Southwest Sports Group, parent of the MLB Rangers and
Stars, has joined with FSN and CO-based CO Studios to form a
new TV production company called Lone Star Mobile Television
Partners, according to Richard Alm of the DALLAS MORNING
NEWS. Lone Star "will start operations with two state-of-
the-art" 53-foot-long by 13.5-foot-wide TV-production
trailers, which will handle audio and video feeds from
sports facilities, while a third trailer will arrive in
April. Lone Star will produce games for the Rangers and
Stars, and FSN Cable President Bob Thompson said that Lone
Star "already has signed up a number of customers beyond"
those two teams, including the Mavericks, Astros, colleges
and Fox affils that cover visiting teams in TX. In all,
Lone Star will "help broadcast" 550 events per year on FSN
Southwest. Lone Star's revenue will come from renting the
production facilities for live broadcasts. Southwest Sports
Chair Tom Hicks: "We think it can turn into a nice business"
(DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 11/21). In Ft. Worth, Sean Wood writes
that the production trucks will produce games broadcast
regionally and, "in some cases, nationally." Wood cites
execs saying Lone Star will "do more than" 800 productions
per year in the Southwest (F.W. STAR-TELEGRAM, 11/21).
