NBC Sports Philadelphia

NBC Sports Philadelphia holds the regional television rights to the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers,[11] NHL's Philadelphia Flyers, the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball[7] and the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. In addition to live game telecasts, the network carries pre-game and pre-game shows under the Pre Game Live and Post Game Live banners that bookend 76ers (Sixers Pre Game Live and Sixers Post Game Live), Phillies (Phillies Pre Game Live and Phillies Post Game Live), Flyers (Flyers Pre Game Live and Flyers Post Game Live), and Union (Union Pre Game Live and Union Post Game Live) telecasts. Since 2010, the network has also produced a limited schedule of Phillies regular season games for NBC owned-and-operated sister station WCAU (channel 10). Although it does not hold the regional rights to the NFL games involving the Philadelphia Eagles, the network also produces pre-game and post-game shows on each game day (Eagles Pre Game Live and Eagles Post Game Live).

The network formerly served as the broadcaster of American Hockey League games involving the Philadelphia Phantoms (an affiliate team of the Flyers) until the team relocated to Glens Falls, New York as the Adirondack Phantoms in 2009. It also carried indoor soccer matches involving the Philadelphia KiXX from 1998 until the National Professional Soccer League folded in 2001; as well as National Lacrosse League games featuring the Philadelphia Wings until that team relocated to Uncasville, Connecticut as the New England Black Wolves in 2014.

NBC Sports Philadelphia also maintains the television rights to the Philadelphia Big 5, carrying regular season games from each of the member universities as well as the association's City Series tournament; it also broadcasts numerous men's and women's college sporting events sanctioned by the Atlantic 10 Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association. Until Comcast SportsNet discontinued its relationship with its competing RSN in September 2012, the network also carried collegiate sports events from Conference USA, the Pac-12 Conference and the Big 12 Conference, as well as prime time Major League Baseball games on Thursdays distributed by Fox Sports Networks.

• SportsNet Central
• Philly Sports Talk
• 'net IMPACT

• 76ers City

• Phillies Clubhouse
• Phillies Hot Stove

• The Orange Line

• State of the Union

• Inside Golf
• Golf Shots

• Michael Barkann – anchor (October 1997–present)
• Amy Fadool - anchor (2009-present)
• Tom McCarthy – Philadelphia Phillies play-by-play announcer (2009–present)
• Ben Davis – Philadelphia Phillies broadcasting booth color commentator (2015–present), Phillies pre/post game analyst (2012–present)
• Taryn Hatcher - Anchor/Reporter (2018-present)

• Ron Burke – anchor (October 1997 – 1999, January 2002–January 2017)
• Katie Emmer - anchor (2019-January 2021)
• Scott Hanson (2000–2002; now an anchor/reporter for the NFL Network)
• Neil Hartman – anchor (October 1997–April 2016)
• Jillian Mele – host (2014–2017; now at Fox News)[24]
• Gregg Murphy – Philadelphia Phillies on-field reporter (2012–2020),[25] anchor (December 2008–February 2012)[26]
• Leila Rahimi – anchor (2014– October 2015)
• Matt Yallof (2000–2006; now with MLB Network)

Unlike most other cable networks, NBC Sports Philadelphia is distributed only via microwave and fiber optic relays. Comcast inherited the terrestrial infrastructure that it uses to transmit the network from PRISM at the time that network shut down. Since NBC Sports Philadelphia did not uplink its signal to any communications satellites, Comcast was able to avoid a regulation outlined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that requires most television channels to be offered to direct broadcast satellite providers; this loophole, known as the "terrestrial exception", was implemented by the FCC in 1992 to encourage investments in local programming by cable providers. As a result of its limited availability, satellite providers DirecTV, Dish Network and the now-defunct PrimeStar experienced a far slower rate of subscriber penetration into the Philadelphia market compared to other American cities.[27] Craig Moffett, a senior analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. L.L.C., estimated the number of potential customers lost due to the loophole at 450,000.[28]

This issue resulted in DirecTV filing an FCC complaint against Comcast on September 23, 1997, claiming that it used unfair monopolistic control to keep CSN Philadelphia from being made available via satellite (in contrast, DirecTV had carried SportsChannel Philadelphia prior to its shutdown).[29][30] Three days later on September 26, Comcast spokesperson Joe Waz issued a statement defending the move, stating that it was "about competition" and that Comcast SportsNet could help cable television "distinguish itself from satellite rivals." Waz also accused DirecTV of unfairness in wanting to "profit" from carrying the channel despite having "invested zero in improving the quality of programming available to greater Philadelphia".[31]

