Sinclair already looking to sell the RSNs

[Kirk Van Houten]

Click to read more...

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Paramount Global should buy them and rebrand them under the CBS name. It would not be the first time a company has bought something from Sinclair, while they were called Viacom they bought Sacramento CBS station KOVR from Sinclair.

With my proposal for Charter Communications to own a controlling interest in Paramount Global, the current LA RSNs owned by Bally Sports would be resold to NBC in favor of retaining Spectrum's LA RSNs as Spectrum's regional networks would be integrated into the CBS Entertainment Group and rebranded under the CBS name.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

CBS ironically used to own the Minnesota and Wisconsin Bally networks, they were part of the network's purchase of the WCCO stations in 1992.

 

[mouser]

Sinclair couldn’t possibly have run the RSN’s worse. They should accept they’re not good at this business and find a buyer.

 

[Fenway]

Sinclair couldn’t possibly have run the RSN’s worse. They should accept they’re not good at this business and find a buyer.

FOX was no great overlord either but they did a good job with graphics and game coverage.

RSNs nationally are seeing erosion and that will only increase. Sinclair has set a streaming price of $20 a month which seems high but is a bargain compared to NESN charging $30 a month.

NESN is 38 years old and it is still owned by the Red Sox and Bruins.

They almost went belly up in 1986 as Charles Dolan who owned the cable franchise in the City of Boston refused to offer the channel hoping NESN would wave the white flag and move to his SportsChannel that he owned 50% off along with the Celtics 35% and the Whalers 15%.

SportsChannel moved to basic cable in 1998 and NESN followed in 2001. Karmanos walked away from his 15% in 1997 and that cost him millions which he admits was a blunder. Today the channel is branded NBC Sports Boston and the Celtics still own 35%.

The Boston Globe did this feature on NESN in 2014 and it is a good primer on how RSNs have evolved.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Perhaps if CBS buys the Bally Sports networks they can reverse the decision to close the Carolinas and Tennessee-based networks.

 

[Spydey629]

FOX was no great overlord either but they did a good job with graphics and game coverage.

RSNs nationally are seeing erosion and that will only increase. Sinclair has set a streaming price of $20 a month which seems high but is a bargain compared to NESN charging $30 a month.

NESN is 38 years old and it is still owned by the Red Sox and Bruins.

They almost went belly up in 1986 as Charles Dolan who owned the cable franchise in the City of Boston refused to offer the channel hoping NESN would wave the white flag and move to his SportsChannel that he owned 50% off along with the Celtics 35% and the Whalers 15%.

SportsChannel moved to basic cable in 1998 and NESN followed in 2001. Karmanos walked away from his 15% in 1997 and that cost him millions which he admits was a blunder. Today the channel is branded NBC Sports Boston and the Celtics still own 35%.

The Boston Globe did this feature on NESN in 2014 and it is a good primer on how RSNs have evolved.


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Wouldn’t surprise me to see them all follow the NESN model. Sell off equal chunks to each team in each market, with Sinclair keeping an equal chunk to handle the production aspect.

This could be the paradigm shift that sees the teams start to control their own rights and sell games directly to fans, either on their local cable or streaming.

 

[Lt Dan]

Sinclair couldn’t possibly have run the RSN’s worse. They should accept they’re not good at this business and find a buyer.

You are being too kind to Sinclair here....lol

 

[IU Hawks fan]

Really makes you wonder how long this model has to live.

TV territories are becoming antiquated quick. Fans and bettors want access to all the games without having to pay a premium for 1/15th or 16th of the product just because one of the teams is (relatively) close to them.

 

[Djp]

This article from last year was a good one I saw on this

Sports fans are being sidelined as local hoops and hockey networks fight the decay of pay TV

Regional sports network owners Sinclair, Comcast and AT&T are charting a path for survival as the digital future looks murky

www.cnbc.com

one aspect that is highlighted in the article was an issue I knew would occur.

under standard cable you have everyone paying a fee for espn/ RSN/ fox sports which lowers thr per unit cost where peop,e get this but don’t watch.

if they go to a PPV model where sports networks have an extra fee from basic cable this will lower the prices for many in the market but raise significantly on the rest because of the $5-$10 monthly fees.

thus was the same thing forecast with streaming services.they had lower subscribing rates to then see them double or triple a year or so later.

thrn the question changes to— is streaming really a cheaper option?

the same isdue app,it’s to streaming as to cable packages….the useless forced bundles.