Home › The Cardinal Nation Forums › Open Forum › FOX selling regional sports networks to Disney to Sinclair to MLB???
- This topic has 215 replies, 36 voices, and was last updated 2 months, 1 week ago by gscottar.
-
AuthorPosts
-
December 20, 2022 at 8:31 am #209533
1964, that is what I have been hoping for! I have been able to get the MLB app free with T-Mobile and use a VPN to trick it into thinking I live far away so I can access the games from western Indiana. Hoping T-Mobile comes through again for us this year!
December 20, 2022 at 7:04 pm #2095941982 willieParticipantYea there is no reason MLB can’t get itself together and get a proper way for fans to watch games. But they probably won’t. Sad thing is, not a lot of radio stations cover the team anymore at least where I live in sw Indiana. The ones that do have it preempted by local stuff a lot.
December 20, 2022 at 7:33 pm #209597December 20, 2022 at 9:17 pm #209603Card4Ever, thanks for the link. The link has a few jumbled characters in it and goes nowhere for me, so I’ll post the link again here in case others aren’t able to find it.
January 26, 2023 at 7:39 pm #211689At WWU, we were told by Bill DeWitt that MLB is focused on this. Likely considering other delivery models.
Diamond Sports, the indebted subsidiary that manages 19 Bally Sports RSNs, is headed for bankruptcy & many pro teams could be facing major financial impacts. The #STLCards could be especially hard hit since rights can be terminated amid the restructuring. https://t.co/YakFhEH3ch
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) January 27, 2023
January 27, 2023 at 2:56 pm #211727A bit of a mess for sure and the start of spring training is not far off. Attached is another article with a few more details (written for Reds fans). The Cardinals would take a financial hit for sure if the facts are correct.
January 27, 2023 at 4:39 pm #211738So should we start mentally preparing ourselves for why the 2024 payroll will need to be reduced?
January 27, 2023 at 5:42 pm #211746Some teams will be full speed ahead and some will use it as an excuse. I’m waiting to the Cards org to say they saw it coming so they held back in the FA market and didn’t take on any substantial contract via trade. And hot dogs, beer and parking will have to go up.
January 27, 2023 at 10:20 pm #211757The contract is something like $50M per year? That could bring a painful contraction in payroll, for sure.
January 28, 2023 at 6:24 am #211760The contract was “over $1 billion” for 15 years. That averages to $66.66 million per year. The Cardinals also own 30% of the network so the books are likely intertwined.
If folks are interested in more detail, I suggest you listen to Bill DeWitt’s comments during Winter Warm-Up. He discussed the situation and seemed less concerned because MLB is focused on the RSN problem.
They apparently weren’t focused for decades when it was only the fans who were inconvenienced and blocked out by the antiquated RSN model, despite quotes back to the Selig days that they need to get rid of the blackouts and clean up the territorial mess, etc.
Now that it is going to affect their own bank accounts, they are getting serious. It figures.
January 28, 2023 at 8:18 am #211763I live in the Nashville area and sometimes the xfinity tv guide would list the Cardinals game but tuning to that channel would show the Reds.
The past 2 years I purchased MLB Extra Innings for the sole purpose of bring able to watch every Cards game but what I found was that if the game was the national telecast it was blacked out on MLBEI so I was stuck with the national broadcast team and then this past season there were quite a few Friday night games that had been sold to Apple TV.
MLBEI advertised ‘see every game’ which was false.
Maybe they cleverly worded their advertising or flashed a fine print disclaimer paragraph at the bottom of the screen for one second to be ‘legal’.
I do hope MLB finally cleans up their tv mess or that the Cardinals start their own network or both.
I also hope that the Bally bankruptcy is no surprise to the Cardinals and that they have planned for it. It should not be a surprise to them especially as 30% owners.
January 28, 2023 at 8:35 am #211764Even before Sinclair bought the RSNs, it was understood they were money-losers carrying a huge debt load. Cable and satellite providers were dropping the RSNs due to increasing costs passed on to them. Consumers shifting to streaming put even more pressure on them.
Anyone who was paying attention could see this coming over multiple years. But my guess is that the RSNs had to fail to invalidate the current contracts before something new could be implemented.
At WWU, DeWitt was asked about starting his own network as did the Cubs, for example. He said their model is inherently the same as the RSNs anyway. The Cards owning 100% vs. 30% wouldn’t help a failing business model.
The hope is that MLB develops a solution for all teams, as this is far bigger than the Cardinals.
January 30, 2023 at 9:21 am #211850For those who want to read more about this subject:
Diamond Sports Group’s Bankruptcy Could Rock the Baseball Revenue Boat https://t.co/q8wnOYXHC2
— FanGraphs Baseball (@fangraphs) January 30, 2023
Here is one notable quote:
“Teams will likely use the potential of missed rights payments to talk down spending, but it’s not clear whether any payments will actually be missed.”
