Bally Sports RSNs Are Reportedly Preparing For Bankruptcy

[kofi123]

Now that Scripps owns Ion and Nexstar owns The CW, they are licking their chops over the demise of RSNs potentially allowing them to acquire sports for those OTA networks as well as the local stations they own, especially independents in a duopoly with a "big four" affiliated station. Gray Television has also expressed an interest in snatching rights from RSNs to give to Gray's duopolies in Atlanta and Phoenix that contain an independent station.

https://www.fiercevideo.com/video/ew-scripps-looks-play-ball-launch-new-sports-division

Talking TV: Scripps Sports Looks To Edge Out RSNs For Rights

As sports betting fever continues to grip the U.S, The E.W. Scripps Co. can’t stop laying its own bets on over-the-air. In December, the company announced the formation of a new unit, Scripps Sports, that will look to leverage its OTA Ion networks (the nation’s fifth largest) to start picking...

tvnewscheck.com

Nexstar Looks To Bring More NBA Games to Local Stations

Broadcaster would make more money if NBC cuts primetime, CEO Perry Sook says

www.nexttv.com

With RSNs Hobbled, Scripps And Gray Take Aim At Sports

E.W. Scripps and Gray Television are taking advantage of cable and satellite’s diminished state to make a play for professional sports rights. It’s about time for broadcasting to reclaim them.

tvnewscheck.com

 

[ncted]

Overpaid sports figures and the whole establishment may take major earnings cuts if we have a major recession and people cut back spending. Momma ain’t gonna allow paid sports when rent is due and cupboard is bare.

I feel like this is way overdue. The inflation of sports salaries and publicly funded arenas has been out of hand for a while. It is almost as bad as the cost of going to college.

 

[Bruce]

I feel like this is way overdue. The inflation of sports salaries and publicly funded arenas has been out of hand for a while.

While that is part of it, the main problem for the RSNs is not enough people watch them and they do not deserve the high per sub fee they get.

So many are leaving Traditional Providers because they just do not care about it ( and a bunch of other channels) and the high fee that comes with it.

The only Live TV service with big gains is YTTV, guess what they do not have.

For example, NY Metro area population 18 Million, so say half have a Live TV sub with the RSN, so 9 million, out of that, the NY Yankess had a average of 219,000 watching the game on TV, so we expect 8.7 million to pay that RSN fee just so 219,000 can watch .

Yankees games on Yes Network led all of baseball in viewership thanks to airing on an average of 219,000 households

Aaron Judge home run chase buoyed YES Network amid ongoing RSN collapse: Sports on TV

The Aaron Judge home run saga was good news for YES, which might be in a rare position to succeed in the flailing RSN landscape.

theathletic.com

NY Yankees ratings 2.9
guess what had better rating, on the first 30 minutes of the game-

Jeopardy, local TV ratings are a 5.1

"Jeopardy!" Sinking Ratings Draw a Competitor in NY and LA: New 7pm NBC Local News Starts Monday - Showbiz411

I’ve been telling you for months that “Jeopardy!” was sinking in the ratings and was in trouble. I guess someone listened. Starting Monday, WNBC Channel in New York and KNBC in Los Angeles will launch a 7pm local half hour newscast to compete with the quiz show. No one’s tried this since 2007...

www.showbiz411.com

It is almost as bad as the cost of going to college.

My kids are 5 years apart in age, when I sent my youngest, it was about $12,000 more a year for her, same school, my son for Software Engineering, Daughter Teacher.

But when I went in the late 80’s, it was not inexpensive then either, I still had to work 2 jobs and I had the GI Bill to help ( grew up extremely poor, so no family to help, unlike my kids, we paid for everything).

 

[comfortably_numb]

Now that Scripps owns Ion and Nexstar owns The CW, they are licking their chops over the demise of RSNs potentially allowing them to acquire sports for those OTA networks as well as the local stations they own, especially independents in a duopoly with a "big four" affiliated station.

 

[Don in CT]

While that is part of it, the main problem for the RSNs is not enough people watch them and they do not deserve the high per sub fee they get.

So many are leaving Traditional Providers because they just do not care about it ( and a bunch of other channels) and the high fee that comes with it.

The only Live TV service with big gains is YTTV, guess what they do not have.

