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SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that were owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC. Operating from March 1, 1979 to January 27, 1998, it was the country's first regional sports network, and along with Prime Network, was an important ancestor to many of the regional sports outlets in the U.S., particularly Fox Sports Networks and Comcast SportsNet. At its peak, SportsChannel operated nine networks serving several of the nation's largest cities including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia. ==History== SportsChannel's origins date back to 1976, when Cablevision launched Cablevision Sports 3 (the "3" referencing its original channel slot on the provider), a sports network carried on the company's New York City area system. The network originated the SportsChannel brand on March 1, 1979, when it changed its name to SportsChannel New York.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://web.archive.org/web/20080222055629/http://www.rainbow-media.com/about/ourstory_timeline80.html )〕 The network carried games from several New York area sports teams including the New York Yankees and New York Mets Major League Baseball franchises and the NBA's New Jersey Nets. One of the notable accomplishments from the channel's early days was inking one of the earliest cable deals with a pro sports team when they signed a contract to broadcast games on cable for the National Hockey League's New York Islanders in 1978 while still known as Sports 3. The network expanded to other regions with the launches and purchases of additional networks throughout the 1980s; the first expansion occurred through Cablevision subsidiary Rainbow Media's purchase of Boston-based PRISM New England in 1983, relaunching the network as SportsChannel New England. The following year, Rainbow purchased Sportsvision, a Chicago-based pay television network founded by Chicago White Sox owners Jerry Reinsdorf (also owner of the Chicago Bulls) and Eddie Einhorn, and media entrepreneur Fred Eychaner; that network subsequently relaunched as SportsChannel Chicago. Rainbow later launched SportsChannel networks in Florida, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Los Angeles and Philadelphia between 1987 and 1990. In December 1988, NBC and Cablevision announced that they would form a joint venture to operate their respective cable networks, including SportsChannel. Through this partnership, SportsChannel acquired the regional cable television rights to several National Hockey League teams, while NBC and Cablevision also partnered to carry events from the 1992 Summer Olympics through a pay-per-view service known as the Olympics Triplecast. In 1990, Rainbow/NBC acquired the San Francisco-based Pacific Sports Network, relaunching it as SportsChannel Bay Area. SportsChannel Los Angeles later ceased operations in 1993 due to financial issues, with all of its sports broadcast contracts being acquired by the competing Prime Ticket. On April 25, 1995, NBC sold its 50% interest in SportsChannel New York to Rainbow Media for US$93 million; NBC cited that "owning a piece of SportsChannel New York made less sense" after Cablevision and ITT purchased competing regional sports network, MSG. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「SportsChannel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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