Warner Bros. Discovery, the owner of AT&T SportsNet and a minority shareholder of Root Sports, has informed teams it’ll cease participating in the regional sports network business, according to reports from John Ourand of Sports Business Journal and Joe Flint of the Wall Street Journal. WBD has local broadcasting agreements with a handful of teams in MLB, the NBA and the NHL.
The MLB teams affected are the Rockies, Astros and Pirates. The Mariners also have a relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery; Ourand writes the Mariners own 60% of their Root Sports Seattle venture, with WBD owning the other 40%. However, Flint reports the Seattle regional sports network is not part of WBD’s ongoing proceedings.
Ourand writes that the channel has informed teams they’ll have until March 31 to reach an agreement to reclaim their broadcasting rights from the RSN’s; if no deal is agreed upon, the networks are expected to liquidate via Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Flint quotes from WBD’s letter, which told clubs “the business will not have sufficient cash to pay the upcoming rights fees” and proposed for teams to retake ownership of broadcasting rights for no purchase price beyond a relinquishing of civil claims against the networks.
Colorado, Houston and Pittsburgh join the list of nearly half the teams facing some uncertainty about the potential bankruptcy of the Diamond Sports Group that operates the Bally networks. Diamond, which is responsible for broadcasts of 14 clubs, missed an interest payment to creditors last week and is evaluating whether it’ll be able to abide by its own broadcasting deals.
The difficulties facing both conglomerates come in response to declining rates of cable ownership. Cord-cutting has increased significantly over the past few years and is expected to continue given the rise of streaming alternatives. Warner Bros. Discovery provided a generic statement to Ourand alluding to financial problems: “AT&T SportsNet is not immune to the well-known challenges that the entire RSN industry is facing. We will continue to engage in private conversations with our partners as we seek to identify reasonable and constructive solutions.”
The franchises’ next steps are unclear. Commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters last week the league would be in position to take over in-market broadcasts, if necessary, from the Diamond-operated networks. That’s presumably also true of the three clubs affected by WBD’s decision. There’s no indication fans in those markets should be concerned about forthcoming blackouts because of the RSN collapse. Ourand reports that WBD informed clubs it’d allow them to use the same production staff/equipment of the current agreement if those teams agree to reclaim their broadcast rights.
Nevertheless, events of the past few weeks have highlighted questions about the long-term viability of the regional sports network setup. WBD’s withdrawal from RSN’s affects only one-tenth of MLB teams, but the ongoing Diamond uncertainty could put many more in a difficult position over the coming weeks.
The last remnants of cable tv crumbling before our eyes.
It’s over! End blackouts!!! I will gladly pay mlb $100+ a year just to watch my M’s if they actually invest in the tech and end blackouts so I can watch at home! Nobody under the age of 50 has cable!
Immediately a fan of the team that goes back on the rabbit ears. Cable is dead, old school tv and commercial revenue here we come!
That would be amazing, even though it won’t come to fruition. The irony of your proposal is that the WB (and FOX) were the ones that largely killed the local broadcasting of baseball by buying out the channels in the late 80s to 90s. Back then, we had an assortment in most major cities of ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and a fifth local broadcast channel. The WB (now CW) and FOX picked those off. So instead of being able to watch local baseball, basketball and hockey for free, we got such Emmy acclaimed programming as Cheaters and Cops.
Yup pretty much. The dirty secret of the cable model is that all cable subscribers pay for sports channels but most don’t watch them. With cable subs cratering at 1-2 mil subs cancels per year now the leagues are scrambling. If consumers are smart they will bite the bullet and not jump at the direct to consumer model being set up right now and wait out the leagues so we get back what we had for decades before the greed cable model got put into place — watching sports for free with ads.
That’s the thing I’ve never understood. When you pay for this stuff, you still get just as many ads
Can we finally stop the argument that “teams make so much money off TV contracts that the attendance is irrelevant?”
3 or 4 teams just lost their TV money and before that 14 teams watched their broadcasters go bankrupt this offseason. Here we are with 17 or 18 teams just trying to figure out a way to get their games broadcast because the TV bubble burst but people keep saying “attendance doesn’t matter because teams make so much off TV money.” Yeah. Maybe if they are in a huge market like New York. Last I checked they still get their broadcasting money. Last I checked they still have extremely high payrolls. Stop pretending it happens with every team or even most teams. All that money is gone now because it was obviously a bubble and the networks that offered the cash have realized it was a dumb decision.
