Comcast Corp. has bought out Cablevision's share in the FSN Bay Area and FSN New England sports nets for $570 million. Comcast will get 60 percent of the stake in FSN Bay Area (with Fox owning the other 40 percent) and 50 percent in FSN New England, giving it full control.
FSN Bay Area carries San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose sports teams, including the Giants, A's, Sharks, and Warriors (who are in the midst of an amazing playoff run.) FSN New England has the Boston Celtics and the MLS' Revolution. (NESN has the Red Sox and Bruins.)
The addition of those two areas gives Comcast a total of ten regional sports networks serving New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Sacramento, Baltimore/Washington D.C., the Mountain States (The Mtn. - Mountain Sports Network), and the Southeast (Comcast SportsSouth.)
It's likely that Comcast will rename the sports nets. Both were previously known as SportsChannel Bay Area and SportsChannel New England, respectively.
The sale leaves Cablevision is just its New York City sports nets, MSG and FSN New York.
Last year, Liberty Media acquired FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Rocky Mountain, and FSN Northwest (Seattle) sports nets (and a stake in DirectTV) from News Corp. in a stock swap and cash.
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