TV Answer Man, I have YouTube TV and I don’t think it will ever add back the Bally Sports channel here in San Diego so I can watch the (San Diego) Padres. What is going on with Bally’s new channel that I could order without a subscription to another service like YouTube TV or DIRECTV or Cox? — John, San Diego.
John, the 19 Bally Sports regional sports networks (RSNs) are missing on several pay TV services now, including YouTube TV, due to fights over fees. Sinclair, which owns the RSNs, says it plans to launch a streaming app in 2022 that would enable consumers to order their local Bally Sports channel without a subscription to cable, satellite or a multi-channel streaming service.
Many fans are excited about the prospect of being able to get your local Bally Sports network a la carte. But until now, we did not know how much Sinclair might charge for the app. I say until now because the New York Post just reported that the app might cost…$23 a month.
Yes, the newspaper reports that Sinclair, which is raising money to finance the app, is telling investors that it plans to charge $23 a month to watch your local team (or teams) via Bally Sports. (The $23 a month would not give you access to out-of-market games broadcast by the other Bally Sports regional channels, just your market’s teams.)
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I suspect the cost is significantly higher than what most fans have been expecting. After all, Netflix charges less than $20 a month as does HBO Max and several other popular streaming services. As a YouTube TV subscriber, if you added the $23 a month Bally Sports app, you would have to pay roughly $90 a month for the combination. That’s not what most people had in mind when they dropped their cable or satellite service to save money.
It remains to be seen if Sinclair actually charges $23 a month when the app is launched, which is likely before the 2022 MLB season. But if it does, the app may not connect with its target audience: cord-cutters.
John, hope that helps. 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
I don’t think $23 a month is too much money to pay. My problem is whom I’m paying it to. Bally doesn’t really care about it’s RSN’s. If it did, they would have offered this app when the season started. Bruce Hass
Maybe they gotta wait until the contract with ATT TV expires. Either way I wouldn’t pay $23 for any of the + apps.
How about just going to Petco Park. in San Diego to watch the games.
Sinclair / Bally seems to think sports is the only thing in life, they need to be Tamed.
$ 10.00 might be Ok for all RSN
No way will I pay $23 a month! $10? Yes. This? What a laugh! I’ll just do without, as I have been for awhile now….
My question, what’s the kickback to MLB and the NBA?
I haven’t heard any MLB or NBA teams object when Sinclair took more than three million homes from the viewer pool.
Seems there was a calculation, that a year lost would be more than made up for on the backend.
Is there no end to the greed of owners, not only do we build billionaires venues, we then pay for maintenance and then we get held up for a little more at every turn
I for one won’t give Bally/ Sinclair a dime.
As a Cleveland fan, I’m sick of hearing ” we can only spend what we take in”.
While the team has grown in value more than EIGHT HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS in value in twenty years.
lefty, the “value” of the team and what they can spend aren’t related. the fact that team owners are billionaires isn’t related to what the business of their MLB team can spend.
if you want to improve MLB, get the owners and players to agree on league wide revenue sharing. this would allow each team to spend in the neighborhood of the same money on team and players.
LOL…$23! Maybe $10, but only if my beloved Atlanta Braves start winning!
Not a chance! Space I watch the Cincinnati Reds on Valley sports through spectrum cable and every game that is the way the screen freezes you lose audio and then something happens in the game and you don’t get to see it this is happened in New York when the Reds played the New York Mets And tonight while playing the Cleveland Indians why would I pay anything for a service that’s just bad.
No way!! I think they have priced themselves out with a lot of carriers
$23 a month to get bombarded by ads between innings, timeouts, halftimes, and periods. This is highway robbery sports fans. We are expected to subsidize the commercials.