Sinclair Announces Details of “Bally Sports+” Streaming Service

[Melissa Berman]

Frustrated, cord-cutting Twins fans unable to watch the Twins on Bally Sports with their current streaming or satellite package will soon have another option to catch the action on their TV- for a price.

On Wednesday May 4, Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which owns the Bally Sports regional networks, announced it is planning to do a “soft launch” of its standalone streaming service by the end of the current fiscal quarter, meaning before July 1. The new streaming service will cost $19.99/ month, or if fans commit to a full year, they can get it for about $16 a month ($189.95/ year).

Currently, a number of prominent streaming and satellite providers do not offer Bally Sports, including Hulu, YouTube TV and Dish Network, much to the chagrin of sports fans. It is unclear if subscribers to Bally’s new service will have access to out-of-market games or just those within their own market. Reporting by the New York Post in 2021 indicated that Sinclair was expected to seek the rights to out-of-market games, “although that could prove more difficult.” And if Sinclair gets those rights, it could charge a small additional fee for those games, according to the New York Post's source. MLB.TV, a service which gives subscribers access to the broadcasts of all teams (subject to blackout restrictions) for $24.99 per month, would likely serve as a competitor to Bally’s new service, though the latter would also feature hockey, soccer and basketball broadcasts as well, not just MLB. So far, reaction to Bally Sports+ appears mixed. 

Needless to say, the switchover from Fox Sports to Bally Sports has not been without controversy. First, there is the access issue- fans complaining in droves that they are unable to watch their own market’s games. In addition, fans have reported technical difficulties and outages during Bally broadcasts post-switch. Then there are unpopular personnel moves.

Bally Sports made waves on Thursday morning when Timberwolves reporter Jon Krawczynski reported in the Athletic that Bally Sports North decided not to pick up the option for TV play-by-play announcer Dave Benz, ending a 10-year relationship. Benz and color analyst Jim Petersen formed a television duo that was universally respected, even beloved, across the league, among members of the media and fans. Benz was reportedly stunned and “heartbroken” when informed of the news on Wednesday morning.

The news of Bally Sports moving on from Benz, announced almost concurrently alongside the new Bally Sport+ service, has ignited sports fans and commentators alike, and has some fans calling into question whether Bally Sports actually cares about the quality of its product or whether it is simply trying to cut cost-cutting corners. 

 

My take
I am lucky enough that my family has DIRECTV, which has continued to carry Bally Sports, so I have had uninterrupted access to Minnesota sporting events. The games are so important to me, and truthfully the only thing besides the news that I watch on TV or stream, that if I had a Bally-less streaming service like Hulu, I would switch to a different one that carries Bally. If I can't watch Minnesota sports, there's no point in me having that service. But this is all beside the point. It has been discouraging and frustrating to see how difficult it is for fans to simply watch games within their own state.

It is wrong that Sinclair makes watching sports a premium experience. Simply put, watching sports in one's own market should not be a luxury at a price point inaccessible to many people. I was raised on Fox Sports North, available on cable at the time. My siblings watched so many Twins games that my sister could recite the Twins' copyright spiel forwards, backwards and sideways while talking at hyper-speed. "This copyrighted telecast is presented by authority of the Minnesota Twins and may not be reproduced or retransmitted in any form..." See if you can finish it.

It is concerning that children especially, the baseball fans of tomorrow, are growing up in an environment where they are much less likely or simply unable to watch Twins games on TV. No, I'm not out here saying that kids need to be watching a bunch of TV, but kids grow up looking up to athletes. These athletes encourage kids to get into sports, and I, as middle school and high school ski coach, am a huge advocate for children, especially girls, becoming involved in sports. The reason I am so in love with the Twins in my present-life is because I grew up watching them- both on TV and in-person. These bonds start young. I was familiarized with the players, and the players I grew up watching are still my favorites today. It was simply easier to be a fan back then. Yes, I have Bally on DIRECTV, but the latter is not cheap whatsoever, and I understand that it could be financially out of reach for some families. Bally should not be such an exclusive commodity.

So while I am glad sports fans will have another sports streaming option in Bally Sports+ and I'm sure some of those with YouTubeTV or other services will gladly pony up, the price point is quite high when compared to what you potentially might get, especially if Bally Sports does not indeed offer out-of-market games. I won't pretend to understand the intricacies of how much it costs to produce broadcasts, but I do know that $19.99/ month will likely price some people out of watching. 

This is a Twins website, not a Timberwolves one, but because the broadcasts of both teams are carried by the same company and I am a massive Timberwolves fan, I will say that I am floored and disgusted that Bally Sports (along with the Timberwolves) have decided to move on from David Benz. To be clear, Bally Sports has not announced any other personnel changes or decisions. However, moving on from Benz, a universally-beloved and widely-respected play-by-play voice, has some understandably questioning what other decisions Bally Sports might make regarding other longtime voices. I highly doubt Bally Sports would decide to move on from Dick Bremer because he has covered the Twins since 1983, is widely-respected within the clubhouse and league and the Twins organization would have to sign off on this move. He is a future club Hall of Famer.

