Re: Further demise of NBC's regional sports network business

Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

NBC has been in the regional sport network business for over a decade.
It helps that it's a sister company of Comcast, a huge cable
distributor. In non-Comcast areas, broadcast licensees have huge
negotiating power with cable due to must carry/reciprical compensation
that allows them to include all their nonbroadcast satellite channels in
packages cable companies buy but really don't want all the channels of.

Chicago Cubs had already formed Marquee. NBC Sports Chicago has a
contract with the White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks. The cable
distribution contract actually predates Comcast's acquisition of NBC but
it got assigned to NBC Sports following the acquisition. The contract expires
in October and will not be renewed.

These deals are set up as a partnership and the teams themselves are
partners. Reinsdorf owns the Sox and Bulls; Wirtz owns the Blackhawks.
The Bulls and Blackhawks jointly own United Center.

Reinsdorf purchased majority control Stadium multiplatform caster a year ago.
He started it with Sinclair in 2017, but Sinclair never ended up with
the WGN broadcast license as Reinsdorf must have been counting on.

The Atlantic broke the story that the new regional sport network will
NOT be stadium but Standard Media Group. Now, they do own a few
broadcast licenses but not in Chicago so I don't understand how this
gives them any clout with cable distributors.

I've complained about this before. Comcast insulates itself from what it
pays sports teams with the Regional Sport surcharge on every television
package except limited basic. The fee gets adjusted from time to time
based on what their rights cost. No, the fee is not refunded in years in
which various teams are embarassingly awful.

Further developments

NBC Sports Chicago shares bleak outlook with employees for deal with
White Sox, Bulls, Blackhawks
Kevin Cross, the president and general manager of NBC 5, Telemundo
Chicago and NBC Sports Chicago, personally began meeting with those
affected Thursday. He's focused on making sure employees land on their
feet.
By Jeff Agrest
Chicago Sun-Times
Updated May 23, 2024, 9:53pm CDT
https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports-media/2024/05/23/nbc-sports-chicago-white-sox-bulls-blackhawks-jerry-reinsdorf-stadium-standard-media-group-marquee-sports-network-kevin-cross

Reinsdorf's Stadium multiplatform sports service will provide some
programming to the new regional sports network.

Comcast wants to move the regional sports network to a higher priced
tier. Does that mean I'll be relieved of the substantial regional sport
surcharge?

The contracts to broadcast games on NBC Sports Chicago expire October 1,
2024, and it's likely that the network would shut down after that,
although it may have to provide programming for a while depending on
when its contracts with various cable distributors expire. I've seen
that happen before, that the channel will air nothing but old sports
documentaries 24 hours a day till it can go dark.