Does anyone know if Dish and Sinclair are even talking about the Regional sports channels anymore, keep hearing rumors, but it seems
Dish has moved on.
Dish has moved on.
dish and the RSN's
- Thread starter Chuck Summers
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I think Charlie has made it pretty clear that Dish has moved on. If Sinclair ties the RSN's to their O&O stations at renewal time though, that could open up a whole new can of worms...
I think Charlie sees the RSNs going to their own streaming services to sell their access so he figures that there's little point to trying to get agreements.
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IMHO if Sinclair trys to strong arm Charlie it will be the end of the game. They would be gone forever.
and NBC is next
Will they be willing to lose NBC Bravo Cozi TV E! NBC LX Syfy USA Network Universal Kids Oxygen and more?? or will the NBC RSN's come back??
Will they be willing to lose NBC Bravo Cozi TV E! NBC LX Syfy USA Network Universal Kids Oxygen and more?? or will the NBC RSN's come back??
According to The Athletic, Dish has signed a new contract with NBC for all the other NBC properties:
The impact of Dish and Sling dropping NBC Sports Bay Area and California
Bay Area Dish and Sling subscribers will need to find a new way to watch the A's, Giants, Warriors, Sharks and Earthquakes.
theathletic.com
The Athletic has a story on the RSN's from the California perspective but has some excellent info in it. You do need to be a subscriber to read it, however, there are two things of importance in it:
1) Dish's comment to the Athletic was a-la-carte RSN's or nothing - we have seen this before when they talked about dropping NBC Sports Chicago and Altitude. A quote from a Dish rep: "Instead of continuing to support the broken model, we propose a change: offer our customers the sports they want on an a la carte basis, similar to premium channels like Starz or Showtime. The RSNs would determine the price customers pay for a la carte channels. With this updated model, no customer would be forced to pay for RSNs they don’t watch."
2) Dish just signed a contract with NBC that is not a bundle and NBC knew they were opting out of the RSN's. "Dish and Sling were able to drop NBC’s RSNs while still keeping a hold on networks like NBC, MSNBC, USA, Bravo, etc. Most of NBC’s deals with cable and streaming providers were done in a way that bundled all of the company’s properties, but that wasn’t the case with Dish. So when Dish decided it wanted out of the RSN business (something the company made clear to NBC in recent months), it was able to opt out. That’s a decision other providers aren’t able to make, based on the contracts they’ve entered with NBC that call for all of NBC’s properties to be bundled together."
When I read that second part, something I have never explicitly read before but we have all assumed was happening behind the scenes, makes me think the RSN's aren't coming back.
and others can't use MFN to get the same deal?According to The Athletic, Dish has signed a new contract with NBC for all the other NBC properties:
The impact of Dish and Sling dropping NBC Sports Bay Area and California
Bay Area Dish and Sling subscribers will need to find a new way to watch the A's, Giants, Warriors, Sharks and Earthquakes.
The Athletic has a story on the RSN's from the California perspective but has some excellent info in it. You do need to be a subscriber to read it, however, there are two things of importance in it:
1) Dish's comment to the Athletic was a-la-carte RSN's or nothing - we have seen this before when they talked about dropping NBC Sports Chicago and Altitude. A quote from a Dish rep: "Instead of continuing to support the broken model, we propose a change: offer our customers the sports they want on an a la carte basis, similar to premium channels like Starz or Showtime. The RSNs would determine the price customers pay for a la carte channels. With this updated model, no customer would be forced to pay for RSNs they don’t watch."
2) Dish just signed a contract with NBC that is not a bundle and NBC knew they were opting out of the RSN's. "Dish and Sling were able to drop NBC’s RSNs while still keeping a hold on networks like NBC, MSNBC, USA, Bravo, etc. Most of NBC’s deals with cable and streaming providers were done in a way that bundled all of the company’s properties, but that wasn’t the case with Dish. So when Dish decided it wanted out of the RSN business (something the company made clear to NBC in recent months), it was able to opt out. That’s a decision other providers aren’t able to make, based on the contracts they’ve entered with NBC that call for all of NBC’s properties to be bundled together."
When I read that second part, something I have never explicitly read before but we have all assumed was happening behind the scenes, makes me think the RSN's aren't coming back.
DISH has moved on. At this point there is no sense whatsoever of bringing them back. Those that really want the RSNs have left, or have plans to when their contract comes up.