On January 20, 2010, the FCC Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 to close the "terrestrial exception" loophole.[32] Lawyers for DirecTV and Dish Network had attempted to show that Comcast, the dominant cable provider in the Philadelphia market, acted in restraint of trade by not uplinking Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia to satellite. Comcast did not appeal the decision, allowing DirecTV and Dish to immediately enter into carriage negotiations to add the network. Both providers formally asked permission from Comcast to carry CSN Philadelphia on June 25, 2010.[33] One month later on July 28, it was reported that Comcast had entered into discussions with DirecTV and Dish Network for carriage of CSN Philadelphia.[34] Two days later, after accusing Comcast of refusing to negotiate in good faith, Dish Network stated it would file a complaint with the FCC.[35][36] The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the FCC's original ruling on June 10, 2011.[37] Despite this ruling, Comcast has yet to offer CSN Philadelphia on competing satellite providers. Partly due to this, satellite penetration remains far lower in Philadelphia than in other major cities.

The only current method of receiving NBC Sports Philadelphia via satellite within the United States (as of April 2014) is via C-band satellite using a Cisco PowerVu receiver with authorization aimed toward the Galaxy 17 satellite at 91.0°W (transponder 11 at 3920 H).[38]

Cable providers other than Comcast within NBC Sports Philadelphia's designated market territory do have access to the network. However, on December 4, 2006, Comcast reached a deal with Verizon FiOS to carry CSN Philadelphia on its systems in eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware and southern New Jersey.[39][40]

In 1998, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia almost became available in Comcast's New York City service area on systems in southern Middlesex County (in the municipalities of Plainsboro, South Brunswick, Monroe, Cranbury, Jamesburg, Helmetta, Spotswood and East Brunswick), as a replacement for PRISM. However, days before it was set to be added, the NBA issued a cease and desist order against Comcast, blocking the distribution of Philadelphia 76ers games in Middlesex County; this was despite the fact that the league allowed New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets games televised by MSG Network and Fox Sports New York to be shown on both Comcast and TKR (now Cablevision) in Mercer County, which is part of the Philadelphia market. Comcast opted not to carry CSN Philadelphia, unwilling to distribute the network if it had to black out 76ers game telecasts. Despite this, NBC Sports Philadelphia is carried by Comcast Xfinity and Verizon FiOS in Ocean County (within their New York service areas), Cablevision in Monmouth County (within its Allentown service area), Comcast in Lambertville and by Service Electric in Phillipsburg, New Jersey.

Phillies games were previously unavailable through MLB Extra Innings on major satellite providers. MLB Extra Innings began transmitting the CSN Philadelphia feed for some games beginning in 2007 on both cable and satellite; the out-of-market sports package began showing both feeds of most games in 2008, at which time all of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia's Phillies telecasts became available to all subscribers. In 2010, Phillies telecasts produced by CSN Philadelphia for MyNetworkTV affiliate WPHL-TV (channel 17) were also broadcast on Extra Innings. Due to blackout restrictions imposed by Major League Baseball, residents within the Philadelphia area, the eastern half of Pennsylvania and most of New Jersey and Delaware cannot view these games via the MLB Extra Innings package.

Because of the network's distribution exclusively in the Delaware Valley, ESPN must reach agreements with ABC owned-and-operated station WPVI-TV (channel 6) – owned by ESPN's majority owner The Walt Disney Company – to provide the network recordings of any sporting events involving teams whose game broadcasts are shown on Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia to include in highlight packages seen on Sportscenter, NBA Fastbreak and Baseball Tonight. These highlight excerpts were originally distributed in 480i standard definition until 2012, when CSN began distributing to ESPN (via WPVI) in 720p high definition.

As a consequence, national sports broadcasts have typically chosen to broadcast clips from the HD "away" feed and avoid the CSN "home" Philadelphia broadcast feed. However, MLB Network (which also has operational control of NHL Network) and NBA TV have full access to NBC Sports Philadelphia's HD feed since, as the rights holder, the network must provide full-quality video to the properties of each league for their internet and cable operations, while Comcast provides full high-definition access to NBC Sports Philadelphia to NBCSN and NHL Network, which both carry NHL games nationwide.