 1995. Today it is partially owned by Comcast SportsNet, but still entirely programmed by Fox Sports.
Programming
Sun Sports airs professional, collegiate and high school sporting events. It offers split feeds for the state's regions. Along with sister network Fox Sports Florida it is the cable home to the NBA's Orlando Magic and Miami Heat, the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning, MLB's Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays, and the AFL's Orlando Predators and Tampa Bay Storm. In addition the channel offers baseball, basketball, football, and other sporting events from Florida International University, University of Florida, Florida State University, and the University of Central Florida, though some Sun Sports-produced college football games are initially shown on pay-per-view. Sun Sports is also one of the few networks outside the New York metro area to carry Rutgers University's coach's show Inside Rutgers Football.
One of the station's highly-rated programs unveiled in 2003 is SportsTalk Live. The show features a roundtable discussion of current issues regarding Florida sports.
Fox Sports Florida
Through Sun Sports, South Florida can view Miami Heat basketball, as Central and Northern Florida can view Orlando Magic basketball. Ultimately however, Sun Sports and FSFlorida are sister channels, and games can air on either channel depending on who is playing at what time (particularly with the Marlins and Rays, since both teams routinely play at the same time). The two channels do not focus on one region of Florida (it was long rumored that Sun Sports would carry only the North/Central Florida teams, while Fox Sports Florida would carry Miami-area teams) so that the Lightning, Heat, Marlins, Magic[1], and Florida Panthers are all cable-exclusive.
Prior to 2009, some Rays games were available on over-the-air stations.
Non-sports programming
Apart from infomercials, the main non-sports programming seen on Sun Sports on its regular schedule is a political-themed interview/debate show titled Capitol Dateline, whose main scope is on Florida government. This program is a holdover from the Sunshine Network era, when the channel originally had a 2-hour afternoon block of programming related to Florida history and government.
Branding
In a manner similar to the Fox Sports network of channels, a small logo bug is shown on the top-right corner of the screen. During the non-sports programming and nationally-televised sporting events, the logo is shown as SUNSPORTS, with the word SUN colored in yellow. During local sporting events, the logo changes to reflect the teams. During Orlando Magic basketball games, the logo reads SUNMAGIC, with the word SUN colored in a medium blue. For Miami Heat basketball games, the logo is shown as SUNHEAT, with SUN colored in red; the word HEAT also has a flame on the end of the T, which reflects the team's official logo. As for Tampa Bay Lightning hockey games, the logo is SUNLIGHTNING, with the SUN also colored in medium blue. During Tampa Bay Rays baseball games, the logo becomes SUNRAYS, with the SUN colored in Columbia blue. And for Florida Marlins baseball games, the logo reads SUNMARLINS, with SUN also colored in Columbia blue. These localized logos also appear during each team's Live pre- and post-game shows.
See also
References
External links
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Orlando Magic |
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| Founded in 1989 • Based in Orlando, Florida |
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| The Franchise |
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6 (The Sixth Man)
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Fox Sports |
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| Current programs |
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Owned and operated
regional sports networks |
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Television stations serving the greater Tampa Bay Area |
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| English stations |
WEDU (3.1 PBS, 3.2 V-me, 3.3 FKN/FL Chan, 3.4 World) · WFLA (8.1 NBC, 8.2 RTN) · WTSP (10.1 CBS, 10.2 Weather) · WTVT (13.1 Fox) · WPDS 14 (Edu.) · W15CM 15 (unknown) · WUSF (16.1 PBS, 16.2 Kids, 16.3 Create, 16.4 FKN) · WSVT 18 (Daystar) · WARP 20 (MTV2) · WCLF (22.1 CTN, 22.2 CTNi) · WFTS (28.1 ABC, 28.2 AccuWX) · WMOR (32.1 Ind, 32.2 This, 32.3 Estrella) · W33CC 33 (HSN) · WSPF 35 (city of St. Pete) · W36CO 36/W56EB 56 (TBN) · WTTA (38.1 MNTV) · W43CE 43 (unknown) · WTOG (44.1 CW) · WVEA-LP 46 (HSN) · WZRA 48 (Ethnic/A1/NTV/CTV/DW) · WXPX (66.1 ION, 66.2 Qubo, 66.3 Life, 66.4 Worship)
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