ATT&T Sportsnet going bankrupt

[FLPensFan]

Not a fan of expanding to a 33rd and eventual 34th team. The NHL, more than any other major league, has a lack of talent. Yes, there are talented players in the league, but I would say the NHL has the worst drafting success record of any of the 4 major sports. MLB would probably be the leader, but the fact that the MLB organizational system is as deep or deeper than the English soccer system, that allows the MLB to have a little bit more success rate. Then you have the NBA and NFL, who have extremely high success rates in drafting.

Add in what I said in a previous post somewhere, about the changing of the game has eliminated enforcers, players with offensive skills but average to poor skating, players with defensive skills but average to poor skating, etc...and, well, you get a bunch of 4th line retreads earning a paycheck but not really providing entertaining hockey.

Finally, hockey is the lowest revenue generator of the 4 major North American sports leagues, and yet, it is going to have the MOST number of teams. NFL is 32 and could probably add 8 more teams and still be a powerhouse and not water down rosters. MLB and NBA are both 30 team leagues.

This doesn't strike me as a good idea by the NHL.

[penny lane]

Third times a charm for Atlanta.

If this will help rearrange divisions all for it.

[Pruezy11881]

Quebec should get a team before Atlanta... Hell Houston should before then.

[DelPen]

I’ve seen some people say the AHL is no longer a developmental league that your good players make an immediate jump out of college, juniors or their Euro leagues and there is nothing to accomplish in the AHL. Adding 2 more teams that need to field about 46-50 NHL players takes at least one if not 2 from every team now. We have gotten worse after the last two expansions. And looking at Vegas and Seattle, they both diluted the talent pool to have parity with playoff teams very quick. Panthers were an anomaly in 1996 and it took years if not decades for success for other teams.

But again, the NHL needs to sort out how existing markets will see these games before adding more markets.

[DelPen]

Quebec should get a team before Atlanta... Hell Houston should before then.

I could think of 50 cities if you pressed me that deserve a team over Atlanta.

[Pruezy11881]

Quebec should get a team before Atlanta... Hell Houston should before then.

I could think of 50 cities if you pressed me that deserve a team over Atlanta.

Touche

[Puck-Lurker]

Quebec should get a team before Atlanta... Hell Houston should before then.

I could think of 50 cities if you pressed me that deserve a team over Atlanta.

Touche

History has shown Atlanta is T(h)rash for hockey purposes.

[FLPensFan]

We need the Danville Trashers....

[brwi]

Quebec should get a team before Atlanta... Hell Houston should before then.

I could think of 50 cities if you pressed me that deserve a team over Atlanta.

Touche

History has shown Atlanta is T(h)rash for hockey purposes.

Whoever started the rumor of a franchise in Alpharetta which is just outside of Atlanta and where the vast majority of hockey fans and players are and always have been is on the right path, but I don't see it. Backers will point to the Braves moving out of downtown Atlanta and attendance/revenues/Battery area greatly increasing, but the Braves also started winning consistently too. Atlanta won't support a losing sports team for long and it takes a lot of winning to bring in the casual fans.

Lived in Atlanta area over 50 yrs and it's simply not a top pro sports market as far as fan attendance and enthusiasm goes. College sports like UGA? Phenomenal support no matter what. Nightmarish traffic congestion all around and inside Atlanta and a half-azz mass transit system also makes even diehards think twice about whether it's worth attending.

[Pitts]

Update for those interested: https://theathletic.com/4312626/2023/03 ... roadcasts/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The plan, Bettman said at the NHL’s general manager meetings, is for the 12 franchises partnered with Bally Sport Regional Networks, as well as the two partnered with AT&T SportsNet, to air the remainder of their games as scheduled on their current channels. Local broadcasts are produced and aired through the first round of the playoffs.

“There are a series of (short- and long-term) options that we’re considering and we’re ready to execute if we need to make sure the games are produced and carried,” Bettman said.

