Bally Sports and MSG RSN Are Reportedly Preparing For Bankruptcy

[comfortably_numb]

I think this is inevitable at some point in the future

Hope so. Might cause another strike, but things are different now than they were in 1994; the TV money just isn't out there anymore.

 

[Bruce]

even the teams paying the tax can only do so for so much longer. while the small market RSNs were the first to fall, don't think the big market ones like LA Sportsnet can keep going. There's no path in which LA Sportsnet can afford $335m/year payments to the Dodgers

I just read the LA Sportsnet is in about 2 Million homes, in their areas ( Southern/Central California, LV and Hawaii)

So if the per sub fee is $12 ( their share/wholesale rate), that is only $24 Million a month, $288 Million a year, not enough to cover the Dodgers, but do not forget the rights fees for the Lakers, which cannot be cheap.

Also reported, the channel was losing $150 Million a year just 5 years ago, has to be a lot worse now.

 

[cpalmer2k]

More info on the Braves plans are starting to leak out. It looks like they *may* be going to partner with Grey Media and air games on their local stations. This would be interesting if it plays out. Last year Grey TV launched local sports channels in Georgia and the Carolinas that are carried OTA on their stations in SD, but are carried by cable providers in HD. Those channels carried a limited number of Braves games via simulcast last year.

Sources: Angels and Braves contemplating their own regional TV networks

While seven of Main Street Sports Group’s nine departed baseball teams are expected to broadcast their games through MLB Media, sources told SBJ Thursday that the final two — the Braves and Angels —are in discussions to form their own networks that could involve the NBA’s Hawks and the NHL’s Kings,

www.sportsbusinessjournal.com

 

[Bruce]

And it is over-

Another Cable TV Network Announces It Will Shut Down in April | Cord Cutters News

The regional sports broadcasting landscape in the United States faces another major disruption as Main Street Sports Group prepares to shut down its FanDuel Sports Network operations in April 2026. The company, which rebranded from its previous incarnation after emerging from bankruptcy in early...

cordcuttersnews.com

 

[navychop]

Getting an Impersonation warning and Go Back.

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[cpalmer2k]

View: https://x.com/Braves/status/2026281163203973219?s=20


It looks like the Braves are both going their own, and playing nice with MLB's streaming plans. They're launching their own network through deals with carriers, etc. but thankfully they're also joining MLB's streaming operation for both in and out of market fans.

 

[savarese04]

View: https://x.com/Braves/status/2026281163203973219?s=20


It looks like the Braves are both going their own, and playing nice with MLB's streaming plans. They're launching their own network through deals with carriers, etc. but thankfully they're also joining MLB's streaming operation for both in and out of market fans.

this is how everyone should be doing it, if they're going to go their own way. Teams holding onto their streaming rights should be a thing of the past.

 

[Bruce]

Great article about the death of RSNs-

Regional sports networks are dying. Now what?

In 2026, regional sports networks are dying out. What comes next and will it make watching local sports cheaper?

awfulannouncing.com

 

[Yespage]

You'd think local channels would jump at a chance for the advertising revenue.

 

[Bruce]

You'd think local channels would jump at a chance for the advertising revenue.

I have posted link after link previously, that shows regular season sports (MLB, NHL and NBA) receives very low ratings, like 1-3% of the total audience.

So, with that, it is actually better to put up less expensive content to attract advertising revenue, there would be no benefit to pay higher rights fees for sports, since rates will not get better or possibly worse.

The other factor, advertisers are leaving Broadcast and Cable Channels, in some areas, as much as 70%, to go to streaming services, so they receive a actual count, instead of a estimate, of who is actually watching.

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[b4pjoe]

You'd think local channels would jump at a chance for the advertising revenue.

Would the ad-revenue be enough to basically pay the same amount to the teams that the RSN's were paying?

 

[cpalmer2k]

Would the ad-revenue be enough to basically pay the same amount to the teams that the RSN's were paying?

Unlikely. Unless it is a decent sized market with an independent TV station that has a large amount of available airtime they're going to get stuck on a subchannel that cable/satellite/streaming customers don't receive, and the picture is going to be crappy for those watching OTA via an antenna.

The Braves Spring Training games are a perfect example. They're airing them all free across all the Gray TV stations in their markets, but very few are on the primary network channel of the stations carrying them. They're almost all on a .2 subchannel that is SD, and often bit starved. You can't command high ad rates for that. Local stations are hurting for $$ too. They don't have the resources to pay the kinds of rates RSNs were to carry MLB, NBA, and NHL games unless it is a limited package of a small number of games. Nobody has the $$ or airtime to devote to a 162 game MLB schedule for example.

 

[comfortably_numb]

The other factor, advertisers are leaving Broadcast and Cable Channels, in some areas, as much as 70%, to go to streaming services, so they receive a actual count, instead of a estimate, of who is actually watching.

Just curious, why the capitalization of "Broadcast and Cable Channels?"

 

[Bruce]

Unlikely. Unless it is a decent sized market with an independent TV station that has a large amount of available airtime they're going to get stuck on a subchannel that cable/satellite/streaming customers don't receive, and the picture is going to be crappy for those watching OTA via an antenna.

Large markets have a problem also, I posted here last year, that Wheel of Fortune/Jeopardy receives 3-4 times the audience /ratings than the NYY did on YES.

The rights fees for those two shows are a lot less than the Yankees would be.

 

[Bruce]

Just curious, why the capitalization of "Broadcast and Cable Channels?"

Why not and it helps to differentiate them vs streaming.

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[Yespage]

I have posted link after link previously, that shows regular season sports (MLB, NHL and NBA) receives very low ratings, like 1-3% of the total audience.

Sure, but what are those ratings compared to anything else they put on their network?

 

[comfortably_numb]

Why not

Sister Mary Paul would strike me with her ruler for Typing Like This. Thankfully, she's dead.

 

[navychop]

AKA Sister Mary Discipline?

I, also, have Catholic knuckles.

 

[Yespage]

Sister Mary Paul would strike me with her ruler for Typing Like This. Thankfully, she's dead.

Happy about dead nuns?! Man, this thread got dark quick! RSNs really bring out the worst in people.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Happy about dead nuns?! Man, this thread got dark quick! RSNs really bring out the worst in people.

View: https://youtu.be/G5h2Lu7P4UQ

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