FSN/Sinclair/regional sports network streaming

[MVP2110]

What is the current contract status of the Brewers & FS Wisconsin (or whatever the new name is)?

[nate82]

What is the current contract status of the Brewers & FS Wisconsin (or whatever the new name is)?

 

Expired as of the end of last season.

[igor67]

Plus side T-mobile just confirmed that they are including free MLB.tv subscription with there service again.

[owbc]

As I read these ideas, I am even further convinced that the Brewers should produce their own broadcasts and market them to the highest bidder. The MLB teams that have majority ownership in an RSN are clearly in the best shape right now...but there are not many of them. NYY, NYM, BOS, BAL, and Seattle. Not sure if the Cubs have a majority stake in Marquee or not. The Washington Nationals also have minority ownership in Baltimore's RSN. There might a few others that I'm forgetting? I have no idea what the contracts are like with Sinclair but I assume that the Brewers can not just scoop up the pieces of FS Wisconsin, at least right now. They have some talent from in-house video production for content at their stadium and it wouldn't be that hard to scrape together a broadcast that matches the production quality of those YouTube broadcasts that MLB was doing. I'd rather have crappy production than be subject to gambling advertisements. The daily fantasy junk is already a big turnoff to me.

 

Given it's already mid-February, I assume they have no choice but to come to some sort of deal with Sinclair. Hopefully it's a short-term deal. RSNs are dying and will be gone entirely soon enough. The ones owned by MLB franchises will market themselves to streaming services or whatever becomes of cable TV without skipping a beat.

 

The stupidity of the whole thing is incredible though. The people running MLB have business degrees, right? You think at least one person in charge would remember why the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves are more popular than almost every other MLB team not in NY/LA. The Brewers should be giving their broadcasts away for as cheap as possible in order to get as many viewers as possible. It might cost them money in 2021, but in 2030 or 2040 it will pay big dividends. If they stick with the RSN model, they won't have any TV viewers left when the contract runs out.

[nate82]

As I read these ideas, I am even further convinced that the Brewers should produce their own broadcasts and market them to the highest bidder. The MLB teams that have majority ownership in an RSN are clearly in the best shape right now...but there are not many of them. NYY, NYM, BOS, BAL, and Seattle. Not sure if the Cubs have a majority stake in Marquee or not. The Washington Nationals also have minority ownership in Baltimore's RSN. There might a few others that I'm forgetting? I have no idea what the contracts are like with Sinclair but I assume that the Brewers can not just scoop up the pieces of FS Wisconsin, at least right now. They have some talent from in-house video production for content at their stadium and it wouldn't be that hard to scrape together a broadcast that matches the production quality of those YouTube broadcasts that MLB was doing. I'd rather have crappy production than be subject to gambling advertisements. The daily fantasy junk is already a big turnoff to me.

 

Given it's already mid-February, I assume they have no choice but to come to some sort of deal with Sinclair. Hopefully it's a short-term deal. RSNs are dying and will be gone entirely soon enough.

 

The stupidity of the whole thing is incredible though. The people running MLB have business degrees, right? You think at least one person in charge would remember why the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves are more popular than almost every other MLB team not in NY/LA. The Brewers should be giving their broadcasts away for as cheap as possible in order to get as many viewers as possible. It might cost them money in 2020, but in 2030 or 2040 it will pay big dividends. If they stick with the RSN model, they won't have any TV viewers left when the contract runs out.

 

I will second this and the Brewers really don't need a huge production set up either. Just look at the live streaming that is being done on Twitch, Facebook and YouTube. None of these live streamers are using anything that would be considered high tech or overly expensive. The Brewers need to look into just biting the financial bullet and creating their own network either to be on YouTube, Amazon, Hulu or any other streaming service. This would create more future revenue and you are not alienating your fans with someone like Sinclair who will more than likely start to shake down the cable companies next. I believe the cable companies will just drop them if that happens as the cost of dropping them isn't all that much and the cable companies are already on a slim budget with people leaving for streaming services especially people under the age of 30. The biggest demographic that still uses cable are now getting older and are dyeing off and the newest group that has a rather large economic buying power are not buying cable and are instead skipping it.

