Pittsburgh Forum

Three years after Fox sold the local cable sports network FSN Pittsburgh, along with two other regional stations, the local sports network is ready to play ball under a new brand.

As the Pittsburgh Pirates start their season tomorrow against the Chicago Cubs, the network that airs its games will debut its new name, ROOT Sports, which will also replace FSN Northwest and FSN Rocky Mountain in Seattle and Denver.

Shawn McClintock, GM of the network for the past ten years, said it has been a major priority to change the brand so that it can no longer be mistaken as having any affiliation with Fox, its former owner, now that its owned by DIRECTV, which acquired the station a year and a half ago.

“We had the flexibility and the opportunity to evaluate ourselves and create our own brand and our own identity,” McClintock said. “We just figured a natural stake in the sand would be opening day for baseball.”

The sports network first announced the change to ROOT Sports in December and was working long before then to stage a comprehensive image change that requires eliminating all references to FSN Pittsburgh and replacing it with ROOT Sports on the TV screen, on marketing and mailing materials, on the sign on the station’s North Shore offices and everywhere else, including from the mouths of its announcers.