For example, NY Metro area population 18 Million, so say half have a Live TV sub with the RSN, so 9 million, out of that, the NY Yankess had a average of 219,000 watching the game on TV, so we expect 8.7 million to pay that RSN fee just so 219,000 can watch .

Yankees games on Yes Network led all of baseball in viewership thanks to airing on an average of 219,000 households

Aaron Judge home run chase buoyed YES Network amid ongoing RSN collapse: Sports on TV

The Aaron Judge home run saga was good news for YES, which might be in a rare position to succeed in the flailing RSN landscape.

theathletic.com

NY Yankees ratings 2.9
guess what had better rating, on the first 30 minutes of the game-

Jeopardy, local TV ratings are a 5.1

"Jeopardy!" Sinking Ratings Draw a Competitor in NY and LA: New 7pm NBC Local News Starts Monday - Showbiz411

I’ve been telling you for months that “Jeopardy!” was sinking in the ratings and was in trouble. I guess someone listened. Starting Monday, WNBC Channel in New York and KNBC in Los Angeles will launch a 7pm local half hour newscast to compete with the quiz show. No one’s tried this since 2007...

www.showbiz411.com

My kids are 5 years apart in age, when I sent my youngest, it was about $12,000 more a year for her, same school, my son for Software Engineering, Daughter Teacher.

But when I went in the late 80’s, it was not inexpensive then either, I still had to work 2 jobs and I had the GI Bill to help ( grew up extremely poor, so no family to help, unlike my kids, we paid for everything).

How many Yankee fans are there in New York. It's a lot higher than 219,000.

 

[Bruce]

How many Yankee fans are there in New York. It's a lot higher than 219,000.

I would assume so also, but they are not watching based on the ratings shown at the link.

There was a story here in Florida, where they wrote the ratings for the Tampa Bay Lighting we’re the best ever on the RSN, they were now averaging 40,000 viewers a game.

Out of a state that has millions.

And that is my point about the RSNs, it is not fair to make millions, the extreme majority, pay for it, specially now with the extra RSN charge of around $15, just so the extreme minority can get it.

I pay for the content I want and value, I have Paramount+ because of Star Trek, I have ESPN+ so I can get the Red Wings, MLB.tv for the Tigers, I will get NFLST for the Lions.

If a channel cannot stand on it’s own, then it should end, that is how the Free Market works, but no one should be forced to pay for a channel (per sub fees) if they never watch it.

 

[Don in CT]

I would assume so also, but they are not watching based on the ratings shown at the link.

There was a story here in Florida, where they wrote the ratings for the Tampa Bay Lighting we’re the best ever on the RSN, they were now averaging 40,000 viewers a game.

Out of a state that has millions.

And that is my point about the RSNs, it is not fair to make millions, the extreme majority, pay for it, specially now with the extra RSN charge of around $15, just so the extreme minority can get it.

I pay for the content I want and value, I have Paramount+ because of Star Trek, I have ESPN+ so I can get the Red Wings, MLB.tv for the Tigers, I will get NFLST for the Lions.

If a channel cannot stand on it’s own, then it should end, that is how the Free Market works, but no one should be forced to pay for a channel (per sub fees) if they never watch it.

I think the numbers are too low. This is the problem with Nelson ratings. I'd guarantee there are more people watching RSN's than broadcast primetime. Most sports fans watch sports, they don't care about other programming.

 

[dishdude]

I think the numbers are too low. This is the problem with Nelson ratings. I'd guarantee there are more people watching RSN's than broadcast primetime. Most sports fans watch sports, they don't care about other programming.

I don't know anyone that watches baseball on TV, I know a couple people that like to listen on the radio though.

Football, Basketball and Hockey are a different story.

 

[Don in CT]

I don't know anyone that watches baseball on TV, I know a couple people that like to listen on the radio though.

Football, Basketball and Hockey are a different story.

RSN numbers also have to count NBA and NHL views, it's not just baseball. People are watching their teams. So the RSNs are getting viewers. How many have Neilson boxes in their homes

 

[Bruce]

I think the numbers are too low. This is the problem with Nelson ratings. I'd guarantee there are more people watching RSN's than broadcast primetime. Most sports fans watch sports, they don't care about other programming.

I do not trust nielsen either , but that is what the link showed and what they go by in ad sales and the likes.

