The president-GM of NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations’ WRC-WZDC Washington adds the company’s regional sports network there to her duties.
A federal judge partially accepts a complaint from Stan Kroenke’s Altitude Sports over a negotiating impasse with Comcast over a regional sports network.
Sinclair Broadcast Group’s regional sports business and its creditors are preparing for a possible restructuring of its roughly $8 billion debt load, a sign of the pressure on the sports industry from COVID-19, according to people familiar with the matter. Sinclair subsidiary Diamond Sports Group’s bondholders have hired legal and financial advisers as it deals with the dearth of live sports during the coronavirus pandemic and the loss of some carriage deals with pay TV distributors.
Exclusives
NEW YORK (AP) — YES Network broadcaster Jack Curry missed the New York Yankees’ postseason after contracting COVID-19. Curry tweeted a video on Sunday and said he had recovered and would have returned to work for the AL Championship Series starting Sunday had the Yankees advanced. Curry said he tested positive following the regular season, which […]
The Yankees RSN went dark on Sept. 1. Frontier is also at a carriage impasse with Fox Sports RSNs.
Sinclair Broadcast Group has promoted Phillip Gharabegian to deputy general counsel and SVP business affairs for the company’s regional sports networks (RSNs). In his new role, he will continue to be a key part of the company’s rights negotiations and will play a larger role in strategic rights initiatives for the RSNs. He will continue […]
KANSAS CITY, MO. (AP) — The Royals and Sinclair Broadcast Group have signed a multiyear agreement beginning with the current season to televise games on Fox Sports Kansas City. The number of years and financial terms were not disclosed Monday. The regional sports network is midway through its 13th season as the exclusive TV home of […]
Comcast Corp. intends to refund the programming fees its subscribers paid for regional sports networks in the second quarter, the Philadelphia cable giant said Wednesday. The rebates are likely to show up as credits on future bills, not dollars in someone’s wallet.
Could changes to telecasts made during the coronavirus pandemic become permanent?
With the Major League Baseball season about to belatedly begin, analyst Steven Cahall of Wells Fargo calculates that regional sports networks will cost Sinclair Broadcast Group $130 million in cash when the baseball, hockey and basketball seasons end.
Krolik, 63, managed the RSNs for nearly 15 years, and led the group during the sale from Fox to Disney and the subsequent sale from Disney to Sinclair.
Sinclair Broadcast Group will pay more than 1,000 of its eligible freelance sports broadcast technicians $2,500 each in the second phase of its assistance program. A company spokesman said Friday that the payment will total more than $3 million as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The payment is coming nearly two months after Sinclair offered the technicians an interest-free advance of $2,500 to the network freelancers who work at its Fox regional sports networks and Marquee Sports Network.
The union representing sports broadcast technicians is launching ads on cable TV as it ratchets up a fight with regional sports network owner Sinclair.
Charter Communications and AT&T have finally reached an agreement on the latter’s carriage of regional sports network SportsNet LA, breaking an impasse that started in 2014.
Eligible freelancers at regional sports networks will be able to receive an immediate $2,500 interest-free advance beginning on Friday, April 3. The fund is being launched in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has indefinitely halted the production of live sports, depriving these freelancers of work.
AT&T CFO John Stephens on Tuesday told an investors conference that an auction to sell four regional sports networks to reduce overall debt is nearing a possible buyer and conclusion. “We have had on the market our regional sport networks and we’re looking at the potential for those,” Stephens said.
Sinclair Broadcast Group said it reached an agreement with YouTube TV to carry 19 of its 21 regional sports networks. Sinclair, which acquired the Fox Regional Sports Network from the Walt Disney Co., last year, said Prime Ticket and Fox Sports West will no longer be carried on YouTube TV effective Thursday.
A day after announcing it would drop Sinclair Broadcast Group’s regional sports networks, YouTube TV said last Friday night that it agreed to a temporary extension and that negotiations continue.
AT&T’s auction to sell four regional sports networks appears to be faltering — the latest sign that the business of airing local sports is in trouble as Americans continue to cut their ties with cable. The wireless giant has received multiple bids for its group of four sports channels covering markets around Seattle, Denver, Pittsburgh and Houston — but all of them came in around or below $500 million for the lot, significantly short of expectations estimated to be around $1 billion.
Video streaming service Deltatre is nearing a deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group to be the digital video provider for the 21 regional sports networks that the broadcaster bought last year from Walt Disney Co., according to two people familiar with the talks.
Marquee Sports Network, the new channel being launched Feb 22 by the Chicago Cubs and Sinclair Broadcast Group, took a big step by making a carriage deal to be streamed as part of the Hulu+ Live TV lineup. It is Marquee’s first over-the-top deal with a virtual MVPD, which is important because it means Cubs fans can watch games if they cut the cord.
TVN’s New Facilities Insider | NBCU Takes The IP Plunge In Boston
The massive NBCUniversal Boston Media Center in Needham, Mass., houses the company’s NBC and Telemundo stations plus regional cable news and sports networks in a new $125 million, 160,000-square foot headquarters. “It’s a complete game-changer,” says one GM of the greenfield build.
Comcast Tries To Squash Antitrust Lawsuit
Comcast has moved to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit filed by Altitude TV by shooting down claims that the cable operator has refused to deal with the Denver-based regional sports network and that the cable op has a monopolistic pay-TV position in the market.
Regional sports networks are facing rising costs and competition from newer streaming services as part of a new era in the way Americans watch TV.
The Baltimore Orioles and Nationals jointly own MASN and have been fighting in court for years. A proposed judgment was submitted Friday in New York Supreme Court. The court in August upheld an April 15 decision by a Major League Baseball arbitration panel.
Chris Wayland New NBC Sports Boston GM
He adds the duties at the sports network of the Boston Celtics while remaining station manager of NBCU’s WBTS, WNEU and NECN there.
Regional sports network Altitude has reached a new carriage deal with AT&T’s DirecTV, ending a two-month blackout. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