Steve, you have not been paying attention to Manfred have you? Do you really think that a group of 30++ BILLIONAIRES does not have a contingency plan? Give me a break.
Do you really think that a group of 30++ BILLIONAIRES does not have a contingency plan?
=============================
The contingency plan is less revenue.
Aww, crying for the poor billionaires.
Also… not only are the networks going bankrupt but they are going bankrupt on backloaded contracts. The payments at the beginning were relatively small but people said teams were making so much because of the total dollar. The moment the big dollars came in on every contract is the same moment the networks declared bankruptcy. Around 80% of the money on those contracts was supposed to come on the back end. After years of paying a fraction of the average annual contract the networks backed out the exact moment the big money came due. Do the Tigers get to bail out of Miguel Cabrera’s contract now that he’s useless and owed $40 million this season? Nope.
Sorry. I love Miggy and he should get paid but I just want people who bring up TV contracts to shut the hell up because they obviously have no clue what they are talking about when 60% of TV contracts can disappear in one offseason and they were all backloaded.
It’s the summer when games are going on. Put games on the free channels when the kids can watch and create some new fans. The best these channels have to offer during day game hours is weird game shows or Maury. Put some games on at 1 so they can be done before jeopardy starts at 4 and I’m buying those jerseys
Hey man try this trick . But you would have to watch on computer tablet or phone. Get the MLB package and run a VPN that says your located in Texas or New York and you will be able to watch your local team
I’m in New jersey and did it last year for yanks games
You have a VPN why go through all that trouble , just stream any game you want. It’s the year 2023 come on now
A VPN is needed because the MLB blacks out games for the team in your local market. So, unless you root for an out-of-market team you will not be able to use MLB.TV…unless you us a VPN app.
@bleedinblue
VPN’s don’t work on MLB.TV anymore. They started going off billing zip code for the credit card a couple seasons ago.
You obviously missed the point of my point
I watch the teams when I’m on the road, so they are not keying off of the zip code.
@Latino Heat As a VPN user, there is a lot of latency with third-party, suspect streaming sites. Games are often behind legit live feeds by 30 seconds or more and video quality is all over the place. I can watch pretty much any live sporting event I want but I still sub to MLB.tv for its consistency.
I’m used to use mlb.tv but as many have mentioned the blackouts make it not worth it. 30 seconds behind isn’t really that big of a deal as long as you don’t have game cast or a radio feed on. Speaking of radio feeds. Not sure where you’re finding your streams but I have no trouble finding hd feeds for any game
@fermier
You watch what teams when on the road?
A VPN hasn’t worked for bypassing blackouts on MLB tv for years.
It’s been based on the billing address for your credit card since 2019. If you are watching on “the road” its because the team you want to watch is in that city and you are watching on a local channel
So how come I the Pirates are blacked out when I spend my summers in Pittsburgh? My billing address is at my winter home in New Mexico.
@LatinoHeat It’s a big deal to me when the video feed is behind MLB GameDay. Most of the feeds I’ve found are 720p and upscaled to 1080p on my TV. I want a true 1080p feed and yes I’m spoiled.
VPN’s don’t work to bypass this kind of thing on a device that has GPS enabled, and the MLB app requires that location to be enabled on any device (like a modern iPhone of Android) that has GPS.. So no, a VPN is not some failsafe way around local blackouts, unless you want to jailbreak your phone and spoof GPS.
@Sophie Android user here. There are GPS spoof apps in the Google appstore. No jaibreaking/rooting needed. I can simply spoof my location, open up MLB app, and cast a stream to my TV. I spoof all the time also as part of my work. iOS is a different story.
It doesn’t matter if you have a VPN since it’s based on the billing address of the credit card you use to purchase the service.
I did this vpn’d in Canada to watch the Indians and Reds
I’m not an expert on the subject, but i always thought it was fishy that teams were getting upwards of $100M annually from the RSNs. So should the teams really be that surprised that the RSNs are now going under?
Nah, Discovery is specifically terrible. The guy they brought in is also chopping up the streaming service for parts, cancelling a lot of good shows, splitting the library into an extra TNT subscription service, and focusing more on cheap, crappy reality tv.
Amen, end the blackouts!
@sodomojo. I am 100% with you. However, people like you or I are probably a minority. The age bracket that still watches baseball regularly AND can be bothered with shopping around for entertainment/streaming.
MLB did little to attract younger audiences and was late to implement changes. Their revenue stream relies on subscription sales from traditional means.
