Fox Sports Wisconsin is now Bally Sports Wisconsin

Say goodbye to Fox Sports Wisconsin and hello to Bally Sports Wisconsin. If you have been watching the Brewers the last week. You probably noticed some changes to the broadcast. Fox Sports Wisconsin will now be known as Bally Sports Wisconsin. The change comes just two years after Sinclair Broadcasting purchased the Fox regional channels from Disney and partnered with Bally Corporation. They completed the change with brand new branding, animations, music, and an interactive streaming app. Let’s take a closer look at the brand new Bally Sports Network.

What is Bally Entertainment?

Before being called Bally Entertainment, they used to be called Bally Manufacturing. Bally Manufacturing was an American company that started out by manufacturing pinball machines and slot machines. They later expanded into casinos, video games, health clubs, and theme parks. Their brand name, and pinball/slot machine logo are still used today by many businesses with some trademark rights. Most notably Bally Technologies and Bally’s Corporation.

Bally and Sinclair partnership

After purchasing the Fox regional channels from Disney, Sinclair could only use the Fox Sports name for only 18 months. “Fox was eager for us to rebrand, but just from a practical perspective it’s no small feat when you’re switching over all of the websites, apps, studios and signage,” says Chris Ripley, president and CEO of Sinclair. “Also, in this case we wanted to find a partner since we didn’t have a brand ourselves in mind, and we wanted to create value out of the brand itself.”

That is where Bally comes into play. On November 17, 2020, Sportico reported that Sinclair was considering rebranding the networks via a naming rights agreement. They also wanted a company with ties to casinos for sports betting purposes. The next day, Sinclair announced that they had entered into a 10 year agreement with Bally Corporation. Owners and managers of 11 casinos across 7 states. Sinclair announced on January 27, 2021 that the networks would be rebranded as Bally Sports.

Changes in the Broadcasts

Bally Sports rolled out on March 31, 2021, just in time for Opening Day. Baseball fans got one of the first looks at the new network. It was met with a lot of mixed reactions. Some fans loved the changes, while others hated them. I am with the fans that loved the changes. Although the way that you say the name can be kind of confusing. It is pronounced Bale·Lee Sports.

Some of the changes made to the broadcast include, a new score bug, ticker, logo, animations, and a new theme song. The new score bug will be displayed across the bottom of the screen. They made the score bug look clean and they made everything easy to read with their compact design to make games more easy to watch and still have the information that you will need throughout the game. They integrated the new score bug with the new ticker that will display scores across all sports along with sports betting information. One of my favorite changes is the new logo. The iconic Bally B. It is simple and it looks amazing. Another change that I really enjoy is the new theme song and animations for Bally Sports. Every time I hear it, I can’t help but get pumped up. Even if the Brewers are losing. Some of the new animations kind of reminds me of a modern retro ESPN. I am all here for the new changes. You should be too.

Where can you watch Bally Sports?

The Bally Sports Network was removed from pretty much every online streaming service due to ongoing contract disputes. Such as Hulu, Sling, Youtube Tv, Fubu, etc. They even got removed from Dish Network. You can view Bally Sports Networks on pretty much any satellite or cable provider like, DirecTV, Spectrum, and AT&T. There are also a couple options for cord cutters such as myself. AT&T has an online streaming service called AT&T Tv Now which carries Bally Sports. Also, I found another online streaming service called Uzzu Tv. They have three plan options. Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly. The weekly plan right now is $6.99, the monthly plan is $19.99, and the yearly plan is $119.99. You get instant access to every MLB game, every NFL game, every NBA game, and every NHL game. It is also available on a lot of your favorite devices like Roku.  I use Uzzu and I may never switch back! 

Recap

In the short time Bally and Sinclair had to rebrand everything, They did an outstanding job. They had to rebrand the telecasts, websites, apps, etc. For this to be the opening product is impressive. It will only get better year after year. As Wisconsin sports fans, you won’t have any other choice to watch your favorite teams other than nationally televised games. So if you are one of the people not excited or don’t like the new changes, please give it a chance because Bally Sports is here to stay for the foreseeable future. Plus, it’s not so bad after you get past the pronunciation of the new name.

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