TV Answer Man, I have Sling TV and I like it. It’s not super expensive and it works pretty well most of the time. But it bugs me that they don’t have regional sports channels like my Bally Sports Florida which has the (Miami) Marlins baseball games. I would like to watch the Marlins so do you think Sling TV will ever offer regional sports channels? — Cynthia, Miami.
Cynthia, you’re right. Sling TV does not carry the Bally Sports regional sports channels, the AT&T regional sports nets, or the NBC Sports regionals. (The streamer last week lost the only three NBC regionals it carried in a fee fight with NBC.) It also does not carry Altitude, MASN, SportsNet LA or any other regional sports channel you can think of.
Sling does carry the ACC Network and Longhorn Network as part of its carriage deal with ESPN, but it would be a stretch to call them regional sports channels, at least ones that offer professional sports. Both the ACC Network and Longhorn focus on their respective niches, the Atlantic Coast Conference, and the University of Texas. The same goes with the Big Ten Network, another Sling TV channel.
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There are two reasons why Sling TV does not carry regional sports networks with the second reason being the likely one that they never will.
1. Sling TV is owned by Dish.
Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen has repeatedly said he believes regional sports channels are too costly to carry because they are viewed by a relatively small percentage of his subscribers, perhaps as small as 5-10 percent. Of course, that 5-10 percent of the audience is passionate about their local sports channels, which is why most major pay TV operators such as Comcast and DIRECTV do carry them. But Ergen believes the carriage fees exceed the RSN’s value.
2. Sling TV’s profit margin is razor thin.
As you know, Cynthia, Sling TV’s base package is just $35 a month, which is almost half as little as what its streaming rivals (Hulu, YouTube TV, FuboTV, AT&T TV) charge. Sling couldn’t keep its base rate so low if it added your regional sports channel. The price of that RSN would push it up by at least $5-10 a month more. And at that price, a significant number of Sling’s subscribers might drop their service.
You might say that Sling should offer the regional sports net as a separate channel which you could pay for separately if you wanted to. Well, it would be happy to do so, but the owners of the regional sports channels won’t permit it. They require their channels to be included in the base packages, which means more viewers will watch them, requiring the TV providers to pay them more in carriage fees.
It may sound complicated, but it’s how television works today. It’s not about getting the biggest audience for your product; it’s all about getting the most money for your product.
Cynthia, sorry I can’t be more encouraging. But if anything changes, I will provide an update here.
Until then, happy viewing, and stay safe!
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvpredictions.com. Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
Sling TV does have national sports channels. However most of the good national sports channels such as Big Ten Network, NFL Red Zone, MLB Network, & MLB Strike Zone are on the Sports Extra Add On which people have a choice to pay extra. It would be great if the Regional Sports Networks were available on an Add On, but that will probably never happen. It is sad that the owners of Regional Sports Networks such as Sinclair care more about money than the sports fans that would be the most interested in watching Regional Sports Networks.
If they keep it up, Sinclair will have No customers.
Viewers keep dropping like flies.
SINCLAIR, Offer your Sports on an
A-la-carte ONLY !
There are plans to do just that, but unfortunately not until 2022….VPN is your best friend this year….
What’s the Delay ?
They waiting till everyone is GONE
What is VPN ?
who will carry them Dish or Sling TV?
” It’s not about getting the biggest audience for your product; it’s all about getting the most money for your product. ”
That pretty much encapsulates it perfectly. The RSN’s have found it more profitable to get 5 or 10 cents per month from all subscribers even though most will never watch than to get $1 or $2 per month from ala carte subscribers who will watch. It was this mindset from ESPN that provided the motivation for cord-cutting and streaming not that long ago. Its as if the RSN’s have forgotten what the ‘R’ stands for.
As avid sports fans and former Dish customers, we returned to DirecTV so as to watch our beloved Atlanta Braves. We’re paying dearly for the pleasure but other carriers, especially streaming services, couldn’t offer the channels we enjoying watching.
PS. Our only complaint with the new “Bally Sports Network” is the on-screen game graphics are terrible as compared to what Fox offered. Continuous distracting scrolling on the lower right side of the screen and game info (especially baseball outs) are difficult to find…much less read! They also have their “B” logo on the bottom next to the scrolling as well as prominently displayed in the upper right hand corner. Can you say overkill!?!