Some fans soon will be left in the dark
Stalemate would shut out viewers of Giants, Warriors, A’s, Sharks
How’s this for a sports fan’s nightmare: Imagine being told that in a month you’ll no longer be able to watch Giants, Warriors, A’s or Sharks games on your television or devices.
For Dish Network and Sling TV viewers, no imagination is needed — their reality is the plug will be pulled on almost all of those games April 1.
Because of a breakdown in negotiations between those services and NBC Sports Regional Networks, subscribers of Dish and Sling TV were notified Tuesday that NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California won’t be available to them.
Coincidentally, the Dish and Sling TV blackout begins on Opening Night for both the Giants and A’s.
A spokesperson for Sling TV released a statement saying the company could no longer justify carrying the Regional Sports Networks on its platforms because of the rising carriage fees NBC now requires.
“The Regional Sports Network (RSN) model is
fundamentally broken. At DISH TV and Sling TV, we love sports and we love sports fans, but we have to think of all customers. Each contract cycle, the price for RSNs goes up, but only a small fraction of our customers watch those channels to any meaningful degree. We want to carry these sports channels so that fans can watch the games — at a fair price and using a fair model,” the company said.
The statement also said Dish and Sling are open to continuing negotiations aimed at a more palatable
agreement for both sides.
However, Bay Area customers may not want to hold their collective breath waiting for a last-minute sports reprieve. One source familiar with negotiations told this news organization it’s clear where things are headed.
“Dish and Sling has been wanting out of the Regional Sports Network business for some time,” the source said.
In fact, once NBC’s two Bay Area sports networks and one in Washington, D.C. are dropped next
month, Dish and Sling will have severed ties with all of NBC’s regional sports networks.
For its part, NBC said in a statement that the carriage fees for Dish and Sling were in line with what other companies are paying for the rights to show teams such as the Giants, A’s, Warriors and Sharks.
“The NBC Regional Sports Networks offered to continue distribution on fair market terms. DISH and Sling declined those terms and will be dropping the networks. The many other
distributors that continue to carry the RSNs are listed on each RSN’s website.”
So, what options are out there for Dish and Sling viewers to continue watching Bay Area sports teams’ games? Turns out there are plenty — but none will be as inexpensive as it’s been for Sling TV viewers, who had access to NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California included in their $35 monthly fee.
Bay Area sports fans not fully committed to cordcutting can always turn to their local cable television
options. Otherwise, non-cable options include fuboTV, YouTube TV, Hulu, AT&T TV and TVision (T-Mobile customers only).
Giants and A’s fans won’t be totally shut out of the action if they continue as Dish and Sling customers. There will still be a handful of their games shown on national television through ESPN, FOX-TV, TBS, MLB Network and FS1.
Of course, out-of-market fans of our Bay Area baseball teams can still access every Giants and A’s game through MLB.TV.