Bally Sports, the RSN for many NHL Teams, Defaults on Their Loans

[Brawndo]

 

[PromoTheRobot]

Bally has a deal with ESPN+ to air their pre- and post-game shows for their teams. (MSG has no such deal, hence...)  Bally/Diamond is controlled by Sinclair Broadcasting. Google them when you have a moment. A company with a definite viewpoint with things like news and politics. I'm not shedding any tears over them.

[Amaru523]

3 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Bally has a deal with ESPN+ to air their pre- and post-game shows for their teams. (MSG has no such deal, hence...)  Bally/Diamond is controlled by Sinclair Broadcasting. Google them when you have a moment. A company with a definite viewpoint with things like news and politics. I'm not shedding any tears over them.

What company doesn't have a definite viewpoint when it comes to news/politics these days? 

Edited February 16, 2023 by Amaru523

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, Amaru523 said:

What company doesn't have a definite viewpoint when it comes to news/politics? GMFB.

Well there's different ways to go about it aren't there?

 

52 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

 

I hope this moves the nhl to streaming. There's no need for these local weird TV rules anymore. Stream it all in one spot. 

[Thorny]

31 minutes ago, Amaru523 said:

What company doesn't have a definite viewpoint when it comes to news/politics? GMFB.

Good Morning Football? 
 

Fun show 

[Eleven]

This has been coming for a while.  Bally has overextended, from pinball to video games to gambling to resorts to TV.  It's a conglomerate without a focused mission, and that never lasts long.

The Disneys of the world will eat Bally for lunch.

And ***** Sinclair.  It's the Bruins of broadcasting.

[Brawndo]

I do wonder what this does for HRR as teams receive money for these broadcasts similar to how the Sabres are paid by MSG. 
 

MSG is debuting their own streaming service in MSG Plus this fall. 
 

The Sabres were not listed in the original press release and I do wonder about local blackouts. 
 

How much would the Sabres have to charge for a season long subscription for a streaming service to allow games to be shown in market? Maybe 200-300 dollars? 
 

With more and more people cutting the cord on cable, this seems like a no brainer.

[Thorny]

If only there was some sort of magical device that lumped all these multitude of steaming services, or, “channels” if you will, into one singular contraption

what a world that would be. 

Edited February 16, 2023 by Thorny

[DarthEbriate]

Huh. So... if they don't have that money, and no one else steps up to replace the TV revenue, it's really good to lock up your core to cheap contracts because the cap will have another hold or even a substantial drop.

[Marvin]

24 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

Huh. So... if they don't have that money, and no one else steps up to replace the TV revenue, it's really good to lock up your core to cheap contracts because the cap will have another hold or even a substantial drop.

That would be hilarious.

[Skooby]

1 hour ago, Brawndo said:

I do wonder what this does for HRR as teams receive money for these broadcasts similar to how the Sabres are paid by MSG. 
 

MSG is debuting their own streaming service in MSG Plus this fall. 
 

The Sabres were not listed in the original press release and I do wonder about local blackouts. 
 

How much would the Sabres have to charge for a season long subscription for a streaming service to allow games to be shown in market? Maybe 200-300 dollars? 
 

With more and more people cutting the cord on cable, this seems like a no brainer.

I have ESPN + & get to watch every Sabres home broadcast just like I was in Buffalo, the after game stuff cuts off early but listening to Marty for too long is a standing joke in my house. What would Marty do ???!! ESPN+ was $99 & there's college UB Bulls games on there too with a lot of regional college stuff plus in-depth reporting / articles. It's a pretty good deal.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Skooby

[ubkev]

I've worked with Bally for many, many years. I'm never surprised when I call their service line and they have changed company names again. It's happened 4 times in the past 5 years. Gotta move that money around...

[Two or less]

As much as i dislike MSG for Sabres coverage, it seems like we're pretty lucky right now in terms of local broadcasts. This seems like a headache. I watch the nhl almost nightly on espn+ and i gotta say the bally sports broadcasts are by far the worst. Not surprised they are having issues because i assume their mlb and nba broadcasts are just as poor in quality.