Why I prefer ratings for Netflix and the rest, they really know who is watching what.

Found the ratings for ESPN, they only hit the in the millions average when Football is on.

Before that under a million during most of the summer.

ESPN Ratings

Latest Nielsen television ratings for ESPN.

ustvdb.com

 

[meStevo]

RSNs just feel ripe for a big correction. Gravy train of traditional provider money winding down quicker than they can pivot.

 

[Bilbo1]

RSNs just feel ripe for a big correction. Gravy train of traditional provider money winding down quicker than they can pivot.

It’s really an issue of existing rights deals, carriage agreements, disparate ownership of the RSNs, etc. this makes it hard to pivot everything at once.

The only league that “did it right” was MLS… they told all the teams a couple of years ago not to enter into local agreements that extended beyond the end of the national rights deals. As a result, the league had a clean package to offer. Apple took them up on it.

At best, Sinclair’s bankruptcy will free up about 2/3 of MLB’s local rights for consolidation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SamCdbs]

The problem with an OTA model is that is cannot generate the money that an RSN can. There is a reason that RSN games are mostly sponsored by single car dealerships and ambulance chasers. They make their money from the subscription fees. Also, for the vast number of people who live outside of MLB markets, are those games going to get on OTA TV? Those fans count too. While the Yankees might be on TV in NYC, every day, would the games clear in Albany or Rochester, etc.?

The problem with "I'll just watch other places' game on mlb.tv" is twofold. One is, without the local RSN, those games are not going to be produced for mlb.tv to carry in the first place. The other is that without the RSN $$ that team is likely to not exist.

 

[comfortably_numb]

The other is that without the RSN $$ that team is likely to not exist

Teams existed before RSN's, they can exist after them.

 

[Bobby]

Teams existed before RSN's, they can exist after them.

They will just have to pay their players and themselves less.

 

[BLC1962]

The sad truth for MLB especially is that they have ridden the RSN model into the ground. What made RSNs viable in the first place no longer exist. That was the ability to tack it onto massively expensive pay tv bundles. The support for this is not there any longer. Pay tv subscription rates are dropping like a rock for lots of reasons but primarily because the whatever value equation there was for them no longer exist for most people. MLB is going to have to adjust to this new reality. This means the teams and the players association. I am a lifelong baseball fan (Go Cardinals) and for reasons other than just pricing I have switched to Dish from Spectrum after last year's baseball season ended and no longer have access to Cardinals baseball on Bally Sports Midwest. I was hoping Bally Sports would add MLB to their Bally Sports + app by the start of next season but that is looking less and less likely now. Therefore, I may have to sit out next season. :-(

 

[SamCdbs]

Teams existed before RSN's, they can exist after them.

Players made middle to upper middle class wages back then. I would love to see the so-called union destroyed and the best players (in every sport) make maybe $200K/year. But that is not going to happen. A discussion for another day anyway.

Without the RSN $$, the $$ to pay these wages simply isn't there.

 

[AZ.]

Players made middle to upper middle class wages back then. I would love to see the so-called union destroyed and the best players (in every sport) make maybe $200K/year. But that is not going to happen. A discussion for another day anyway.

Without the RSN $$, the $$ to pay these wages simply isn't there.

Do you have any idea how much owners make? Really go after players? Reggie Jackson was the first million dollar player over 40 years ago! If teams couldnt afford the players it wouldnt explode....Isnt this crap people love to say capitalism is great? Oh I see its all the unions fault and those poor owners have it so very hard. No one knows what owners make in baseball, but they sure arnt hurting when they spend BILLIONS when they buy a team!

 

[AZ.]

Charter, Sinclair reach distribution deal for Bally Sports RSNs​

Sinclair paid $9.6 billion for 21 RSNs in a deal that closed August 2019. However, since then, the RSN business has taken hits, including being dropped from YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV in 2020 – two distribution agreements which together Sinclair had said represented approximately 10% of the local sports gross distribution revenue for the month of September that year.

https://www.fiercevideo.com/video/charter-sinclair-reach-distribution-deal-bally-sports-rsns-broadcast-stations

Poor poor Bally they paid to much, its the players and unions fault!

 

[comfortably_numb]

Therefore, I may have to sit out next season.

Cardinals fan here. I will probably sit this season out as well.