Sinclair Rebranded Fox Sports RSNs Direct-to-Consumer App Will Include “Some Live Games”
During their Q4 2020 Investor Call, Sinclair Broadcasting Group CEO, Chris Ripley revealed that the direct-to-consumer version of the app won't be available until 2022.
But, for those that feared that it wouldn’t include live games, during today’s Deutsche Bank Media, Internet and Telecom Conference, Ripley said “I can’t imagine us launching next year without some amount of live games. And so, that is definitely part of the plan.”
Ripley said Sinclair already has “quite extensive rights to include games in a direct-to-consumer package.” He says they’re still working out the details on pricing, features, and which games with the leagues. He said with new deals it’s “absolutely mandatory that direct-to-consumer rights” be included and that when they bought the RSNs they already had “significant…direct-to-consumer rights.”
Ripley did not give any details on pricing, saying that’s an item on the drawing board, but “there is a lot of logic to making it either season based or annual when it comes to sports, as opposed to monthly.”
This will be an important change for Sinclair after the loss of distribution across streaming services. Sinclair has been having a rough go at when it comes maintaining carriage of its sports RSNs on streamers. And during their Q4 Earnings call, Ripley didn’t make it seem much progress has been made in them returning to services like YouTube TV or Hulu.
In 2020, YouTube TV, Hulu Live TV, and fuboTV dropped the channels. In 2019, both Dish Network and Sling TV dropped the channels from their service.
In the meantime, to access them, you will need a subscription to AT&T TV Choice Plan ($84.99), which recently added an Unlimited DVR and 20 Simultaneous Streams (in-the-home).
For those who have access to Bally Sports RSNs through AT&T TV or your cable/satellite service – Ripley’s said their new app will launch ahead of the 2021 MLB season. “It will feature a more personalized and interactive viewing experience. The app will provide significantly enhanced functionally and a new design.”
He shared the initial version of the app will allow those with TV Everywhere Authentication the ability to watch games, with features like rewind and view replays, search for enhanced statistics and programming, access programming from the RSNs, and news coverage of the team.
What Bally Sports RSNs Carry Local Sports Teams?
Bally Regional Sports Networks broadcasts local telecasts of 14 MLB teams, 17 NBA teams and 13 NHL teams.