Lorimar Sports Network

The Lorimar Sports Network, or LSN, was an American ad hoc television network providing syndicated college football and basketball. It was based at Lorimar's original headquarters in Culver City, California, with an additional office in Dallas, Texas. It was in operation from 1983 until 1986.

Lorimar Sports Network
FormerlySports Productions, Inc. (1983-1984)
IndustrySports television
Production
Sales & Marketing
Syndication
Distribution
FateDefunct
FoundedSeptember 1983 (1983-09)
DefunctMarch 1986 (1986-03)
HeadquartersDallas, Texas [1]
Culver City, California [2]
Key people
Bill Flaherty
Dave Almstead (Director of Syndication)
John Humphrey (Director of Promotion and Media)
ProductsSoutheastern Conference men's basketball (1983-1986)
Big Ten men's basketball
Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball (1983-1986)
Metro Conference men's basketball (1983-1985)
Western Athletic Conference men's basketball (1983-1985)
Freedom Bowl (1985)
Bluebonnet Bowl
Holiday Bowl
OwnerLorimar Productions
Lorimar-Telepictures (final)

History

Overview

It began in 1983 as a new sports broadcasting division of Lorimar Productions, adopting the branding Sports Productions, Incorporated, or SPI. It then became the Lorimar Sports Network in Summer 1984.

Sports programming

Under both banners, the Lorimar Sports Network had a history of bringing major events in men's college basketball and football. It acquired Southeastern Conference (SEC) basketball from the TVS Television Network in 1983. It also acquired rights to the Big Ten, Metro and WAC.[3][4][5] The SEC on SPI/Lorimar ran from January 1984 until the end of the 1985-1986 season.[6]

LSN also broadcast the Freedom Bowl in 1985, along with the Holiday and Bluebonnet Bowls at the end of the 1985-86 football season,[1] as well as Pacific-10 Conference football during those years.[7]

Demise

The Lorimar Sports Network dissolved over time when they lost broadcast rights to all the conferences they had rights for, especially after the end of the 1985-1986 sports season. Rights to Metro Conference basketball was the first to be lost by LSN as Raycom Sports won rights to the Metro in 1985, and then the Big Ten conference in 1989, two years after Raycom won rights to basketball games from the Big 8 (now Big 12) conference; both the Big 8 and Big Ten were acquired by Raycom in 1987. The 1986 SEC and Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basketball Tournaments (except the championships) were LSN's last sports broadcast because Raycom won syndication rights to the Pac-10 starting with the 1986-87 season. As for SEC Basketball, Raycom's Atlantic Coast Conference broadcast partner, Jefferson-Pilot Teleproductions (later Jefferson Pilot Sports, Lincoln Financial Sports, now part of Raycom Sports) won those rights beginning with the 1986-87 basketball season, added SEC football in 1992, and those rights remained with that company (which became Lincoln Financial Sports in 2006, and became part of Raycom Sports on January 1, 2008) until the end of the 2008-2009 season.[8] The Freedom and Bluebonnet Bowls, however, ended up with the Mizlou Television Network for the 1986, 1987, and 1988 installments.[9]

Just before the end of the 1985-1986 season, Lorimar completed a merger with Telepictures, to form Lorimar-Telepictures.[10] After the Lorimar Sports Network was dissolved in summer 1986, the Lorimar studio itself, including its extensive library of produced and/or distributed programming, was bought out in its entirety by the Burbank, California-based Warner Bros. studio in 1993. Telepictures, on the other hand, once again became a separate production and syndication company under Time Warner ownership.

Notable on-air personalities

This is a partial list.

  • Tom Hammond, play-by-play commentator (SEC basketball)[11]
  • Joe Dean, color analyst (SEC basketball)
  • Tim Brando, play-by-play commentator (Metro basketball)
  • John Rooney, play-by-play commentator (Metro basketball)
  • Bob Carpenter, play-by-play commentator (Big Ten basketball)
  • Irv Brown, Color analyst (WAC basketball)
  • Barry Tompkins, play-by-play commentator (1985 Freedom Bowl)
  • Steve Grote, color analyst (Metro Basketball)

See also

References
  1. Weyler, John (May 2, 1985). "Lorimar Sports to Televise Second Freedom Bowl : As a Concession, Broadcast of Game on Dec. 30 Will Be Blacked Out Locally". Los Angeles Times. Times Mirror Company. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  2. Nager, Gary (January 6, 1986). "Major College Basketball Syndicators." Variety, page 26. (Jan. 26, 1986). Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  3. 1984 SEC Championship Game - Auburn vs. Kentucky (YouTube).
  4. Metro Conference Basketball 1984: Louisville vs. Tulane (YouTube)
  5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-h15xOqTJ 1985 UTEP vs BYU Basketball
  6. All-Time TV Games. From the 2005-06 Alabama Basketball Media Guide, pages 88-90.
  7. Dodds, Tracy (October 16, 1985). "UCLA Television Decision Angers Washington State". Los Angeles Times. Times Mirror Company. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
  8. Company History | Raycom Sports Archived 2015-03-10 at Archive.today
  9. Penner, Mike (April 24, 1986). "Freedom Bowl Announces 3-year Deal with Mizlou". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
  10. Goodwin, Michael (March 16, 1986). "6 BOWL GAMES LOSE TV CONTRACTS OVER MONEY PROBLEMS". The New York Times. The New York Times Company.
  11. Tipton, Jerry (March 11, 2009). "Conley, Hammond prepare for last call". Lexington Herald-Leader. The McClatchy Company. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
Preceded by
TVS Television Network		 Syndication Rightsholder to Southeastern Conference men's basketball
1983-1986		 Succeeded by
Jefferson-Pilot Teleproductions
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