A Look at the History of the SportsTime Ohio TV Network

Many, many years ago, we started the Ohio Sports Time blog in an effort to get attention during the early days of the SportsTime Ohio TV Network that was launched to cover the (then) Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball team. While the SportsTime Ohio TV Network had a short run of covering some of Ohio's major professional and college baseball, football, basketball and hockey teams, the network was eventually sold and has now changed hands multiple times. Here is a look at the history of the network that caused this blog to be launched in the first place.

SportsTime Ohio (STO) was a regional sports network that primarily focused on covering professional and collegiate sports in Ohio, particularly the Cleveland area. It was launched on March 12, 2006, as a replacement for FSN Ohio (now Bally Sports Ohio) in broadcasting Cleveland Guardians (formerly Indians) baseball games.

Early Years and Launch (2006–2012)

• STO was founded by the Cleveland Indians organization, before being known as the Cleveland Guardians, making it one of the few team-owned regional sports networks in Major League Baseball.
• The network provided extensive coverage of Indians games, along with pregame and postgame shows.
• In addition to MLB coverage, STO aired high school sports, Cleveland Browns programming, and college sports from Ohio-based schools.

Acquisition by Fox Sports (2012–2019)

• In December 2012, Fox Sports Media Group (a division of 21st Century Fox) purchased STO and merged it into the Fox Sports Networks.
• The network was rebranded as Fox SportsTime Ohio but continued to air Indians games alongside other Ohio sports content.
• After Fox’s acquisition by Disney in 2019, Disney was required to sell the Fox regional sports networks, including STO.

Bally Sports Era (2019–Present)

• In 2019, Sinclair Broadcast Group acquired the network as part of a larger deal for 21 Fox regional sports networks.
• On March 31, 2021, the network was rebranded as Bally Sports Great Lakes, aligning with the Bally Sports brand created in partnership with Bally’s Corporation.
• It continues to serve as the primary broadcaster for the (now) Cleveland Guardians, alongside coverage of other Ohio-based teams.

STO played a significant role in bringing Indians baseball to local fans, and despite changes in ownership, has had a key role in the history of sports broadcasting in Ohio during a period of tremendous growth and sports TV availability.