Sinclair and RSNs

The very last thing the RSNs want is to have to how much it actually costs to get them. We see the $6 or so a month as an RSN fee, but that is the price if nearly everyone on the provider is paying for it.

Given that the RSNs are really only viewed by a minority of viewers, the per actual viewer price would be substantially higher. The RSN owners know that is not a viable solution to their financial issues.

For instance, I read an article a bit ago that claimed that only about 10% of viewers on Comcast actually watched the RSNs. Yet nearly all Comcast customers paid about $6/month in RSN fees. Doing some math with the numbers provided in the article showed that the actual cost to that small percentage of customers would be about $60/month. I’m not claiming that is accurate, just using the article’s numbers.
 
The very last thing the RSNs want is to have to how much it actually costs to get them. We see the $6 or so a month as an RSN fee, but that is the price if nearly everyone on the provider is paying for it.

Given that the RSNs are really only viewed by a minority of viewers, the per actual viewer price would be substantially higher. The RSN owners know that is not a viable solution to their financial issues.

For instance, I read an article a bit ago that claimed that only about 10% of viewers on Comcast actually watched the RSNs. Yet nearly all Comcast customers paid about $6/month in RSN fees. Doing some math with the numbers provided in the article showed that the actual cost to that small percentage of customers would be about $60/month. I’m not claiming that is accurate, just using the article’s numbers.

Less revenue then owners and players will just have to learn how to live on a few million instead of hundreds of millions. :eek
 
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Less revenue then owners and players will just have to learn how to live on a few million instead of hundreds of millions. :eek

Yep, I think it is going to be painful for everyone involved. The club owners and players are most likely going to find that at home/mobile viewers are not quite as willing to pay the current actual cost. The viewers will be ticked off and post everywhere about how it all sucks.

In the end, something will change. What I think it will be is that the RSN business model goes away and something else will replace it. The issue has been coming for a long time. All those channel owner’s, the club owners and the players all figured it was a never ending well of water they could tap as hard as they wanted to.
 
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The games on RSNs should be on locals, or through the respective leagues specific service(NFL Sunday Ticket, MLB EI, etc). This would limit exceeding costs, teams air in their respective markets, eliminates some bandwidth issues, destroys the sneaky RSNs fees providers are having to apply now, and gives serious sports fans the option of paying several hundreds of dollars on the sports they claim they’ll pay anything for. Everybody wins.
 
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I feel no pity for Sinclair. They are essentially double-dipping. Even if they charged the carriers nothing to air their channels, don't they still make a ton of money from the commercials shown on these channels?

The more carriers that show their programming, the more they can charge the advertisers.
 
Comcast announced that they are increasing their RSN fee by $6.20 due to the addition of Marquee. So in Chicago, where $8.25 was already the cost for NBC Sports Chicago, the total cost for the two RSN's is going to be $14.45. I am a sports fan, but am glad Dish didn't accept adding that cost to everyone's bill. I can see why Dish was so adamant about having the RSN's be a-la-carte.

 
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$15 rsn fees is still a better deal than paying Hulu live $60 for one channel, when you’re already paying dish $135 for a four room setup.
Not for the vast vast majority that have zero interest in the channels to begin with.
Remember, it is always sports fans that say “we will pay whatever it takes”.... but when presented with the options including cost, they seem to not want to pay “whatever it takes”. Unpopular sports channels are not going to be getting subsidized too much more. Their popularity is just not there for the price they charge.
 
Comcast announced that they are increasing their RSN fee by $6.20 due to the addition of Marquee. So in Chicago, where $8.25 was already the cost for NBC Sports Chicago, the total cost for the two RSN's is going to be $14.45. I am a sports fan, but am glad Dish didn't accept adding that cost to everyone's bill. I can see why Dish was so adamant about having the RSN's be a-la-carte.

Unfortunately, Dish also didn't accept subtracting the cost of the channels that they have already dropped from everyone's bill.
 
Not for the vast vast majority that have zero interest in the channels to begin with.
Remember, it is always sports fans that say “we will pay whatever it takes”.... but when presented with the options including cost, they seem to not want to pay “whatever it takes”. Unpopular sports channels are not going to be getting subsidized too much more. Their popularity is just not there for the price they charge.
And yet what is one of Dish's most recent moves? Shoehorning Tennis Channel into Welcome Pack. (At least for some subscribers. Some other Welcome Pack subscribers are reporting that they are still not receiving it.) Gee, I wonder how much next year's Welcome Pack price increase is going to be.
 
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IMHO there shouldn't be any price increase at all in 2021... Due to loss of some channels, no new HD and ongoing successful pricing negotiations with channel groups/owners in 2020 we are pleased to announce no price increase for the 2021 year. Thanks for being a Dish subscriber!

sarcasm filter: ON
 
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Here is your test - a $14 fee for sports in Chicago...will people leave?

Cubs are very popular. As a kid we moved to Illinois twice and each time I remember the Cubs had a very loyal, cult like following. White Sox were not nearly as popular.

$14 is a lot. But are people leaving in droves? We will find out.

And the thing is DISH is more overall than Comcast, so I am not sure how this all works.

Unfortunately, Dish also didn't accept subtracting the cost of the channels that they have already dropped from everyone's bill.
 
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