FS San Diego Connects on Dish Carriage Deal

DBS provider to launch RSN on April 1

By Mike Reynolds, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/6/2013 7:55:00 PM

There was affiliate regional sports network action in southern California, but not with the service making all the headlines in recent weeks.

Fox Sports San Diego has inked a carriage contract with Dish Network. The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, calls for the No. 2 DBS provider to launch the RSN home of Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres on April 1 on its top 120 Plus and Latino Dos packages. The agreement bolsters FS San Diego's affiliate roster, which also includes DirecTV, AT&T U-verse and Cox. The latter was the longtime presenter of Padres' games on its Cox4 service, before Fox secured the rights, beginning last season.

Time Warner Cable -- which is helping the Los Angeles Dodgers launch their own RSN -- could not come terms with Padres' ownership on a rights deal, and has yet to come terms with FS San Diego. A Fox spokesman said there haven't been any meaningful conversations between the parties since last year.