[Contempt]

3 hours ago, Amaru523 said:

What company doesn't have a definite viewpoint when it comes to news/politics these days? 

Mostly my issue comes from folks who say things like "Keep politics out of sports" when they don't like the Super Bowl pre-game show but then shrug their shoulders at Sinclair. That's not necessarily you, but it's certainly plenty of people. These also tend to be the same people who call others "snowflake" but then lose their collective feces about singing Lift Every Voice. They are also the same people who rail about government regulation and overreach then use laws and courts to tell other people how to live their lives. But yeah...freedom.

[MattPie]

1 hour ago, Skooby said:

I have ESPN + & get to watch every Sabres home broadcast just like I was in Buffalo, the after game stuff cuts off early but listening to Marty for too long is a standing joke in my house. What would Marty do ???!! ESPN+ was $99 & there's college UB Bulls games on there too with a lot of regional college stuff plus in-depth reporting / articles. It's a pretty good deal.

The bold is the important part, I think. If you are in Buffalo broadcast area, not sure you can get the games on ESPN+. You'd need MSG in some format.

[thewookie1]

9 minutes ago, Contempt said:

Mostly my issue comes from folks who say things like "Keep politics out of sports" when they don't like the Super Bowl pre-game show but then shrug their shoulders at Sinclair. That's not necessarily you, but it's certainly plenty of people. These also tend to be the same people who call others "snowflake" but then lose their collective feces about singing Lift Every Voice. They are also the same people who rail about government regulation and overreach then use laws and courts to tell other people how to live their lives. But yeah...freedom.

They called it the “Black National Anthem” which creates an immediate division of the citizenry. That was my personal issue with it.

Sinclair may have had political leanings far more to my liking but they were still a complete farce of a company. Hopefully their monetary blunders don’t hurt the cap too much.

 

Edited February 16, 2023 by thewookie1

[Contempt]

7 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

They called it the “Black National Anthem” which creates an immediate division of the citizenry. That was my personal issue with it.

Sinclair may have had political leanings far more to my liking but they were still a complete farce of a company. Hopefully their monetary blunders don’t hurt the cap too much.

 

Only if you think it does. IIRC they referred to the song in that way indirectly as it is known as the Black National Anthem...which it is. That's just factual.  They introduced the song by it's actual name. 

https://youtu.be/p0Qzu6r40_4

 

Edited February 16, 2023 by Contempt

[Doohickie]

26 minutes ago, Contempt said:

Mostly my issue comes from folks who say things like "Keep politics out of sports" when they don't like the Super Bowl pre-game show but then shrug their shoulders at Sinclair. That's not necessarily you, but it's certainly plenty of people. These also tend to be the same people who call others "snowflake" but then lose their collective feces about singing Lift Every Voice. They are also the same people who rail about government regulation and overreach then use laws and courts to tell other people how to live their lives. But yeah...freedom.

[Taro T]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Well there's different ways to go about it aren't there?

 

I hope this moves the nhl to streaming. There's no need for these local weird TV rules anymore. Stream it all in one spot. 

IF the streaming service for in market along w/ out of market will net them more revenue than the local RSNs do, that will happen.  Would be surprised if it will because live sporting events are one of the very few items that end up making money for the cable & satellite services.

Eventually the cable providers will go away, but until they do somebody will step in and pick up those local broadcast rights.  But there's no way ESPN or Apple want to be covering the production costs to be broadcasting over their streaming services every single game in the NHL (or the NBA or MLB) especially w/ 2 different sets of announcers.  

Curious though how the various networks actually pay the various teams & leagues their money.  Always thought they pay up front each year, but that could be very mistaken.  If they do pay upfront, this'll have minimal effects on the NHL & the cap.  If they pay as they go, a bankruptcy filing could make things interesting.  Though would be surprised if it's supremely disruptive as a bankruptcy judge & trustee would allow them to still be paying for stuff they need to remain an ongoing entity, so the teams & league would only be out (& possibly temporarily) any monies owed for games already broadcast.  

