Sinclair announces Bally Sports+ OTT service price, continues with plan of Q2 soft launch and full fall launch
Bally Sports+ is set to launch at $19.99 a month, or $189.99 (a $50 discount) for a full year.
Bally Sports+ is set to launch at $19.99 a month, or $189.99 (a $50 discount) for a full year.
Assuming the lockout ends, the Rays are the fifth team to join Sinclair's streaming service soft launch.
The "technical issues" many Sinclair stations admitted dealing with Sunday reportedly came from a company-wide ransomware attack.
"MLB responded by requesting an equity stake in any planned streaming service that featured MLB games, 'a new wrinkle that complicated matters too much to complete on time.'"
These carriage disputes tend to follow a pretty predictable pattern ahead of football season.
"We don’t have any customers calling us on RSNs today. ...We’re not interested in taxing our customers when they don’t watch the channels."
It's a pretty logical move for all parties.
This is still very early on in the process, but there's still a lot to unpack.
Executives from two distributors told Sports Business Journal's John Ourand they haven't had meaningful contact with Sinclair about this planned over-the-top RSN offering, and they might pull or not renew the Bally Sports RSNs if Sinclair goes ahead.
Sinclair paid $9.6 billion for the networks in 2019.
There's a new logo and network market map, too.
You're watching Atlanta Braves baseball on... Bally's Sports South?
Distribution losses, including with Hulu+Live TV and YouTube TV, played a big role in this write-down.