Like many larger MSOs, Buckeye Broadband is in the regional sports business. But it’s not the sort of costly, pro-sports-focused RSN operated by big MSOs such as Comcast or Charter Communications.

BCSN, the RSN launched by Buckeye in 2004, is a hyper-local channel focusing on smaller-scale events like minor-league hockey games, local college and high-school contests and even little league games.

The model was so successful in the Toledo and Sandusky, Ohio, systems that Buckeye launched a similar, hyper-local sports channel in the MaxxSouth systems it acquired from Harron Communications in 2014. MaxxSouth, operated separately from Buckeye Broadband, serves about 50,000 customers in 60 rural Mississippi communities.

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BCSN and MaxxSouth Sports do more than just cover games. The Ohio network has partnered with WTVG-TV in Toledo to produce a half-hour nightly sports show that goes beyond game recaps.

Through WTGV, BCSN also delivers a weekly four-hour football program covering all the local high-school action, as well as a three-hour high-school basketball recap during hoops season. Ohio law forbids live high-school football telecasts, but BCSN’s four roving studio trucks visit each game and gather news, tidbits and features on what’s happening, BCSN general manager Marc Jaromin said.

BCSN’s four production trucks often cover multiple events in a single day. “We are efficient,” Jaromin said. “We can roll in an hour-and-a-half before an event and break down within a half hour after an event.

“Recently, we covered the same event as ESPN. They had 33 people doing the same job at the same level of performance as we did with seven people.”

BCSN recently covered and sponsored a charity boxing event to fight Parkinson’s disease in Toledo. The network didn’t just cover the seven fights on the card — it also produced a half-hour pre-show spotlighting athletes affected by Parkinson’s, and taped local health officials talking about the disease for use in interstitials.

“Anyone can offer up a box score,” Jaromin said. “But telling the news behind the score is what makes BCSN different and relevant with viewers. Bottom line, we want to deliver to the community what the community wants to see.”

Buckeye also plans to launch a new arts channel along the lines of BCSN. BCSN Arts, located next to BCSN on the dial on a former local-origination channel, will soft-launch this fall and formally kick of in January, Jaromin said.

BCSN Arts will televise content developed by local high school students and help them with their projects as well. And it will televise shows featuring students preparing for school plays, choir concerts, dance recitals and band performances.

“This is just another way for us to connect to our customers and our community,” Jaromin said. “I think it will be very successful and as popular as BCSN.”

Starkville, Miss.-based operator MaxxSouth Broadband has launched a regional sports network built around athletics in local high schools, colleges and community sports leagues.

MaxxSouth Sports will cover events in the northern and central parts of the state, the company said. The operator serves 44,600 cable customers.

The channel already has an aggressive lineup that will include full coverage of at least eight games per week, MaxxSouth Broadband said. Its production units will deliver full, high-definition picture quality and live transmission, an ambitious move for a local cable provider.

"This sports network would not be possible without the help of the area's school districts, coaches and athletic directors," said Peter Kahelin, MaxxSouth Broadband's president and CEO. "It's an incredible accomplishment to be able to showcase student athletes from across MaxxSouth's service territory."

The company also announced it has deployed advanced fiber-to-the-home 1 Gig Internet service in Starkville, increasing bandwidth and capacity for advanced video, Internet and phone services. The new fiber-to-the-home network is expected to come online within the next few weeks, MaxxSouth said.

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"Our fiber-optic infrastructure in Starkville is also what we call 'future proof,'" Rick Ferrall, regional general manager for MaxxSouth Broadband, said. "Upgrades and improvements can be implemented on the system without changing the actual fiber wires."

Starkville marks the second city where MaxxSouth now operates a fiber-optic network after launching one in Carthage last year.

MaxxSouth Broadband, which serves 60 Mississippi communities, was formed last November from the group of cable systems formerly serviced by MetroCast Mississippi.