 

For the Brewers to be competitive in the future they need to make this leap and make it soon. It may hurt some of the fans now but in the future this is going to pay off more for the Brewers and set them up financially in a better position. Signing a long term contract with Sinclair is not going to give the Brewers a long term financial benefit at best the revenue will probably increase by about $10-15m more a season but that is still pennies on the dollar compared to the large market teams. The future really is the streaming services like YouTube, Amazon and Hulu if the Brewers don't do something to get on this train they are just going to be stuck where they are now with no improvement on their position.

[MrTPlush]

Well hopefully a way for these RSNs to be on streaming services comes sooner or later, if not I will just have better things to do all summer. I am fine looking at box scores, going to some games, and then catching nationally televised games.

[TURBO]

You guys are far more casual than me. I NEED to see the games.

 

Doing what some of you have suggested just doesn't compute in my world.

[superfly]

You guys are far more casual than me. I NEED to see the games.

 

Doing what some of you have suggested just doesn't compute in my world.

 

Force yourself to try it. I promise you once you get over the initial wave it is not hard at all. I haven’t watched a Bucks game in 2 years (sadly this one is political in nature and really disappointing but im not going to just take being slapped in the face nightly and smile), and rarely watch Packer games now. Radio or bust...your life opens to do so many more things to do it amazes.

 

NHL on the other hand....a must watch.

[MVP2110]

You guys are far more casual than me. I NEED to see the games.

 

Doing what some of you have suggested just doesn't compute in my world.

 

100% with you there. I'll watch it however I need to

[patrickgpe]

I think eventually teams will produce their own broadcasts, but they have to figure out how to make money doing it. I think if you can sell your own ads and get fans to pay 10-15 bucks a month to watch the games you could do better than whatever Sinclair is paying the brewers to show their games.

[nate82]

I think eventually teams will produce their own broadcasts, but they have to figure out how to make money doing it. I think if you can sell your own ads and get fans to pay 10-15 bucks a month to watch the games you could do better than whatever Sinclair is paying the brewers to show their games.

 

I think just going the streaming route on YouTube would be a better idea. You could stream a show before the game, then the game and then an after the game show. YouTube takes about 55% of the ad revenue from its streamers which means the Brewers would have more revenue than what Sinclair could offer them. The only thing Sinclair could offer the Brewers is guaranteed money.

 

If the Brewers would just do a streaming you wouldn't even have to pay for anything it would be free and it would just be on YouTube for anyone to watch at anytime. If you wanted to watch a repeat of the game that would still count as viewers for the team and thus increasing their revenue. To me doing the broadcast on a streaming service like YouTube just makes more sense as long as MLB would allow it. The capital needed for doing this would also be a lot smaller than setting up a TV studio. If the Brewers wanted to set something up where you could do a subscription lets say for $5 a month and you get exclusive content like interviews with players, coaches and staff then that would increase the teams revenue even more.

 

MLB probably wouldn't allow this otherwise I think a team like the Yankees or the Dodgers would have already done this as it makes more financial sense to do it this way than to continue operating in the cable TV environment.

[jerichoholicninja]

Just sit Rock behind the plate with his phone and livesteam it on Facebook and IG.

[wOOgiE22]

I switched to Hulu Live TV about a year ago and am in the same boat. I’m not going back to Spectrum. My wife is a Twins fan, so we will just get MLB.TV for her and I can listen to the Brewers games on the radio. I hope they figure out something soon, but not counting on it.

[rickh150]

A real mess with TV.... a real mess with tickets. Also, do we even know the rules this year (DH, extra innings, RP 3 batter min.)? It has been the weirdest and quietest offseason in my lifetime. The ticket people know nothing. Attanasio and Schlesinger say little. No idea if I can get individual game tickets or even SEE a game on TV. Like so much else with COVID, unforeseeable. Wait and see, I guess.