[Amaru523]

33 minutes ago, Contempt said:

Mostly my issue comes from folks who say things like "Keep politics out of sports" when they don't like the Super Bowl pre-game show but then shrug their shoulders at Sinclair. That's not necessarily you, but it's certainly plenty of people. These also tend to be the same people who call others "snowflake" but then lose their collective feces about singing Lift Every Voice. They are also the same people who rail about government regulation and overreach then use laws and courts to tell other people how to live their lives. But yeah...freedom.

I'm not that familiar with Sinclair since they're not in my region, so I have no idea what their politics are.

As far as the SB pre-game, I've talked to more Black people who complained about that than White people.

And are those that are "telling others how to live their lives" really doing that, or are they doing something else, like trying to protect children?

If you don't think your free here, you could always go somewhere else, I hear Venezuela is nice this time of year. 

[MattPie]

4 minutes ago, Amaru523 said:

I'm not that familiar with Sinclair since they're not in my region, so I have no idea what their politics are.

As far as the SB pre-game, I've talked to more Black people who complained about that than White people.

And are those that are "telling others how to live their lives" really doing that, or are they doing something else, like trying to protect children?

If you don't think your free here, you could always go somewhere else, I hear Venezuela is nice this time of year. 

Protect children from what?

[Contempt]

6 minutes ago, Amaru523 said:

I'm not that familiar with Sinclair since they're not in my region, so I have no idea what their politics are.

As far as the SB pre-game, I've talked to more Black people who complained about that than White people.

And are those that are "telling others how to live their lives" really doing that, or are they doing something else, like trying to protect children?

If you don't think your free here, you could always go somewhere else, I hear Venezuela is nice this time of year. 

protecting children from what? ideas?  Let me add another one I hear a lot. Schools are not for indoctrinating our students they are for teaching them how to think.  That fine except they leave out the part that they really mean. They are for teaching children to think...like us.  Oddly, they never seem to remove things which are indoctrinating that they happen to agree with. Things like the Pledge of Allegiance.

And it's not that I don't think we are free. That wasn't my point. My point was the people who scream about freedom and liberty the loudest are more than happy to take it away from people they don't think are worthy of it.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Contempt

[Taro T]

7 minutes ago, Contempt said:

protecting children from what? ideas?  Let me add another one I hear a lot. Schools are not for indoctrinating our students they are for teaching them how to think.  That fine except they leave out the part that they really mean. They are for teaching children to think...like us.  Oddly, they never seem to remove things which are indoctrinating that they happen to agree with. Things like the Pledge of Allegiance.

And it's not that I don't think we are free. That wasn't my point. My point was the people who scream about freedom and liberty the loudest are more than happy to take it away from people they don't think are worthy of it.

And when we're going to reduce stuff to generalizations, it's amazing how much those who scream loudly for tolerance & diversity are more than happy to show intolerance to those that don't agree with them.

Face it, generalizations suck, & the more we continue to attempt to categorize everyone into one of 2 camps & play a serious game of us & them the lesser we all are.

And those screaming loudly about all/any of this from whichever point of view are in the VAST minority.  Don't get sucked into their games.

[LGR4GM]

32 minutes ago, Amaru523 said:

I'm not that familiar with Sinclair since they're not in my region, so I have no idea what their politics are.

As far as the SB pre-game, I've talked to more Black people who complained about that than White people.

And are those that are "telling others how to live their lives" really doing that, or are they doing something else, like trying to protect children?

If you don't think your free here, you could always go somewhere else, I hear Venezuela is nice this time of year. 

The bolded is trash and you should be called out for it. 

28 minutes ago, MattPie said:

Protect children from what?

The "other" whatever fake version it takes. 

[PromoTheRobot]

5 hours ago, Amaru523 said:

What company doesn't have a definite viewpoint when it comes to news/politics these days? 

That is what they want you to think. That there are no legitimate sources for news. There are several excellent newspapers. The Guardian for example. 

News departments are supposed to be independent of management. But Sinclair dictates content to their local TV stations news programs. That is not kosher. Any media company that would do that is evil.