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FSN outlets in Denver, Pittsburgh and Seattle are rebranding to Root Sports


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Dusty Saunders: New look when you Root for your team

By Dusty Saunders

The Denver Post

"Root, Root, Root" for the home team takes on a whole new meaning for Colorado Rockies TV viewers beginning Friday.

While games throughout the season will remain on the current channels, Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain will become part of electronic trivia.

Fans will be introduced to Root Sports at 12:30 a.m. with "Rockies All Access."

This new opening-day "rebranding" will feature different music, graphics and color. Basic production and broadcasting personnel remain the same.

The rebranding process, which has included focus groups and advice from media professionals, began more than a year ago, according to Amy Turner, Root Sports director of marketing and communication.

"The Root Sports name has two meanings ? supporting and rooting for the home team and being grounded and connected with our team partners, including the Rockies, University of Colorado and University of Denver and their fans," Turner said.

Root Sports executives also believe such rebranding will eliminate some fan and media confusion about who actually owns and operates the cable network.

The network, for the past three years, has operated under the "FSN" or "Fox Sports Net" banner although having no connection with Fox News Corp.'s cable networks, the Fox News Channel or KDVR-31 in Denver.

The company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the DirecTV Sports Network since November 2009.

Former FSN outlets in Pittsburgh and Seattle are also part of the rebranding.

The three Root Sports outlets can reach more than 8.7 million viewers across 18 states and have exclusive programming and distribution partnerships with more than 25 teams and conferences.

It will be business as usual for FSN Rocky Mountain until Friday, including the Rockies' spring training game against the Mariners at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Following "Rockies All Access," will be "Rockies Weekly with Jim Tracy" (noon) and a 90-minute live pregame show (12:30 p.m., airing from 21st and Blake streets).

The Rockies-Diamondbacks season opener is at 2 p.m., with Drew Goodman and George Frazier in the booth and Jeff Huson near the dugout.

Turner said the rebranding work would continue for several months, utilizing the services of the Troika Design Group out of Hollywood, which is building on-air graphics and promotional campaigns. Troika previously designed ESPN's "SportsCenter" set.

One major supermarket chain reportedly is working out details of a major promotion. How about free root beer at Coors Field during the seventh-inning stretch?

Read more: Dusty Saunders: New look when you Root for your team - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/dustysaunders/ci_17715473#ixzz1Hx5mx0Ku

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Not too surprising since they'd already rolled it out in a different market already. Fans might be confused at first, but...if the content doesn't change then it might be a worthwhile bump in terms of being more recognizable than the whole FSN thing as a sports media brand.

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I just saw this a couple of days ago on a Jazz game broadcast. It'll be changing to Root out here in Utah as well, as we get FSN Rocky Mountain like Denver does.

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