As More Teams Leave Regional Sports Networks, Could Live Sports be the Savior of Broadcast TV?
There was a time when no one and nothing could challenge the importance of broadcast TV in the American entertainment ecosystem. But the advent of streaming has changed just about everything in the television industry, and the migration of prestige TV to streamers and many of the major sports leagues to cable has left broadcast TV with little besides local news to offer its audiences.
That could be changing, however. In late April, the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury both announced that starting in the 2023-24 regular season, their games would no longer be available on Bally Sports Arizona and Bally Sports+. Henceforward, Suns and Mercury games will be available on local broadcast channels in Arizona, with no streaming or cable subscriptions required. That move was met with loud protests by Bally Sports’ parent company Diamond Sports Group, and there will undoubtedly be more drama (including legal challenges) ahead for the plan.
There will likely be no such issues when the Vegas Golden Knights move their games to broadcast channels next season. On May 4, the Knights announced that they had agreed to a multi-year deal with broadcasting company E.W. Scripps, which allows Scripps to broadcast all Golden Knights games that aren’t in nationally-exclusive windows on ESPN, TNT, or TBS. The games will be free, over-the-air broadcasts, so once again no streaming subscriptions or pay-TV contracts will be needed.
Golden Knights games were on AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain until the end of the 2022-23 regular season. That regional sports network (RSN) was owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery, but in March the company informed all teams covered by its networks that it was exiting the RSN business. This means that, unlike Diamond Sports, WBD no longer had any interest in retaining the broadcast rights to the teams in question, and was happy to see someone else deal with the problem of showing their games on TV.
If the Suns, Mercury, and Golden Knights see good ratings in their first seasons on local broadcast networks, more teams from an increasing number of leagues could follow. MLB has explored numerous options as it tries to get out from under the faltering RSN tower, including streaming games for free or using its cable channels like MLB Network to fill in broadcasting gaps. Perhaps MLB clubs like the Pittsburgh Pirates or Colorado Rockies, whose rights were also owned by AT&T SportsNet RSNs, could move to local broadcast channels at some point following this season.
The return of more major league teams to broadcast channels would be a godsend for the major networks. A recent survey found that only 17% of audiences preferred watching live sports on broadcast or cable as compared to streaming. If broadcast channels continue to find ways to provide local sports games on free, over-the-air networks, there’s a good chance that the trend can be reversed. Another survey from March found that major cable sports channels like ESPN were losing viewers at a high rate, suggesting there is a growing pool of sports fans that is looking for an alternative to see their favorite team’s games.
The expense of acquiring broadcasting rights to major sports leagues will prevent a platform like ESPN+ from becoming the single streaming destination for the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, etc. for the foreseeable future. Sports leagues make too much revenue from putting their games on TV, even in the age of cord-cutting, to leave it behind until they are forced to. Putting more games on broadcast channels is a good intermediate step that allows networks and sports leagues to still bring in licensing fees and advertising revenues. It’s good for providers, and good for fans who get to see more of their favorite team for free.