Sun Sports
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Sun Sports is a Florida sports broadcasting network, with its headquarters 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.Sun Sports airs professional, collegiate and high school sporting events. It offers split feeds for the state's regions. Its viewers can watch the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat play NBA basketball, as well as the Tampa Bay Lightning play NHL hockey, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Florida Marlins play MLB baseball. 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 college football games are initially shown on pay-per-view.
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.
Sun Sports changed its name from Sunshine Network 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.
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 FSN Florida are sister channels, and games can air on either channel depending on who is playing at what time (particularly with the Marlins and Devil 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 FSN Florida would carry Miami-area teams) so that the Lightning, Heat, Marlins, and Florida Panthers are all cable-exclusive. Some Devil Rays and Magic games are available on over-the-air stations.
One of the non-sports programming that is seen on Sun Sports on a regular schdule is an political-themed interview/debate show titled Capitol Dateline. The program's mainline topic is Floridian government and is a holdover from the Sunshine Network era.
