The Arizona Coyotes are the latest pro sports team to launch a direct-to-consumer (DTC) service for in-market fans.
Per a Friday release from the team, Coyotes Central is available for $11.99/month or $24.99 for the rest of the season. The service will offer all games airing locally to fans in the Coyotes’ local viewing territory along with game replays, shoulder programming, and other content.
The Coyotes were the final team to leave Bally Sports Arizona last fall, inking a deal with Scripps Sports in October. The team’s games were quickly moved from the Antenna TV subchannel of KNXW to KASW, a former CW affiliate also owned by Scripps.
The Vegas Golden Knights, also in the Scripps Sports portfolio, launched their own DTC service last year. KnightTime+ costs $69.99/season or $6.99/game and was created by ViewLift.
The Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks also left Bally Sports Arizona in 2023, with the Suns landing a deal with Gray Television and Diamondbacks games being produced and distributed by MLB. The Suns also launched their own DTC service, Suns Live, in partnership with Kiswe for $14.99/month or $109.99/season. The Diamondbacks have still not announced broadcast plans for the 2024 season.
In-market DTC products continue to gain steam as an alternative to the cable bundle. In fact, I think more teams across MLB, the NBA, and the NHL have in-market DTC streaming options than don’t. Teams whose games air on the NBC Sports regional sports networks (RSN) are the biggest outlier at the moment, along with the several MLB teams who didn’t sell their digital rights to Bally Sports RSN operator Diamond Sports Group.
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.