Diamond, the parent company of Bally applied for chapter 11 on Tuesday.

“Obviously, it’s not inexpensive to run sports channels or (Diamond) wouldn’t be in the situation that they’re in. But in a combination of linear carriage and streaming, we can get the games out there,” Bettman said. “And listen, we’re in an era where the business model is evolving for local distribution of games in all the sports, and that’s something we’re going to have to address not just on a short-term basis, but on the long-term.

“And we will. We’re prepared to do that.”

“(AT&T SportsNet is) going to continue to carry the games (through the end of teams’ seasons),” Bettman said. “As I said (regarding) any of the regionals, we believe based on everything we’ve been told — and we’re in constant dialogue — that our games certainly through this regular season will be taken care of. And then once we get to the playoffs, there’s national distribution.”

Warner Brothers Discovery announced in February that it would cut off rights payments at the end of March. This affects the Pens and the Golden Knights. Each have 7 games in April and those are supposed to air as scheduled.

The answers surrounding franchises’ long-term plans for linear and streaming broadcasts generally remain unclear. Some combination of options — direct-to-consumer offerings, standard cable broadcasts, maybe a reversion to classic “over-the-air” networks — is certainly in the cards.

[Pitts]

Another interesting tidbit: https://www.audacy.com/kdkaradio/sports ... uins-games" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Apparently Fenway Sports Group has their own sports network!

[DelPen]

Some news about the Bally's TV right:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nhl/ho ... 96c4&ei=35

So Amazon is going to retain the NHL and NBA now for the duration of the current deal signed with Bally's. It would be nice if they do a per game option so I can get Pens games in Charlotte or at least don't make it as expensive as it is now.

[pronovost19]

Might be interesting to watch the opponents feed the rest of the year. That way we don’t have to hear about how we need to “get to our game”. I will miss Jay’s telestrator though.

[pronovost19]

Atlanta will fail again. It is pos hockey town.

[Coffey Break]

New announcement: Sportsnet Pittsburgh to introduce a monthly subscription app for $17.99 to watch Pirates and Penguins games.

https://getsnp360.com/

Looks like it's free if you already pay for cable. This is GREAT news for everyone involved. It took them long enough but they finally did it.

[Pitts]

Just came to post this!!!

WOOO HOOO!! FINALLY!

It will be so nice to not have to jump through hoops to watch the games!

[Fast B]

Sounds interesting, but - do I need to have ESPN+ on top of that to get the national games? (And I guess it's past time to finally cancel NHL Center Ice.)

[FLPensFan]

Would be nice if we could get out of these archaic times of blackouts and regional access only. No help to me in South Florida. Seems a bit weird to limit it to customers already in the service area.

[Pitts]

That is strange. I don't believe they mentioned that in the Trib article I read.

[Puck-Lurker]

34 is just a really weird number. And keeping generally close to topic, Houston uses ATT for their RSN and Atlanta is serviced by Ballys which is going to be gone too so no RSN for them.

Maybe the NHL should sort this out, along with Phoenix, before the expand to Houston and the future Quebec City team that will start as a third Atlanta team.

I'll give the NHL one thing.

They did sort out Phoenix.

[stonewizard51]

34 is just a really weird number. And keeping generally close to topic, Houston uses ATT for their RSN and Atlanta is serviced by Ballys which is going to be gone too so no RSN for them.

Maybe the NHL should sort this out, along with Phoenix, before the expand to Houston and the future Quebec City team that will start as a third Atlanta team.

I'll give the NHL one thing.

They did sort out Phoenix.

Took em awhile but yeah the did.

[DelPen]

Sounds interesting, but - do I need to have ESPN+ on top of that to get the national games? (And I guess it's past time to finally cancel NHL Center Ice.)

Games on National ESPN might not be on ESPN+, I know the playoffs need a cable subscription to access through the app, but there are definitely a few exclusive games to ESPN+. Then there are the occasional TNT games but those have been on MAX for most of the season on the BR Sports add-on that has been free but they want to charge like $10 a month for that.