Might be better reaching mlb streaming contracts with all major cell and internet providers to give season pass out for free. That’s how I get mls and mlb games. That way they get guaranteed subs, then they can license to regional networks for cable providers. The old tnt and wgn days.
MLB had 55 million subscribers to MLB.tv and their MLB Extra Innings subscription service on cable and satellite.
They founded MLBAM which handles the streaming for MLB, MiLB, NHL, WWE, PGA Tour, and for other sports. They understand well where the viewership is moving and are in front of that movement.
Disney acquired majority ownership of one small portion of MLBAM called BAMtech for $2.58 billion total over two separate transactions, the last one got them the final 42% for $1.58 billion. MLB still owns 25%.
So yes, MLB does understand streaming and where the eyeballs are watching sports.
I’m 38 and I do(have cable)..mainly ro watch My cubs Marquee channel and NHL and MLB network..other than that only channel I watch is FXX cuz they play all my animated shows like King of the Hill,Bob’s Burgers,etc.
King of the Hill should be on all public access channels. Everyone should have ‘pocket sand’ at the ready like Rusty Shackleford. I know I do, and you never know where I’ll turn up.
No hate to a cable customer! My dad has it. Guess where I go to watch a good UFC fight? Lol
Lol. It’s the same here. Parents pay at least $120/month for all those channels without using them. Why shouldn’t I piggyback and get their money’s worth?
That’s also an issue. For lack of a better term, the people paying for cable mlb are “legacy” subscribers. They like having the option to watch but it’s not a necessity, and nobody will replace them as a subscriber.
the bar?
I just get Fubo during baseball season and get the plus sports package, so I can watch MLB network games YES and other random teams. It still pisses me off that TBS doesn’t show Braves games. I grew up on baseball after school 5 pm pacific- 10 pm Braves at home then mariners at home. Those nights were the best.
The mariners broadcast on Root currently and the ONLY streaming platform of you don’t have cable is Fubo. So, I’m a reluctant customer. I’m just not f’ing around during the week, I’m WATCHING my baseball. I need it to be reliable and ready.
It is frustrating that I watch about 6 channels all one genre (sports) and end up paying $90 a month. But, it’s a first world problem I guess.
We need a Ted Turner 2.0. TBS should be a case study in how to grow a brand.
No kidding. Any 90’s kid watched WCW Thunder and Braves baseball (aka one of the best teams of the 90’s). Every night it was a cy young hall of Famer or Hulk freaking Hogan as a bad guy aka must see tv for a kid
@Beansfor Jesus- I can’t believe Turner screwed up the Superstation. It was the best idea for any team ever. I have friends in Alaska who root for the Braves because of that. Everywhere in fact, Ted Turner was a maverick but no genius. He sold all that to buy into AOL/Time/Warner and most of it went to AOL which is completely obsolete and worthless now. How do you give up broadcasting your owned team nationwide for free to buy stock in America Online? I guess it’s the same rationale used to marry Jane Fonda. I don’t know. Turner had it and the Braves had it. At worst the Braves were almost everyone’s 2nd favorite team because they could watch them every single night and get to know the players no matter where they live. Turner was right to invest in the internet at that time… but AOL? That was the most expensive and worthless stock available. People actually believed that no one would use the internet if AOL didn’t provide chat rooms and such. They failed to realize that stuff was easily replicated. And the world lost a nationwide free baseball team for that garbage. How has no other owner bought a basic network and put their team on it by now? It was brilliant.
And yes. I watch FXX for Bob’s Burgers and King of the Hill too. Mostly Bobs Burgers because I’m getting tired of KOTH.
If it wasn’t for the superstation I would never have watched the Rick Camp July 4th game
@ implant- Oh man. You are showing your age and mine too at the same time. “And he hits it to deep left! It goes back! And it’s gone! Holy Cow! Oh my goodness! I don’t believe it! I don’t believe it! Rick Camp! Rick Camp! I don’t believe it! Remember I just said if he hits a home run that certifies this as the wackiest, wildest, most incredible game in history! On an 0-2 pitch Rick Camp hit it over the left center field wall, I don’t believe it!… Nobody can believe it. That makes it 11-11. His first major league homer!… I mean that is the most improbable act… We gotta look at this another 50 times. That goes deep. It goes outta here and it hit the football bleachers. UN-BE-LIEVABLE!… Isn’t that amazing? That’s the most amazing thing that’s ever happened in baseball. That’s mind boggling… The odds on that have to be ten million to one.”
I didn’t watch it for a few years and now I am loving KOTH just as much as I used to..but I feel ya I was tired of it for a while..but it is SOO good. Wish Judge would really reboot it with a time jump like he has talked about.
