Three days after the debut of the Oklahoma’s first major league franchise, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the state’s first sports TV network will launch.
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Fox SportsOklahoma will debut Saturday night with a five-hour block of Oklahoma programming — an OSSAA fall baseball and cheerleading special at 5:30 p.m., a Bob Stoops "In My Own Words” special at 6:30 p.m. and the Thunder’s game at Houston, beginning with "Thunder Live” at 7 p.m.
The network will provide much more Oklahoma programming than is available on Fox Sports Southwest, which covers five states and 34 TV markets, stretching from El Paso to New Orleans. Network general manager Jon Heidtke said Fox Sports Oklahoma will provide Oklahoma-related programming more than 100 nights a year, including 65 Thunder games, 77 hours of high school state championship programming and some Big 12 sports.
Much of the programming will still originate from other FSN regional networks, which may create confusion for viewers. For instance, Oklahoma viewers will still receive Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars telecasts from Fox Sports Southwest and Houston Astros telecasts from Fox Sports Houston.
"It is confusing,” Heidtke said. "At the end of the day, what we’re trying to do is provide more regionally relevant content for our customers and our fans in Oklahoma.”
Heidtke said the network hopes to add additional events, such as Bedlam baseball, softball and wrestling, and other OU and OSU events, but that probably won’t happen until next school year.
The "Thunder Live” pregame and postgame shows will include Thunder sideline reporter Brent Weber, a former KOKH-25 morning announcer, game analyst Grant Long and a studio host in Dallas. The "OSSAA Spotlight Update” on high schools sports will be a weekly feature.
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It seemed as though OSSAA pulled the rug from underneath KSBI TV as well as loyal fans and customers throughout Oklahoma. Just goes to show what happened when people who don't understand a situation enough to make good decisions. Hard to believe, but they turn their backs on the people they were supposed to serve.
Please STOP the rhetoric Daily Oklahoman! The first major-league team in the state was the Oklahoma Outlaws of the USFL. The first major-league team in Oklahoma CITY was the Oklahoma Wranglers of the Arena Football League!!! Technically, the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets was the 2nd major-league team; albeit temporary. The Oklahoma City Thunder is the 3rd major-league team in Oklahoma City, and fourth in the state!!!!! GOT THAT? Ill give you this, the OKC Thunder is the first PERMANENT team of the Big 4 majors (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL) - but AFL is also a major league, and so was the USFL; both leagues had a team in Oklahoma before the NBA.
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Fox Sports Oklahoma channel locations→Cox Communications: Channel 37.
→DirecTV: Channel 676, Oklahoma-related programming will air on Channel 679.
→Dish Network: Channel 416, Oklahoma-related programming will air on an alternate channel.
OSSAA programming
Fox Sports Oklahoma will televise 77 hours of original OSSAA programming: 14 live events, 13 tape-delayed events and 12 OSSAA Championship Spotlight one-hour highlight shows. Here is the schedule:
State championship events
Sunday, 6A softball (tape delay) 3:30 p.m.
Wednesday, 5A softball (tape delay) 10 p.m.
Dec. 5-6, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A football (live) TBA
Dec. 16, 2A football (tape delay) 10 p.m.
Dec. 19, Class A football (tape delay) 10 p.m.
March 7, A boys, A girls, B boys, B girls basketball (live) TBA
March 14, 6A boys, 6A girls, 5A boys, 5A girls basketball (live) TBA
May 16, 6A , 4A baseball (live) TBA
TBA, 4A, 3A, 2A, boys basketball (tape delay)
TBA, 4A, 3A, 2A girls basketball (tape delay)
TBA, 5A, 3A, 2A baseball (tape delay)
TBA, 3A, 2A baseball (tape delay)
OSSAA Championship Spotlight
(One-hour highlight shows)
Saturday, fall baseball and cheerleading, 5:30 p.m.
Nov. 10, volleyball, 9 p.m.
Nov. 26, cross country, 9 p.m.
Dec. 26, Class B & C football, 10 p.m.
TBA, swimming, wrestling, slow-pitch softball, A & B baseball, track & field, tennis, golf and soccer.
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