Will Sinclair Be Able to Win Back NBA Cord-Cutters?
In 2021, the Sinclair Broadcast Group (NASDAQ: SBGI) will be renaming the Fox Sports Network brand to Bally Sports Network and attempt to convince the thousands to Early Adopter Cord-Cutter NBA fans to pay them a monthly fee to watch their NBA game live. With the recent start of the NBA 2020–21 Season, many of these fans opened their TV streaming Services only to find their games not shown due to the October 2020 termination of the Regional Fox Sports Network contract with their streaming provider.
For these cord-cutters reaping the benefits of TV streaming with multiple devices and accounts; unlimited DVR storage; and 24/7 access from the Smart TVs, Mobile Devices and Gaming Consoles — many were told by Sinclair / Fox Sports that there are plenty of streaming options including [perceived monopolies and price gougers] AT&T, Comcast Xfinity and several other large regional providers.
So who are the individuals responsible for this? Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s Barry Faber is the President, Distribution and Network Licensing a lawyer and President of Network Licensing is a controversial negotiator and clearly doesn’t have much compassion for the fanatical NBA Fans and young ballers that are unable to watch their home team games. Chris Ripley, Sinclair’s CEO who has a clear goal to introduce sports betting and the gamification of sports into the NBA and other sports. And Adam Silver who also wants sports betting to bring revenue to the NBA.
But until Sinclair Broadcast Group launches their new 2021 service, the losers are these NBA Fans both adults and young hoopers that cannot see their games live or at all. And many of the these technology savvy Early Adopters will look to other alternatives to watch their NBA Game including rogue streaming sites; NBA League Pass with a third-party VPN and may actually get desperate enough to try and borrow a family member’s Xfinity Account (it doesn’t work, you must be signed on to their wi-fi ).
So eventually it will be up to Sinclair to convince these Cord-Cutter TV Streamers that you can subscribe to Bally Sports Network to watch your local NBA Game at the low, low monthly price of $X.XX dollars per month. The only other unanswered question will be how many dollars will be left in the fan’s budget to bet on the game?