Back in the day, MLB owners shot down Ed Gaylord as a potential owner of the Rangers because they didn’t want another superstation team.
Good stuff, etex211. I’m off to Google that
How are you tired of KOTH?? Amazing show and they just announced they are bringing it back
How has no other owner bought a basic network and put their team on it by now?
========================
I know it is easier said than done, but I don’t know why someone does buy all four major sports teams in one city, with maybe some supporting stuff like soccer, WNBA, etc., and have one TV network, one radio station, and one website to support all of it. You’d have close to 7/24/365 content.
It was 1989. I’m pretty sure that Ted Turner and the Tribune Company were two of the no votes.
The reboot is supposedly already in production. All I wonder is how they kill off Luanne and Lucky since Brittany Murphy and Tom Petty are dead. Convenient that they were a couple in the show.
The world has changed and some people still don’t notice it
I better play MLB The Show that watch a MLB game
Nah
all the best stuffs on Netflix, Peacock and Apple now.
although an antenna still comes in handy for football season.
Seems like it makes more sense for every game to be non-cable but available in the premium mlb season ticket package , and maybe 1 game a week or so on a local antenna network.
that way people who watch every game can purchase literally every mlb game without local blackouts, and the MLB brand can expand by airing some home city games on the local networks instead of tucked away in the cable-only vault.
best of both worlds
It’s become a sh!tshow after all those bogus TV contracts were handed out that were supposed to pay teams on the back end. “We’ll pay you $20 mill a year for a few years and it will go up to $100 mill a year at the end. Oh, we are at the end now?… sorry. We are declaring bankruptcy and screwing 60% of MLB teams out of 80% of the money we promised them.”
Just make sure you laugh at anyone who says MLB teams make most of their money off broadcasting. It’s a tired old key phrase that isn’t even remotely true.
Sadly this means a decrease in revenue which inevitably means a decrease in money for everyone involved including players. There will still be tons of people demanding owners pay players MORE money even though the revenue is going down at the same time. You can’t increase payroll while losing hundreds of millions or even billions of revenue unless you are trying to destroy your own business. Anyone who wants that isn’t a fan of MLB baseball. They might love the sport but it doesn’t matter if they want the best league of that sport to collapse.
Peacock is great for the WWF/E;Wcw/ECW Library.
That’s actually not true. Those streaming services suck. You go to watch a tv show and they have 1 or 2 seasons if you’re lucky. Not to mention so many good movies missing. Do a little research and you can find a good solution though
Most anything is available on youtube. I don’t see the point in paying for stuff like that.
YouTube is horrible audio/video most of the time but agreed there are alternatives to paying for horrible streaming service to where you can have anything you want.
You’re right. I love watching my shows with half the screen cut off because of copyright restrictions.
The blackouts are only in place because the RSNs required them in their contracts. Those contracts will be null and void if they file for bankruptcy. The teams themselves can buy their own broadcast rights back for pennies. MLB will likely dip into its multi-billion dollar central fund to help teams do just that.
I have a question then I’m from Philadelphia, years back most of the baseball games were on Free TV before Comcast SportsNet had all the games on cable if cable crumbles will the games be on Free TV again?
Cable won’t crumble. They provide a huge chunk of the infrastructure that streaming relies on. Most of the RSNs likely will.
NBC/Comcast is not one of the RSN owners that is facing bankruptcy, but I believe they only broadcast 5 MLB teams today. Giants, A’s, White Sox, Phillies, and Mets.
As the RSN’s file bankruptcy, MLB teams will scoop up their broadcast rights for a pittance and MLB will take over broadcasting them. Carriers like Comcast and other cable companies, and DIRECTV and Dish, will be happy to pay them similar carriage fees to what they were paying the RSNs, because there are eyeballs on those networks.
@Johnny Shoe: What is “free tv?” I don’t mean any disrespect but from where I live there are no antennas and cable boxes cost money. What is “Free TV?”
antenna/over the air TV. not requiring cable/pay TV.
Years ago we had every Sunday game and about 65 total games on ” free ” TV.
Phillies fan here, as well. I still listen to the games on the old Victrola. Have I mentioned that everything cost a nickel back in the day?
One way or another the entertainment industry ( sports or otherwise) will figure out a way to separate you from your money every month.
@SCarton12- I agree. It wasn’t that way with the TBS Superstation though. As far as I’m concerned it was the most ingenious sports marketing this nation has ever seen. It’s no coincidence that it was created by the same guy who started 24/7 news. Neither of those happened until Turner started them both. What a disappointment he has become. From a maverick to a joke.