January 31, 2023 at 5:44 pm #211919Just got this nice note from YouTube TV late this afternoon:
“We have been working hard to renew our deal with the MLB Network to continue carrying their content on YouTube TV. However, we have been unable to reach an agreement, and starting today, January 31, 2023, MLB Network content will no longer be available on YouTube TV. You will also lose access to any previous Library recordings from this channel. Members will be able to continue watching select national MLB games via coverage on FOX, ESPN, and TBS through our Base Plan. We also provide the flexibility to pause or cancel your membership anytime.
We apologize for the news and will continue conversations with the MLB to advocate on your behalf, in the hope of restoring their content on YouTube TV.
As always, thank you for being a YouTube TV member, and for your patience and understanding.”
Hmmmm …. wonder what MLB Headquarters thoughts are for TV exposure this year?
February 1, 2023 at 8:21 am #211942Local area blackouts are an archaic tool used to increase butts in seats and thus ticket / parking / concession sales. That was great 20-30 years ago but today’s model of streaming services should lead to even higher revenues if implemented properly.
What pissed me off is splitting the product (game telecasts) up between multiple subscription services like MLBEI, Apple TV, YouTube TV, etc where you have to sign up for all of them and chase the games all over creation.
Just have your national games shown on a major network and then pick one place to show the rest – charge what you have to charge and then see what happens. Change your subscription provider every year if you have to but do not spread the games out over 3-5 other providers…
February 1, 2023 at 8:24 am #211943It is going in the entirely opposite direction and likely isn’t going back. Just last night, I posted the list of Sunday afternoon games to be on the Peacock Network this coming season. The lure of the incremental money from all these newer streaming services is too great for MLB to ignore. It really isn’t anything new. Their actions for decades (including keeping the blackouts) are reminders that making games easy for fans to watch is dead last on their priority list. And they can’t seem to figure out why fan interest in MLB has been declining for years. Sad but true…
February 1, 2023 at 2:45 pm #211968Agree Brian, I would think they would want to provide an affordable TV option to capture a large cross section of the population in order to improve both exp0sure and fan interest. They seem headed in the exact opposite direction. In addition, we are a few weeks away and a great deal of uncertainty over local broadcasts for a number of teams tied to Sinclair. Ugh!
February 1, 2023 at 8:30 pm #211993Don’t worry, 1964. The games will be on Bally this season.
February 1, 2023 at 8:44 pm #211995Up until a couple of seasons ago I never had the slightest concern about spinning up the TV at about 15 minutes prior to first pitch and immediately seeing that the natural order of things were in place and the televised action was about to begin. Then, it started to get a bit iffy. Then, a lot. Then, the 700th HR fiasco materialized and I no longer trust these no good so and so’s to at any point in time hi-jack any given ballgame at a moments notice.
February 2, 2023 at 11:47 pm #212038Brian! Is it bally or bally sports plus that carries the games this season? Will a tv provider still be good enough in the future for local people to watch the games after this season?
Also I have seen that Fubo tv will stream the Bally’s network(s). When does that take place?
February 3, 2023 at 5:39 am #212045The schedules haven’t been announced so this is all just educated guessing. The games are on Bally Sports Midwest unless there is a Blues conflict. Then one of the games goes to Plus, which is an extra channel. (The folks in Arkansas, Mississippi and other states outside Midwest’s territory have a separate schedule which I will share when available.)
The new offering, called Bally Sports+ (really confusing naming), is a streaming channel that costs $19.99 per month or $189.99 annually. They do NOT have rights to Cardinals games and aren’t going to get them.
My guess is that MLB is going to develop its own streaming offering for in-market games like they have for out of market games with MLB.TV. But even if that happens, it is going to take awhile to sort it all out.
I don’t know about fubo’s plans other than their announcement, which says the networks are coming, but doesn’t say when.
https://support.fubo.tv/hc/en-us/articles/11637626222989-When-will-Bally-Sports-Networks-be-available-on-FuboTV-
February 4, 2023 at 1:00 am #212088Pretty weak article
February 4, 2023 at 5:15 am #212089Does a possible outcome squeeze more money out of the fans? If the answer is no, then we can cross that outcome off the list of possibilities.
February 4, 2023 at 10:25 am #212097Well, there is some hope. If MLB takes over, the middle men (starting with Bally) will be squeezed out. So would be the cable, satellite and streaming providers who each get a cut today. So maybe the fans won’t get hit too hard. (Trying to be optimistic here…)
February 10, 2023 at 3:47 pm #212392Chapter 11 coming next week. Some more details in this article.
https://www.sportico.com/business/media/2023/bally-sports-rsn-bankruptcy-1234709444
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.