I would assume if your local team is getting picked up by NHL Network those would not be blacked out on this service but they have been blacked out on ESPN+ since they took over, one of the negatives of Comcast losing the hockey deal, they were part owners of NHL network and NHL.TV so they stopped blacking themselves out near the end.

[Badger Bob]

Would be nice if we could get out of these archaic times of blackouts and regional access only. No help to me in South Florida. Seems a bit weird to limit it to customers already in the service area.

I see that there is a Zip Code entry for a potential subscriber to enter in order to determine availability. I tried a Zip Code in Virginia and it indeed stated: "The zip code entered appears to be outside SportsNet Pittsburgh's home territory". I actually live in the Pittsburgh area and have cable. I've been using the new app for a couple months now. It's been working pretty well for me.

[Pitts]

Sounds interesting, but - do I need to have ESPN+ on top of that to get the national games? (And I guess it's past time to finally cancel NHL Center Ice.)

Games on National ESPN might not be on ESPN+, I know the playoffs need a cable subscription to access through the app, but there are definitely a few exclusive games to ESPN+. Then there are the occasional TNT games but those have been on MAX for most of the season on the BR Sports add-on that has been free but they want to charge like $10 a month for that.

I would assume if your local team is getting picked up by NHL Network those would not be blacked out on this service but they have been blacked out on ESPN+ since they took over, one of the negatives of Comcast losing the hockey deal, they were part owners of NHL network and NHL.TV so they stopped blacking themselves out near the end.

I saw a mention that some of the games next year may be on Amazon Prime as well ... getting tired of everything being spread across so many damn platforms. It's all a money-making grab! Someone needs to create a platform for easy access to all streaming services and an ala-carte type system so we don't have to get hosed by being forced to carry so may streaming services. It's really getting out of hand and is now just as expensive as old fashioned cable was/is.

[FLPensFan]

Sounds interesting, but - do I need to have ESPN+ on top of that to get the national games? (And I guess it's past time to finally cancel NHL Center Ice.)

Games on National ESPN might not be on ESPN+, I know the playoffs need a cable subscription to access through the app, but there are definitely a few exclusive games to ESPN+. Then there are the occasional TNT games but those have been on MAX for most of the season on the BR Sports add-on that has been free but they want to charge like $10 a month for that.

I would assume if your local team is getting picked up by NHL Network those would not be blacked out on this service but they have been blacked out on ESPN+ since they took over, one of the negatives of Comcast losing the hockey deal, they were part owners of NHL network and NHL.TV so they stopped blacking themselves out near the end.

I saw a mention that some of the games next year may be on Amazon Prime as well ... getting tired of everything being spread across so many damn platforms. It's all a money-making grab! Someone needs to create a platform for easy access to all streaming services and an ala-carte type system so we don't have to get hosed by being forced to carry so may streaming services. It's really getting out of hand and is now just as expensive as old fashioned cable was/is.

Those platforms are out there today....they just aren't considered legal. But I 100% agree. I had satellite (DirecTV) for over 20 years, mainly just to have Center Ice. But it got to be over $200 a month, and got really bad when AT&T took over, because DirecTV had exceptional customer support and AT&T...didn't. Cable wasn't really any better with it's price.

But, you've got Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, ESPN+, Disney, Paramount, Peacock, MAX, and probably a dozen more that I'm not mentioning, all wanting $5-20 a month, if not more. Now all they've done is separated everything into their own pots and made it 10x harder to watch what you want, and just as expensive as it was before.

I had a no so legal streaming service for a few years, and it cost me $80 for 6 months for 4 connections. I would have spent $1200 in that time on DirecTV. Right now, I'm paying about $90 a month for Hulu with ESPN+ and Disney bundled, which is the best option for out of town hockey fans right now.