I don’t pay for MLB network because of Blackouts. Their blackout restrictions are ridiculous and have been for decades
It is scary to think about what baseball money will look like in the coming years as these cable pawns continue to fall. But I really am not as concerned as some others here, maybe not as concerned as I should be.
The WWE for example, while still maintain its two flagship shows, one on network and one on cable; WWE has shifted its entire library to a singular streaming platform. I think they’ve since merged with peacock, and that merge was extremely profitable for the company, which is now on the market for a cool $9 billon price tag.
I’m not saying MLB should follow in WWE’s footsteps; but I certainly do not think that the end of these cable deals will mean the end of baseball as we know it.
How much does baseball make per cable customer? Was that ever factored into the equation; or did these tv companies just guesstimate that the profits would be over imaginable; and that it wouldn’t be necessary to calibrate a “per customer” number?
If you break it down to a “per customer” price point, in an effort to replicate the overall revenue stream they get from cable. I don’t know. It seems to me like there is certainly money on the table in many other ways that MLB has simply failed to capitalize on at this point.
“Local Delivery Model”
-@the voice inside my head
Well I guess one way to end local blackouts is to just have nobody carry games locally
depending on restrictions, if there’s not a buyer for the majority of the games like RSN,
then local networks will pick-off individual games more frequently and for way cheaper.
would love to see the Pirates air a few times a month on NBC/ABC/FOX/CBS locally , instead of pretty much never while tucked away on Cable.
that would bring dismal viewership numbers, pirates aren’t there yet
I meant locally like how they do NFL
so pirates would only be on CBS in Western PA etc
it would be an MLB timeslot with local teams playing per region
This affects the small markets that don’t have the massive local TV deals more proportionally when they don’t get their money and will make the revenue disparity worse.
That’s what MLB gets for getting in bed with Rally, a gambling entity that can’t meet their obligations. Yet Pete Rose is still banned from the Hall of Fame. Hypocrisy reigns.
They didn’t get in bed with Bally. They were with FOX to begin with, They didn’t see Disney coming along which forced Fox to sell off the regional networks.
Despite the circumstances, it doesn’t change the facts they are in bed with them.
Nice of them to pull this 5 weeks before opening day.
As long as they stream them on one channel, and don’t force you to subscribe to half a dozen different networks to see all the games, I’ll be OK with it.
Does anyone else always see CHEATERS when the read the word Astros?
You spelled “Champions” wrong.
No, you just pretend they are the same.
You spelled “Champions” wrong!
Since you posted it twice I just had to like it twice.
Astros living rent free in this losers head
@Kewldood69
Looks like it’s your first time following baseball. Check out the long history of cheating in baseball. Good history lesson.
Kewldood is definitely the guy to boo the Astros players while they play for Houston, but the minute they change teams “he’s apologized for it. I forgive him. It was all Altuve.”
Utter mess!! I get MLB TV annually. Unfortunately all the Nationals/Orioles games are blacked out because MASN says I’m in their territory yet I’m in NC.
It says NC is Reds blackout territory too.
reds, braves, guardians, nationals, orioles are all blacked out in NC
I said it before and I’ll say it again MLB biggest problem is not PED use, length of games, or Steve Cohen spending money. No by far MLBs biggest problem is the blackout rule and the fact fans cannot watch their local team/favorite team. As a Braves fan who doesn’t have cable and uses streaming I may can only watch if I’m lucky 10 games a year. It is ridiculous and I’m willing to pay to be able to watch my team but it’s almost as if MLB with their rule is trying to deny me from watching my team. And if this is happening then how on earth can you grow the game because in order to get new fans they have to watch the product. MLB give us a way to be able to watch the games.
The biggest problem isn’t the blackout, it’s been the financial disparity in the game. Now that more half are in jeopardy of losing their RSN deals, with the other half probably a year or two away from a similar fate. It’s time the MLB really makes strides to creating a competitive league. They need to strike a national deal with one of the streaming services. Amazon and Apple have jumped into the sports world, but Netflix is the behemoth, and they haven’t touched live sports. That’s where the money is.
Netflix won’t. They’re getting into gaming.
1000% correct. It’s 2023 and we can’t stream?? Pizza box bases, trash cans, and spider tack ain’t the problem.