[owbc]

A real mess with TV.... a real mess with tickets. Also, do we even know the rules this year (DH, extra innings, RP 3 batter min.)? It has been the weirdest and quietest offseason in my lifetime. The ticket people know nothing. Attanasio and Schlesinger say little. No idea if I can get individual game tickets or even SEE a game on TV. Like so much else with COVID, unforeseeable. Wait and see, I guess.

 

It's almost like MLB has a bit of a leadership issue, huh?

[MrTPlush]

Well shelling out money for cable just to make sure you get the Brewers depends on how much games you watch. If your life at 6pm-11pm doesn't have any conflicts and you typically watch every game, yah, it is probably worth it. However, I don't watch every game and many times don't even watch till the end cause it gets so late at night. I am not shelling out another $500 a year just to see the Brewers, sorry. At that rate I might as well head to the bar weekly and have a fish fry while I watch.

 

I am sure it helps if you are a Bucks fan too and are shelling out the extra money for another 80 or so games. For someone who just watches the Brewers it is a bigger pill to swallow.

[DR28]

Just heard on MLB Network radio the Marlins are close to their own TV deal... They would be making $40 mil+ each year.

[Madhawk23]

Just heard on MLB Network radio the Marlins are close to their own TV deal... They would be making $40 mil+ each year.

 

What have the Brewers been making on their TV deal in recent years? I'm guessing it's less than the 40M that the Marlins are about to sign?

 

Also, I see that the Marlins are negotiating this with Sinclair, so not going out and doing their own thing. I sure hope that these MLB teams are urging Sinclair to work out deals with the streaming services, otherwise I just don't understand any of this (if nobody can actually watch the games)?

[MrTPlush]

Brewers were at about $24mil prior to this year, they signed that in about 2013. The Marlins were at $20mil prior...but their previous deal was ancient, it was signed in 2006 and obviously a bigger market than us.

 

The Royals got $50mil recently from Sinclair for comparison purposes.

[DR28]

Just heard on MLB Network radio the Marlins are close to their own TV deal... They would be making $40 mil+ each year.

 

What have the Brewers been making on their TV deal in recent years? I'm guessing it's less than the 40M that the Marlins are about to sign?

 

Also, I see that the Marlins are negotiating this with Sinclair, so not going out and doing their own thing. I sure hope that these MLB teams are urging Sinclair to work out deals with the streaming services, otherwise I just don't understand any of this (if nobody can actually watch the games)?

 

Hmm weird, they made it sound like would be their own network thing, like Yankees, Cubs, etc have... Maybe I heard it wrong.

[nate82]

A real mess with TV.... a real mess with tickets. Also, do we even know the rules this year (DH, extra innings, RP 3 batter min.)? It has been the weirdest and quietest offseason in my lifetime. The ticket people know nothing. Attanasio and Schlesinger say little. No idea if I can get individual game tickets or even SEE a game on TV. Like so much else with COVID, unforeseeable. Wait and see, I guess.

 

Yes we know about the DH and other rules that came out last week. Where have you been under a rock with no internet or cell phone reception?

 

The Brewers also commented about a TV deal in one of the mailbags, I believe I linked to it in this thread awhile back. Any news won't be brought up until a deal is signed.

[owbc]

In 2019 the Brewers averaged 59,000 TV viewers and the Marlins averaged 15,000.

[MrTPlush]

In 2019 the Brewers averaged 59,000 TV viewers and the Marlins averaged 15,000.

 

If only that really meant much.

[markedman5]

It’s done

 

[RightFieldCoder]

In 2019 the Brewers averaged 59,000 TV viewers and the Marlins averaged 15,000.

 

If only that really meant much.

The important thing is potential viewers and not historic viewers. In 2019 the Brewers ended up with the best record in the league while the Marlins lost over 100 games. If the Brewers lose over 100 games and the Marlins end up with the best record in the league the viewership gap between the two would be a lot larger.