Phoenix Suns go OTA

[MartyDe]

Here's a switch. The Suns are giving away free antennas so folks can see the games. Made a deal with off air TV.

Phoenix Suns Give Away Free TV Antennas to Fans After Walking Away From Cable | Cord Cutters News

Phoenix Suns’ owner Mat Ishbia is ditching cable television in lieu of broadcasting games on local channels, and he’s giving away free TV antennas to ensure fans don’t miss out on the games. After walking away from negotiating a TV rights deal with Bally Sports, the Phoenix Suns partnered with...

cordcuttersnews.com

 

[comfortably_numb]

Hope this becomes a trend. Would be nice to see baseball return to OTA as well.

 

[Bruce]

Hope this becomes a trend. Would be nice to see baseball return to OTA as well.

That may be happening far quicker then you would believe.

Diamond Sports (Bally) cannot figure out a reorganization plan to be a profitable company, they still have nothing to show the Bankruptcy Court.

The newest problem is both Comcast and DirecTV’s contract to air the RSNs is up in October, Spectrum in February, all three have said they will not sign a new deal at even the current rates ( per sub fee), they all want a substantial discount.

 

[DirecTVFanSince2016]

The newest problem is both Comcast and DirecTV’s contract to air the RSNs is up in October,

I believe the contract also includes the Sinclair TV stations & Tennis Channel. That may also be why they switched the Nexstar slate to say "Our contract with this station owner has expired" instead of "Our contract with Nexstar, which owns or controls this channel, has expired"
Edit: I threw in the Nexstar slate, the generic slate, and ANOTHER generic slate I also found on D* stream's servers. Maybe another contract coming up?
Edit2: More searching shows that the unknown generic slate first appeared on the servers on July 12, initially as a "no longer available, we regret any inconvenience slide" with the D* stream logo, then switched to a "currently not available slate" with the tvpromise site and just the D* logo early morning next day.

 

[savarese04]

This is good news. I've always wondered though, isn't it a win-win for teams and local networks (particularly ones without an affiliation) to air OTA? If you're the network, showing the Suns has to bring more revenue and eyeballs than whatever mypillow or Ronco is paying for their crappy infomercials. Why wouldn't they fight hard for these games now that RSNs are a dying model? If you're the team, the ad dollars and eyeballs (read: more fans) has to pay dividends.

I look at how the radio model has worked for years with these teams and feel like the RSN equivalent would have been if teams decided to just start putting games on XM/Sirius. Sure you make some big bucks up front, but the downside is you've cut your audience significantly.

Does anyone have any insight into how the advertising/revenue model works for this new Suns situation? I imagine there's an element of less money, but if we dig deeper, I feel there's no way Ishbia is taking a huge haircut here. These guys will always find a way to get dollars.

 

[N5XZS]

I am wondering if our local Albuquerque stations would become a Sun NBA sports affiliate, mostly likely on KASY-DT, KWBQ-DT not sure about rest of other ABQ, stations.

Sadly we don't have independent station in ABQ, TV market unless someone brought out one of religious stations out here, maybe KCHF-DT might be good canadate for purchase of this station?

It's a good thing we are moving away from pay sports TV models in this day and ages!

 

[SamCdbs]

This is cute, but the $$ just are not there.

First, of course, the throwaway line Ishbia said this move could triple audience availability to at least 2.8 million households, is, well, uninformed. The phony math is taking the number of people who had access (AKA paid for) BS-Arizona and the number of people in the DMAs involved. Of course, the people who self-selected out of paying for the NBA, don't like the NBA. The "audience" for this is, well, the same.

But more importantly, what are the ratings for the Phoenix Suns? 0.64. On the low end nationally, but none of the teams are really setting the world on fire. The NBA is not the highly regionalized and broadly based sport that MLB is. Many more people follow it on a national basis, following the national teams and players (Lakers, etc) rather than some self-appointed local team.