Hey man question for ya; back in the day I always watched the Braves on TBS. I actually know 90’s Braves almost as well as I do 90’s mariners. But were you able to watch the Braves on TBS locally in Georgia? Or was it blacked out on cable and shown on a local fox or nbc affiliate or something? Or was TBS just your channel for Braves?
No, we were able to watch the Braves in metro Atlanta on TBS since around 1976 when Ted bought the team. It was good old channel 17 on UHF. Back then it was called WTCG, before he went national with the channel. But for the first five years or so they mostly only showed road games, as a way to get people to attend the games. And Sports Illustrated did an article around 1979 talking about how there were Braves fans as far away as the Pacific Northwest, due to the TBS broadcasts.
They were a regular part of my homework after school. Javy Lopez, Druw Jones, Justice, Crime Dawg, Chipper, the pitchers. Not just the big three I remember Denny Neagle, young Kevin Millwood and they had the closer Wohlers. All they did was win! They were a factory. They’d lose one guy to free agency or trade and it always seemed like the hole was plugged within days. I was always jealous of their ownership and management and really just became a legit Braves fan over time. Those were the good ol days
@SODOMOJO- I wish I went to your school. I was sent to the principal’s office just for bringing up Steve Avery’s injury.
I remember him! Pitched a gem in that ‘95 series. I think it was game 4. That was the big win in the series to put them up 3-1. Wow, great memories. Albert Belle took him deep
I heard a discussion on MLB network radio Monday about the possibility that MLB could take over the entire streaming business and possibly eliminate the blackout rules. The challenge would come from teams like the Yankees.
Personally, I’d love to see an alternative to the current arrangement. When the Astros partnered with the Rockets on a new network, it was only available to ATT/Dish Network subscribers if you lived outside of Houston. I’m 180 miles from Houston and would have to pay an extra $65 /month just to see Astros games.
That would be cool, but the Yankees and other teams are going to be in the same boat soon enough, cable is dying, and these local deals are going to keep falling off.
Yankees already have their own streaming YES app but it does require a cable sub. I use my folks’ acct. credentials whom live in NYC.
Yes Network is owned by MLBAM. They would have no problems from the Yankees. The only problems would be in the areas where there is an existing RSN that is not going bankrupt. NBC Sports for example.
MLB would likely still have to blackout games played by those 5 teams.
MLBAM does not own the YES network. In fact it has zero financial interest in it. YES network has several owners with Yankees having the largest share.
Check again.
Given that baseball is a monopoly, I hope that the bankruptcy judges give the fans an opportunity to speak as interested parties.
Ohtani’s agent is telling Ohtani to sign NOW!!!!
If the Bally collapse helps Sinclair go under, the country will be better off.
Sinclair isn’t it any risk of going under. Diamond Sports is a subsidiary with its own board of directors. Sinclair’s CEO disn’t seem too concerned about it impacting the parent company during this week’s Q4 Earnings call.
Not exactly. Sinclair CFO Lucy Rutishauser said in the Q&A sessions on the earnings call that because Diamond Sports Group was a wholly owned subsidiary, Sinclair would still be liable for much of the debt that Diamond Sports took on in the purchase and Sinclair would likely have to write down as much as $8 billion when the bankruptcy is finalized. That could negatively impact your shares of Sinclair stock.
CEO Chris Ripley said that “all discussions of prior financial period results during this call reflect Sinclair only pro forma numbers, and thus, exclude Diamond and any intercompany transactions with them.” He didn’t discuss Diamond Sports at all.
Ripley sits on the board of Diamond Sports.
You can listen to it on sbgi.net
IF MLB starts their own streaming network they will be alright. They will get the advertising revenue along with our fee to watch.
they already have it .. just blacks out local games because of the cable contracts
still need games available outside of the mlbs package.
hopefully on the local air channels
The question is whether the teams will hire production crews and send their announcers on the road. Or if it will be like 2020-21 and everyone will work from a studio at the home stadium and watch a feed rather than attend the games. I doubt MLB will pick up that slack, and the teams, without an outside source of revenue, will gladly cut the travel and production costs.
Wouldn’t surprise me if they do away with separate radio and TV announcing crews as well. Vin Scully could pull it off, but he was a unicorn.
I know for Bally, they refused to come to terms with a lot of these streaming services like YouTube and Hulu… even dish was a constant battle. You pretty much could only get Braves games on cable. If mlb tv wouldn’t blackout Braves games, I’d subscribe to it at pretty much any cost they threw at me and I’d cut cable completely. ESPN has all my dawg games and free old school rabbit ears can pick up my falcons lol… although many free streaming services do also. So I likely can get all that for less than I pay for cable and I’d be a happy man.
