Post by Oregon Norm on Mar 3, 2020 12:10:15 GMT -5
A nice trio of articles at Fangraphs, detailing the up-and-down history of MLB's relations with the networks, how cable changed that, and what they're doing now that cord-cutting is the order of the day.
The streaming service is a real money maker. But there's a problem. Cable providers were regional. Everyone on the system was able to receive those regional sports networks (RSNs). That's now limited to those who sign up for a streaming service. That means that many younger viewers who might pick up the baseball habit are being cut-out of the broadband equation. The MLB present looks bright and filled with cash, but the current model doesn't bode well for the future.
There's an even bigger problem. Sinclair - which owns 14 regional Fox RSNs it bought from Disney - has badly overplayed its hand. The cable model is evaporating before their eyes. The streaming services are dumping Sinclair's properties because the company is asking too much per subscriber. That means even fewer young viewers emerging.
As an aside, this makes Disney and Fox (which Disney purchased them from) look very smart as they played hot-potato with those properties, and Sinclair not so much. The company badly under-estimated how fast the transition would happen so they're trying to recoup their investment by over-charging the streaming services to carry those. That's not going over very well.
Here's the Fangraph articles:
And here, from an eye-opening site that was linked to in those articles, is the Sinclair story.
The takeaway is straight-forward: MLB is fat and happy, but they risk starving the kids.
The streaming service is a real money maker. But there's a problem. Cable providers were regional. Everyone on the system was able to receive those regional sports networks (RSNs). That's now limited to those who sign up for a streaming service. That means that many younger viewers who might pick up the baseball habit are being cut-out of the broadband equation. The MLB present looks bright and filled with cash, but the current model doesn't bode well for the future.
There's an even bigger problem. Sinclair - which owns 14 regional Fox RSNs it bought from Disney - has badly overplayed its hand. The cable model is evaporating before their eyes. The streaming services are dumping Sinclair's properties because the company is asking too much per subscriber. That means even fewer young viewers emerging.
As an aside, this makes Disney and Fox (which Disney purchased them from) look very smart as they played hot-potato with those properties, and Sinclair not so much. The company badly under-estimated how fast the transition would happen so they're trying to recoup their investment by over-charging the streaming services to carry those. That's not going over very well.
Here's the Fangraph articles:
And here, from an eye-opening site that was linked to in those articles, is the Sinclair story.
The takeaway is straight-forward: MLB is fat and happy, but they risk starving the kids.
