Ahead Of Regional Streaming Sports Launch, Sinclair COO Is “Cautiously Optimistic” About Landing More Baseball Rights Amid “Ongoing Dialogue”
deadline.comSinclair Broadcast Group’s Rob Weisbord said he is “cautiously optimistic” about landing more Major League Baseball streaming rights despite public friction between the parties in recent months.“There are ongoing conversations.
I’m cautiously optimistic, now that they got past the lockout,” he said, alluding to MLB’s recent achievement of labor peace with players. “I believe that there is a path for a deal to get additional teams.
But it takes a lot of conversations to get there and we’re having ongoing dialogue.”The exec, who earned COO stripes last month in addition to his role as president of broadcast, spoke during an online event hosted by the Digital Entertainment Group.Regional sports networks, like the 19 former Fox ones now run by a Sinclair-led consortium and rebranded as Bally Sports, are grappling with cord-cutting’s impact on their legacy business.
While many RSNs still generate a lot of cash flow and routinely put up double-digit ratings in local markets, the secular trends are worrying.
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