Direct TV stream had Bally Sports was the only reason I got it, plus combined with ATT internet…but they got rid of Newsmax, jacked the rates up, plus the app is terrible….I’m crawling
back to cable and I don’t care lol. I just wanna turn on the TV and watch something without having to fight the app and remote for 5 minutes lol sheesh
OMG!!! They got rid of Newsmax??? No wonder you dropped it! LOLOL!!!
Knew that would trigger a few Liberals on here lol….how about the words: FOX News! ahhhhh run for the hills! bwahahaha
You mean the same NewsMax that will lose a $1.6 billion lawsuit for utterly making crap up because their viewers are gullible dumbasses? That NewsMax? The one that was dropped by cable companies because they don’t want to be complicit and therefore liable in that or other lawsuits? That NewsMax?
You mean the same Fox News that said one thing to each other, but lied to their viewers because they know how dumb they are? That Fox News?
Why don’t you tell us about what an intellectual giant My Pillow Dude is?
I hope you re right. It would be good for the game.
I turned off Newsmax forever when I learned they were taking bucks from the Brandon Administration to do Covid propaganda….
I turned off Fox News forever on election night, 2020.
Turn off all of those fake news channels and you’ll be much better off. Fox, CNN, MSNBC, etc.
@bronyuar1 see proved my point…triggered. And who is your Oracle of the truth? Plz, do tell
Cable TV is dying and I couldn’t be happier about it. I cancelled my cable in 2020 and it was the best decision I’ve ever made. As soon as MLB stops local blackouts, I’ll buy MLB TV and stop streaming from sites like mlb66
Wish my wife would cancel that crap. I don’t watch TV at all, just YouTube Premium. Xfinity is only good for Internet. Why pay to watch a bunch of commercials all day?
Awesome. Get the Rockies a new home so that I will never have to hear the phrase “Subaru Strike Zone” ever again. Literally every time they mention the strike zone, it has to be called the Subaru Strike Zone.
“I got rid of cable and it was the smartest thing I ever did. I can’t watch any of the stuff I want, but…”
“All you have to do is go stealthegameforfree dot com….don’t worry the now bankrupt RSN’s will still spend millions producing the broadcasts for pirated feeds, I’m pretty sure.”
If the MLB had any understanding of why their sport isn’t growing as desired they’d use this as a wakeup call to consolidate their offerings rather than scatter games around a half dozen different networks over the course of the season. Of course though, they are too arrogant to notice this and will continue to make it harder and harder to actually watch the game.
How is a cocoon where only already existing die hard fans choose to pay the high fee to enter good for the game and growing it?
This reminds how “lucky” I am that my favorite two teams are not in my area.
For around ninety-nine bucks a year I can see more Cubs and Dodgers games than I have time to watch.
The status quo works great for me, but I hear the pain from others.
And I pay for my Mom’s cable which comes handy for the post-season.
Living in Canada, and being about 2 days drive minimum from Toronto, means I have all games blacked out on MLB.TV originating out of Toronto of the Blue Jays unless I subscribe to Rogers Sportsnet who are out of Toronto and own the Blue Jays. I can’t stand the announcers of the Blue Jays and although Rogers Sportsnet comes with any package locally that has sports involved I subscribe to MLB.TV and I subscribe to a VPN service so that I can watch my team when they play in Toronto and not have to listen to the Blue Jay announcers. Yeah I’m spoiled, but I’m also retired and have earned the right to spoil myself after working for over 40+ years. I was cheering for my team for quite a few years before Toronto Blue Jays became a reality and most of my Canadian friends can’t believe I cheer for any other team. I tell them, my team has at least one Canadian player on it as do many other teams and I have followed my team for years and will not switch no matter what.
MLB is already set to take over broadcasting. They have informed teams that they should not give up their right to sue the networks as they can buy back their rights in bankruptcy court for pennies on the dollar and still sue the mother companies, Warner Bros and Sinclair, for any lost revenue.
Most teams that are partial owners of the stations broadcasting their games already have the right to continue broadcasting them regardless of the participation of the other RSN owners.
If Sinclair subsidiary Diamond Sports joins WBD subsidiaries AT&T Sports Net and Root Sports in Chapter 7 as expected, that means you and I will be able to watch ALL games anywhere. No more blackouts. You will be able to buy a single team MLB.TV package or a couple of them and not have to worry that you will have to miss games blacked out where you live or who they are playing.
