History
SportsNet Rocky Mountain was originally launched on November 15, 1988, as the Prime Sports Network, a joint venture between Bill Daniels, United Cable (controlled by TCI), and Home Sports Entertainment. The first live event ever shown on the network was a Denver Nuggets – Los Angeles Lakers NBA game. The network was originally broadcast from 5 p.m. to midnight weekdays and 11 a.m. to midnight on weekends. Additional programming included the Denver Zephyrs (minor-league baseball), college games from the Big Eight, the Western Athletic and the Missouri Valley conferences, and University of Denver hockey. Additionally, there was coverage of skiing, hunting, fishing, rodeo, boxing, tennis, and golf.[4]
The network was one of the original members of the Prime Sports Network, a group of regional sports networks formed in 1989 as a partnership between Bill Daniels and TCI. It was officially renamed Prime Sports Network- Rocky Mountain to avoid confusion with the group which now had the same name. However, it still was often referred to on-air as "Prime Sport Network" or simply "PSN". In spring 1995, the network was renamed Prime Sports Rocky Mountain as part of a larger rebranding of Prime's RSNs, timed with the launch of direct broadcast satellite services such as DirecTV in the same year that required further disambiguation on a national lineup.
In October 1995, News Corporation, which formed a sports division for the Fox network two years earlier after it obtained the broadcast rights to the National Football Conference and sought to create a group of regional sports networks, acquired a 50% interest in the Prime Network from TCI parent Liberty Media.[5] Later that year on November 1, News Corporation and Liberty Media relaunched the Prime Network affiliates as part of the new Fox Sports Net group, with the Denver-based network officially rebranding as Fox Sports Rocky Mountain.[6] The channel was rebranded as Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain in 2000, as part of a collective brand modification of the FSN networks under the "Fox Sports Net" banner; subsequently in 2004, the channel shortened its name to FSN Rocky Mountain, through the networks' de-emphasis of the "Fox Sports Net" brand.
On December 22, 2006, News Corporation sold its interest in FSN Rocky Mountain and sister networks FSN Utah, FSN Northwest and FSN Pittsburgh to Liberty Media, in an asset trade in which News Corporation also traded its 38.5% ownership stake in satellite provider DirecTV for $550 million in cash and stock, in exchange for Liberty Media's 16.3% stake in the company.[7] On May 4, 2009, DirecTV Group Inc. announced it would become a part of Liberty's entertainment unit, part of which would then be spun off into the separate company under the DirecTV name, in a deal in which Liberty would increase its share in DirecTV from 48% to 54%, with Liberty owner John Malone and his family owning a 24% interest. DirecTV would operate its newly acquired FSN-affiliated networks through DirecTV Sports Networks,[1] a new division formed when the split off from Liberty Media was completed on November 19, 2009.[8]
On December 17, 2010, DirecTV Sports Networks announced that its four Fox Sports Networks-affiliated regional outlets – FSN Rocky Mountain, FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Northwest and FSN Utah – would be relaunched under the "Root Sports" brand.[9] The network officially rebranded as Root Sports Rocky Mountain on April 1, 2011, with The Dan Patrick Show as the first program to air under the new brand. For nominal purposes, the Root Sports networks continued to carry programming distributed mainly to the Fox Sports regional networks to provide supplementary sports and entertainment programming.
On June 12, 2017, AT&T Sports Networks announced that the network, along with Root Sports Southwest, Root Sports Pittsburgh, and Root Sports Utah, will rebrand under the name AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, with all network programming and on-air talent remaining intact.[10][11] The name change took effect on July 14, 2017.
On October 1, 2021, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, along with sister networks AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, and Root Sports Northwest, was removed from Dish Network satellite and Sling streaming TV services.[12]
On February 24, 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it would leave the RSN business.[13][14] Originally scheduled for a winddown by March 31, WBD and Major League Baseball would later agree to sustain RSN operations through the end of the MLB season.[15] In August, John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal reported that AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain was likely to be shuttered, and that the Rockies were considering a deal with Altitude Sports and Entertainment or assigning their local television rights to MLB.[16] The Rockies eventually decided in 2024 to air their games locally with assistance from MLB. It was later confirmed that the network will shut down by the end of 2023, with full-time employees laid off on October 6.[17] The network was subsequently rebranded as SportsNet Rocky Mountain for its last few weeks of service, removing AT&T's name from the product entirely. The channel's final two months on the air comprised broadcasts of some national and syndicated sports programs, including some SSN Sports shows,
