Wednesday night could be huge for local sports on TV — the Jazz visit the Lakers on ROOT Sports with the possibility of a berth in the NBA playoffs on the line.
It might turn out to be, arguably, the biggest night for the Utah in at least four years, since the last time the Jazz made the playoffs.
On the other hand, the Jazz might be playing their last game of the 2015-16 season. For Utah to make the playoffs, they not only have to win but Houston has to lose to Sacramento at home on Wednesday
That game, which tips off at 6 p.m. MDT, should be over by the time the Jazz-Lakers matchup tips off at 8:30 p.m. on ROOT and ESPN2. Unfortunately, it won't be easy for local fans to keep track of the Rockets-Kings game — the only way viewers here will be able to see it is if they pay for NBA League Pass.
As for ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain, you may have have noticed a tiny on-air change that signals the latest change in ownership for the channel, which has seen a whole lot of changes since it was launched in 1988. Back then, it was Prime Sports, which was co-owned by cable giant TCI. In 1995, Fox bought half the channel from TCI, made it part of Fox Sports Net and renamed it Fox Sports Rocky Mountain. In 2000, it was renamed Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain; in 2004, that was shortened to FSN Rocky Mountain. And there was a sub-brand for Jazz games, dubbed FSN Utah.
In 2006, Fox sold its interest in FSN to Liberty Media — which had been the parent company of TCI, until it sold the cable company to AT&T in 1999. (What had been TCI was subsequently sold to Charter, and then to Comcast.)
It's complicated — and pretty boring — but Liberty is tied up with ownership of DirecTV, and the channel became part of DirecTV Sports Networks. In 2010, the four regional channels — Rocky Mountain, Northwest, Southwest and Pittsburgh — were rebranded as ROOT Sports.
Just last week, DirecTV Sports Networks were rebranded AT&T Sports Networks — nine months after AT&T completed its acquisition of DirecTV.
It's all sort of confusing and pretty much irrelevant for viewers. Most of you probably won't even notice the one minor change that has already been made to Jazz telecasts.
The four ROOT Sports regional channels changed the on-air logo in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. It used to read DirecTV Sports Networks; it now reads AT&T Sports Networks. And it's got the AT&T globe attached to it.
And, other than that, nothing has changed.
Craig Bolerjack is calling the Jazz-Lakers game. Matt Harpring is still the on-air analyst. The rest of the television team — in front of the cameras and behind the scenes — remains unchanged
Channel numbers won't change. And there are no plans to change the name of the channels — they'll all still be ROOT Sports.
It wouldn't make much sense to rebrand the channels yet again when considerable time, effort and money went into the change to ROOT just six years ago.
And the Jazz's contract to air games on ROOT continues through the 2020-21 season.
That deal was signed back in 2009 … with FSN Rocky Mountain. DirecTV inherited the deal when it took over the channel; AT&T inherited it when it took over DirecTV.
Regardless of who gets the last Western Conference postseason slot Wednesday, AT&T Sports Network will air some playoff games. ROOT Sports Southwest airs Rockets games.
Scott D. Pierce covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.
Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune Dallas Mavericks guard Deron Williams (8) battles Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles (2), Utah Jazz guard Shelvin Mack (8) and Utah Jazz forward Trevor Booker (33) for the ball during the Utah Jazz versus Dallas Mavericks NBA action at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Monday, April 11, 2016.