Cable TV and satellite TV carriers will still pay the stations the same carriage fees, they will just go directly to MLB instead of to the RSN
If all 3 file for CH 7 bankruptcy, it will mean that revenue sharing between teams will be easier because all of those networks will be controlled by MLB. It will bring about better revenue parity and better baseball for fans. This will be better for fans and increase MLB revenue in the long run.
I have said for a few years now this was ridiculous. The answer is obvious.
They have the MLB network and MLB TV. Set up a national streaming/cable service where all games are available with no balckouts for a monthly fee. Thebrevenue is split between all teams EQUALLY.
But you know the large markets don’t want to give up their massive advantage. MLB HQ in NY will continue to cater to them as their sport is dying in the middle of the country.
The Nationals probably wish MASN would go under, like these other RSNs.
You know it’s tanking. Im a DirecTV subscriber — and yes, essentially for sports — and they’re offering me up MLB Extra Innings for free this season.
Just like they’d be doing with NFL Sunday Ticket the past 2-3 seasons.
They’ll do whatever they can to stop me from cancelling.
DirecTV stream would be appreciably cheaper. But I’ve heard / seen not only anecdotal issues with that, I’ve seen some issues first hand.
The day things really shift, it’s hard not to see cable / sat subscriptions implode even more than they have already.
There is not any difference in cost between DIRECTV Stream and DIRECTV Broadcast.
If you want your price lowered. call and ask for the retention department once a year. They will start by offering you $40 off for one year. Depending on the package you are on you can get more.
The current issues with the RSNs leaves team owners in pro sports in a quandary. The value of their franchise is only as great as their fan base — in terms of revenues generated by gate receipts, food and beverage, licensed merchandise sales, sponsorships and even media rights fees. It’s somewhat a chicken and egg thing in that the rights fees help fuel the growth and exposure of the franchise to grow the fan base.
While the RSN model is dissolving quickly, it does open up opportunities for each team to work out a new local delivery model that is more direct-to-the-consumer and can combine the best of multi-platform subscription media with the know how and in-place broadcasting infrastructure of the league.
A potential side-effect of the collapse of the RSNs is that the evaporating of existing backloaded rights fees agreements would likely even out the playing field a bit in terms of revenues between the largest-market teams and the rest of the leagues, allowing for a more competitive bidding for players.
Bingo! LOCAL DELIVERY MODEL. Say it with me. Good stuff.
The thing that scares me with that; is how are we to keep rosters competitive in that kind of environment? It may be the onus of an MLB salary cap. TB is not going to buy what the Rays are delivering….nearly as much as say NY will the Yankees.
White Sox and Blackhawks on 44, Cubs and Bulls on 9… let’s go back in time! Never cost a dime.
It cost advertisers money and they raised our prices to reflect their costs. Someone pays and its always you and me.
I would rather pay MLB directly and cut out the middle man.
I don’t like politics in baseball or for that matter most anytime. I may end up taking a leave of absence with the national past time along with my apple pie, and start watching soap operas. I’m reminded, nothing stays the same,.. Bloody rubbish old chap..
Sorry I’m too old to start watching sports on my phone, but wise enough to invest in the laser eye surgery industry…
You don’t have to watch on your phone. I stream on my TV when I am home, on my tablet or laptop on the road, and often on my hotel TV.
Can’t wait until the RSN’s collapse so that the O’s finally face some pressure from MLB to cut the Nats loose from the extortion the O”s have subjected them to.
Let these greedy sobs do what they want. You have an internet connection? Great get an ad blocker, get a vpn do a little searching and watch all the sports entertainment you desire for free
In other words, do as Latino does and break the law.
Get Superbox, they are great for streaming. I get everything
Get Superbox, they are great for streaming. I get everything.
If the MLB got rid of black outs i would register for the mlb tv. I know there are ways around it but I would rather do it directly
Major League Baseball is heading for a tennis/golf type popular existence. Irrelevance in a major sense…just a second tier popularity status. And I think it can be argued that it is already occurring asboomers prop the last vestiges of their childhood up before they exit the market…unable to be replaced.
MLB has long avoided wanting to go the route of being another streaming option. But it’s issue is that it has so much overhead in its labor and buildings. It just is not a sport where players will be able to command salaries similar to the NFL in the future. It’ll have generational waves of nostalgia spike some interest. When grandkids get their 1950s born grandpa’s card collections or memorabilia…baseball will see its hip retro boom…like vinyl records. But MLB is dying now. It can’t sell its product in a preferred package. And it’s spent decades now killing itself. Mission accomplished.