MLB currently is negotiating with pay TV distributors in the Denver, Houston and Pittsburgh markets about carrying baseball games in those markets after Warner Bros. Discovery shuts down its AT&T SportsNet channels, sources said. Mariners games still will be available via Root Sports in Seattle since the team owns the majority of that regional sports network.
WBD informed teams late Friday that they are exiting the RSN business within the next several weeks. WBD gave teams a deadline of March 31 to come up with a deal where they would take their rights back. In the absence of a deal, WBD said, its RSNs will file for chapter 7 liquidation. MLB’s Opening Day is March 30. MLB was not surprised by WBD’s move -- the two sides have been in talks about this type of move for a while, sources said.
Even after the AT&T SportsNet RSNs shut down in Denver, Houston and Pittsburgh, an MLB source said that local fans in those markets still will be able to watch games on linear TV and, likely, streaming. MLB is prepared to produce pre- and post-game shows around those local games. Comcast’s Xfinity has systems in Denver, Houston and Pittsburgh, and it owns six NBC Sports-branded RSNs in markets where it is the dominant cable system. But sources said Comcast has no interest in expanding into AT&T SportsNet’s markets.
AS SEEN IN THE KEY MARKETS: Pirates owner Bob Nutting on Friday said the "RSN ecosystem is significantly challenged" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 2/24). But Nutting said fans are "gonna be able to turn on the TV and watch" the Pirates' March 30 season-opener against the Reds in the Pittsburgh market. Nutting: “I’m not sure who’s going to own the RSN, but the broadcast is going to come on.” Nutting said for regional television broadcasts in April and thereafter, “I don’t see any chance we’re going to lose the broadcast. I just don’t think that’s realistic. We have been working for over a year on contingency plans" (THE ATHLETIC, 2/25)....AT&T SportsNet President Patrick Crumb said, “None of it impacts ROOT Sports Northwest or its teams. ... It’s just sort of a steady state in the Northwest. For the Northwest it’s just business as usual" (SEATTLE TIMES, 2/24).