Lastly, of course, I agree that providing free antennas is a publicity stunt, but it outlines the problem with this. This is an unaffiliated station. Unaffiliated stations are, well, garbage. Reruns, hours of the parent station's news over and over, infomercials. Not compelling TV. Not something that can command retransmission, but rather a must-carry status. So, unlike an RSN, ONE revenue stream. Ads. Ever watch the ads on local NBA, NHL, and MLB? There is a reason it is car lots, ambulance chasers, and PSAs. It is spelled 0.64.

 

[comfortably_numb]

This is an unaffiliated station

If the team does well OTA, perhaps it will
move to an affiliated station later.

 

[Jim5506]

A scheme like this would more accurately portray to the players what their "fans" are willing to pay them, not the highly unrealistic millions they are getting now. But, it would also skew the better players toward the bigger markets like NYC and LA and badly hurt the smaller ones. Some kind of TV revenue sharing might be needed to be done by the league.

 

[Bruce]

A scheme like this would more accurately portray to the players what their "fans" are willing to pay them, not the highly unrealistic millions they are getting now. But, it would also skew the better players toward the bigger markets like NYC and LA and badly hurt the smaller ones. Some kind of TV revenue sharing might be needed to be done by the league.

They already do, at least since 2012, I quit looking after that-

NBA Revenue Sharing: Small-Market Teams to Benefit from New Sharing Structure

The wake of the NBA lockout this past offseason has left the beginnings of a new financial structure intended to slowly infiltrate the league. One of the most contentious issues of the lockout was small-market profitability and revenue sharing...

bleacherreport.com

 

[savarese04]

A scheme like this would more accurately portray to the players what their "fans" are willing to pay them, not the highly unrealistic millions they are getting now. But, it would also skew the better players toward the bigger markets like NYC and LA and badly hurt the smaller ones. Some kind of TV revenue sharing might be needed to be done by the league.

The NBA is extremely profitable, even with the "unrealistic millions" players are getting. They have had revenue sharing since the early 2000s CBA and the current 50/50 split gives the players 50% of about $10B/year in BRI (Basketball Related Income) which includes everything from TV deals, tickets, concessions, merch, and - as of the latest CBA - naming rights.

So all told their "fans" are willing to pay them BILLIONS.

 

[comfortably_numb]

But, it would also skew the better players toward the bigger markets like NYC and LA and badly hurt the smaller ones

Isn't that the way it already is with MLB?

 

[AZ.]

Isn't that the way it already is with MLB?

They have a level of penalties the more they spend. So not exactly, but kinda do.

 

[KyL416]

Lastly, of course, I agree that providing free antennas is a publicity stunt, but it outlines the problem with this. This is an unaffiliated station. Unaffiliated stations are, well, garbage. Reruns, hours of the parent station's news over and over, infomercials. Not compelling TV. Not something that can command retransmission, but rather a must-carry status.

Even though AZ Family 3 is independent, they're owned by Gray, so they have enough clout to opt for retransmission consent payments. The ones that opt for free must carry status are usually stations owned by companies that have no big 4 affiliates or national cable channels to include as part of their negotiations.

If the team does well OTA, perhaps it will move to an affiliated station later.

There's a reason why Gray is putting the games on AZ Family 3 and their new AZ Family Sports Channel, instead of their CBS affiliates in Phoenix and Tucson. No major network is going to let an affiliate pre-empt primetime programming 3-4 nights a week for the entire Fall-Spring TV season. So in Tucson, where Gray has no independent station, it's airing on a subchannel of their CBS affiliate. As of right now they haven't announced any TV coverage for New Mexico.

Scripps did a similar thing for the Golden Knights. Their Vegas and Salt Lake City Ion O&Os went independent on their primaries, and their Big 4 stations in Montana dropped their CW Plus affiliated subchannels for a statewide network called MTN. Reno, where Scripps has no station, will be getting the games on Sinclair's KNSN - Nevada Sports Network.