Awful Announcing
AT&T reportedly received bids of around $500 million rather than the $1 billion they were looking for, and now may not sell the RSNs after all.
The lawsuit claims Comcast "wants to extinguish competition from Altitude so that Comcast can pocket more of the money it takes from consumers each month for sports programming."
It doesn't look like the former Fox RSNs will return to Dish any time soon.
After a temporary extension Sunday, the Fox RSNs have now gone dark on Dish and Sling TV. And the sides don't seem close to a deal.
The agreement between the sides expired Sunday, but they've worked out a temporary deal. Will a longer one follow?
Sinclair could possibly add even more RSNs, but these ones might make sense for Comcast as well.
"The agreement with Disney offers Sinclair an opportunity to charge consumers more by packaging their cable and broadcast programs."
"If you're interested in gaming, we're going to add on extra stats, the ability to do prop bets in the game, pitch by pitch, play by play. You can play along and wager while you watch."
Many investors are happy with Sinclair's purchase of the RSNs, but distributors are concerned about the negotiations ahead.
Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson expects the Fox RSNs to lose 50 to 75 percent of their distribution in the next couple of years. "It's really hard to see any good outcome for a RSN."
It looks like the 21 former Fox RSNs still out there are in fact heading to Sinclair, with an announcement expected Friday.
Buffalo and Las Vegas saw huge ratings increases compared to the previous season
It looks like the 21 remaining former Fox RSNs have been sold to Sinclair, which only reportedly reemerged as a bidder earlier this month.
Liberty and MLB have reportedly combined their bids, and Sinclair's now bidding again. The BIG3 bid is also there.
"Charter's conduct risks effectively excluding BIG3 from the bidding process and tainting the auction. It has been suggested to BIG3's ownership that Charter has disseminated its threat to drop the (regional sports networks) to other members of the industry."
