Articles in Media

via the YouTube page of Sportsnet,

Academy Award Nominated Filmmaker Sarah Polley lent her voice to this stirring Hockey Night In Canada intro and we challenge you not to get fired up!

Even allowing for the dopey blackouts to protect some shitty RSN's interests while shutting out NHL fans in Montana, Idaho, and other places that are nowhere near an NHL city, how the f*** was Edmonton @ Boston last night only available via streaming on ESPN+ ? Seriously, what is the logic here? It's ESPN's 'Hockey Night' with a dream regular season match-up and cable/satellite subscribers were unable to watch because it was not being shown on television. Make it make sense.

-Rear Admiral of Bar Stool Sports has more on this topic.

from Alex Sherman of CNBC,

• ESPN has talked with major sports leagues and media partners about launching a feature that would link users directly to where a live sporting event is streaming, sources said.
• The actual media partners haven’t yet been determined, and there’s no timeline on when a feature would launch.
• It could involve global streaming services and direct-to-consumer regional sports network products, and would aim to make ESPN the TV guide of live sports.

Disney’s ESPN wants to be the hub for all live sports streaming — even for its competition.

The sports network has held conversations with major sports leagues and media partners about launching a feature on ESPN.com and its free ESPN app that will link users directly to where a live sporting event is streaming, according to people familiar with the matter.

That could include national or global streaming services, such as Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video, or a regional sports service such as Sinclair’s Bally Sports+ or Madison Square Garden Entertainment’s MSG+.

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from Bill Shea and Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic,

If you have questions about the future of your team’s live games on your local cable, satellite or digital provider, particularly those on Bally Sports channels, we’re here to answer with what we know so far.

Diamond Sports Group, the Baltimore-based corporate parent of the 19 Bally Sports channels that air 47 NBA, MLB, NHL and WNBA teams, announced Feb. 15 that it would skip a $140 million debt payment due that day and use the month-long grace period as part of its effort to financially reorganize itself.

Many observers interpret the move as a precursor to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, though that is not a certainty. Diamond has $8 billion-plus of debt, incurred as part of parent Sinclair’s 2019 purchase of the regional sports channels, and lost $1.2 billion in the most recent fiscal quarter.

“Certainly more likely that they will file bankruptcy because they did not make the payment,” said Schuyler Carroll, a bankruptcy attorney who is not connected to Diamond. “But not necessarily that they will file bankruptcy. They are still continuing discussions with their creditors to try and avoid bankruptcy. But those can often be difficult.”

Diamond in a Feb. 15 statement said it “intends to use the 30-day grace period to continue progressing its ongoing discussions with creditors and other key stakeholders regarding potential strategic alternatives and deleveraging transactions to best position Diamond Sports Group for the future.”...

Here’s an FAQ on what we know about the Diamond Sports situation and about how watching your teams — and paying to watch them — may be affected. This story will be updated as news develops.

Will I still be able to watch my teams?

If a bankruptcy occurs and Diamond stops rights fee payments, the three men’s leagues — MLB, NHL and NBA — are putting in place contingency plans to make sure fans can watch. And in the case of MLB, that league almost seems to be hoping for this. Just how you watch, who broadcasts or streams them, and how much you pay after a bankruptcy reorganization is all still unknown.

The NHL and NBA are toward the end of their regular seasons and most rights fees for the 2022-23 year have been paid. But MLB has the whole season coming up. Commissioner Rob Manfred this week has been outspoken that MLB has a plan and is ready to step in and produce the games. And he sees a silver lining: Currently, most of the RSN deals with distributors ban streaming of the games (if you are a cable company, digital streaming can take away viewers). By ripping up all those deals in a bankruptcy, MLB can then package digital with linear TV....

more ($) plus other FAQs...

from John Matisz of The Score,

Which wolf are you feeding?

That's a question Justin Bourne, the former pro hockey player turned Sportsnet NHL analyst, ponders daily. Like the rest of us, Bourne feeds either his inner good wolf or his inner bad wolf with every decision he makes.

This past Sunday, Bourne's daughter Molly suddenly wanted to "play superheroes" in the basement of the family's Toronto home. The timing wasn't ideal, as the Super Bowl was about to kick off. Bourne fed the good wolf, though, and chose Molly's contentment over the game's opening 10 minutes.

"If I were still drinking," the 40-year-old Bourne said, "I wouldn't have been there for her.

"It's a little thing, right? But I feel like I did the right thing. And, on large, I'm just trying to remind myself that when faced with those decisions - big or small - more food needs to go to the good wolf than the bad wolf in order for me to feel like I'm in control of my life."

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via the NHL PR department,

One more below.

from Daniel Kaplan and Bill Shea of The Athletic,

...fans find themselves: stuck between two competing poles, the high-priced traditional cable TV universe and the fresher world of increasingly costly streaming. These options are pulling from the same sports, and in some cases, the same event and even the same match, leaving fans either missing out or forking over more money than ever. To get the best sports coverage, it’s not clear whether to rush forward to streaming, stay back with old-fashioned cable and broadcast television, or some combination of the two.

Companies like ESPN (ESPN+), NBC (Peacock), and CBS (Paramount+) are balancing the need to satisfy consumers paying hefty cable bills with the move to streaming, an area in which these conglomerates have spent — and lost — billions of dollars. While the belief abounds that one day everyone will stream, that day is not today, and sports fans are stuck between old- and new-world paradigms.

“There is as much art as science to it,” said sports media consultant Lee Berke, on how sports broadcasters decide what goes behind a streaming paywall and what resides on traditional linear TV. “You don’t want to get too far ahead of the curve, and you don’t want to be too far behind.”

It may be an art deciding how to carve up sports and tournaments between online and TV, but the results are often arguably unsightly.

much more ($)

NEW YORK – January 17, 2023 – SiriusXM, SiriusXM Canada and the National Hockey League (NHL) today announced an extension of their broadcasting agreement through the 2028-29 NHL season. SiriusXM will continue to deliver fans across North America access to every NHL game throughout the regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs, as well as daily, in-depth coverage of the sport on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio™, the only 24/7 audio channel dedicated to the NHL.

from Zach Gilchriest of the Nashville website,

The Nashville Predators won't be without their iconic voice much longer.

After a successful ventriculoperitoneal shunt procedure to remedy Pete Weber's normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) on Monday, the franchise's iconic broadcaster says he's feeling better than he has in months.

"My results post-surgery have been incredible," Weber said. "No pain, my balance is back, I can walk and stand straight up again. There has been no more falling - and even better than that - no feeling that I am about to fall."

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