It’s been more than two years. Those with contracts would have either re-signed after the take down, or have been on pause for atleast 6 months.
Not that I like to quibble (who am I kidding?) but it has been less than two years. July (late July at that) 2019 is when the bulk of the RSN's disappeared, with some individual ones not being dropped until much later that year. Some have not even been dropped yet, but will disappear at the beginning of next month.
The ironic thing here is that the whole reason the founders of Sling (long before Dish bought the company, the technology, and the brand) created the company in the first place was so that they could have a way to watch their Bay Area sports teams while they were away from home. And now Sling TV will not even be carrying those teams' games.According to The Athletic, Dish has signed a new contract with NBC for all the other NBC properties:
The Athletic has a story on the RSN's from the California perspective but has some excellent info in it.The impact of Dish and Sling dropping NBC Sports Bay Area and California
Bay Area Dish and Sling subscribers will need to find a new way to watch the A's, Giants, Warriors, Sharks and Earthquakes.
Nah, you must be getting your long-standing Dish channel removals mixed up. HBO and Cinemax was 2018, although that happened at the beginning of November. Maybe you were thinking of Univision? I'm pretty sure that one started long before HBO and Cinemax, although the Univision channels eventually did return. How much longer they will stick around is a question, though, since there has been a recent uplink seeming to indicate that Dish is preparing for yet another Univision dispute.
Ah yes, here it is: July 26, 2019
Fox Regional Sports Networks Block DISH and Sling TV Customers
Fox Regional Sports Networks Block DISH and Sling TV Customers Fox Regional Sports Networks remove 16 sports channels from DISH and Sling customers Fox RSNs demand higher rates for customers whether they get the channels or not Fox RSNs reject DISH offer of a short-term extension...
www.satelliteguys.us
Today John Ourand, very respected in the Sports Business arena, had an article on the Sinclair RSN's. We all thought that the best chance for the RSN's to come back would be the summer when the locals come up for renewal. It looks like that isn't as sure of a thing as we thought before. I have never heard this take before:
www.sportsbusinessjournal.com
Adding to the distribution angst, some in the financial community note that Sinclair operates the RSNs as a part of Diamond Sports Group — a legal entity that is separate from Sinclair’s local television stations. Speaking on background, several Wall Street analysts said the fact that Sinclair’s television group operates from its own silo makes it less likely that the company will use its local TV station leverage to win carriage for the RSNs.
Also something I didn't realize - Sinclair's contract with the NBA and NHL for the out of market packages expire this year.
Sinclair’s tough road ahead
When Disney bought Fox’s entertainment assets in the spring of 2019, it valued the 21 Fox Sports-branded regional sports networks at more than $20 billion. A few months later, those same RSNs were valued around $14 billion when Disney sold them to Sinclair: $10.6 billion for the group and...
www.sportsbusinessjournal.com
Adding to the distribution angst, some in the financial community note that Sinclair operates the RSNs as a part of Diamond Sports Group — a legal entity that is separate from Sinclair’s local television stations. Speaking on background, several Wall Street analysts said the fact that Sinclair’s television group operates from its own silo makes it less likely that the company will use its local TV station leverage to win carriage for the RSNs.
Also something I didn't realize - Sinclair's contract with the NBA and NHL for the out of market packages expire this year.
So, what would happen then, assuming it isn't renewed? Would those leagues produce their own feeds for those games, if Sinclair still has the in-market rights? Or would those packages simply have a lot fewer games in them, with nobody providing out-of-market feeds for those games?
From the article:
Sinclair’s out-of-market agreements with the NBA and NHL are up after this season and face lengthy negotiations. The agreements dicate how much Sinclair will pay those leagues to show games outside of a team’s designated market.
Umm, Sinclair doesn't carry NBA or NHL games out-of-market. Sinclair PRODUCES games for its various RSNs which are then included in the out-of-market packages. The agreement that is coming us is about how much Sinclair WILL BE PAID for this, not how much it pays.
Sinclair’s out-of-market agreements with the NBA and NHL are up after this season and face lengthy negotiations. The agreements dicate how much Sinclair will pay those leagues to show games outside of a team’s designated market.
Umm, Sinclair doesn't carry NBA or NHL games out-of-market. Sinclair PRODUCES games for its various RSNs which are then included in the out-of-market packages. The agreement that is coming us is about how much Sinclair WILL BE PAID for this, not how much it pays.