Further, I am of the strong opinion that Bremer should have the job as long as he wants it. But moving on from the highly-popular Benz and breaking up one of the foremost broadcast duos in the NBA, to me, illustrates that Bally Sports is not concerned about what customers want and is probably just concerned about money or potential cost savings. The other anecdotal examples of fans griping on a perceived decrease in quality post Fox Sports North to Bally Sports North switch are not insignificant either.

What are your thoughts on Bally Sports+? Would you subscribe to it? Let me know in the comments below.

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[old nurse]

Marlin Rays Royals Brewers and Tigers are the only teams so far that are going to. Be streamed.. I wouldn’t get hopes up to high for other teams. MLB was trying to figure out how they could do it.

[rv78]

Extremely disappointed in Bally Sports coverage of Twins games so far this season on my local broadcast network. The Guide shows that the Twins game is scheduled to be broadcast only to find other programming instead. I will not pay additional fees to watch Twins games in addition to my local network fees. I am sure my local network, supplying the Bally Sports channels is paying their fair share to have them available to their customers. Now it feels like we are being targeted for more fees just to get what we already are paying for. The Twins organization needs to take a long hard look at this. Alienate your fan base and your customers and they will go elsewhere. 

[Twinsrule1991]

I have just resigned myself to the fact I will have to continue to pirate my local teams. If you are consistently de-incentivizing fans to watch your product, you are the problem. Bring the content back to Youtube TV and others, or continue to wonder why your streaming numbers are ass and no one tunes into your games.

The Dave Benz thing is just a kick in the face. Bally is the worst.

[dberthia]

Since Sinclair is an evil corporation that has treated the fans with zero respect over the last couple of years, they've burned their bridges with me. I've found alternatives that do the job, and at the price point they're charging I'll stick with my present setup. Also, you know it won't be long before they start jacking the rates.

[Steve Lein]

Being a Twins fan that I'd estimate to be in the 90th percentile, i.e.: someone who absolutely wants to watch every game I can and consumes hours of content about them daily... No, I will not subscribe to Bally Sports+.

[jmlease1]

Ugh. The best part about cable was you had everything you needed in one spot and for one price. But cable has been getting worse and worse (prices keep climbing, service is dreadful, you realize that you have 400 channels but rarely watch more than 15 of them, it's a huge pain and expense to just set up to watch in multiple rooms of a house, etc). With streaming, it's become terribly balkanized and to get all of the stuff you want, you end up paying a heck of a lot more than you think going in...especially if you need to get internet service from somewhere separately.

$20/month for Bally Sports North? That's a big nope, especially since we know their corporate overlords are slime, and every analyst in the business said they vastly overpaid for the FoxSports affiliates they collected and now they're trying to desperately grind the dollars back after treating their fans like garbage.

The Benz move is pretty clownish: he was a quality announcer (it's remarkable how many local play-by-play guys simply aren't very good) and he did a good job with a color man in Jim Petersen that talks A LOT. (YMMV on whether he says enough that's worth listening to, I think, but Petersen talks a lot for an analyst easily more than most) is it on Ballys or the Wolves? Because some of that seems to be a "new owner needs to put their own stamp on the team" feel about it, since they claim to have consulted with the team on it. Of course, if Ballys had a damn clue they would have simply renewed the contract and not asked for the opinion...

[twinstalker]

Dave Benz is the worst play by play announcer I've ever heard*.  The only "respect" the duo gets is due to Petersen.  (Frankly, even he was difficult to listen to this year with his huge bias and complaints about the officiating)

*Temporarily forgot about John Gordon.  Neither did the basic job of describing the action.

[Linus]

Since I’m paying $90 month to watch BSN this is great news. I will drop ATT and save $70 month. 

[Melissa Berman]

43 minutes ago, twinstalker said:

Dave Benz is the worst play by play announcer I've ever heard*.  The only "respect" the duo gets is due to Petersen.  (Frankly, even he was difficult to listen to this year with his huge bias and complaints about the officiating)

*Temporarily forgot about John Gordon.  Neither did the basic job of describing the action.

Agree to disagree there! ?

[Melissa Berman]

17 minutes ago, Linus said:

Since I’m paying $90 month to watch BSN this is great news. I will drop ATT and save $70 month. 

I could practically do this too. I have a rabbit ears antenna for 4, 5, 9, and 11 lol. ESPN is also necessary for me to have though 

[snyder]

At $20 a month, they priced themselves way too high for most people to pick it up. I have Hulu and have been waiting for this, but I am not paying that much a month. $10 a month is my limit.

Honestly, I just don't see how Bally and Sinclair can afford to keep going at this rate. It has been nothing but bad press and angry customers since they took over. At some point, MLB will have to step in because fans that can't watch the games won't keep being fans. 

[roger]

Interesting.  Also expect this is a small step towards eventually having a menu and being able to choose what channels/packages you want to pay for.

Will be interested in seeing what their package will include.  I don't understand what 'out of market' is.  Is their package only Twins home games?  Or is out of market all the other games in MLB or Sinclair/Ballys?

Switched from Hulu to Direct TV last month for the sole purpose of getting the Twins this year (and the Wild).  

[mikelink45]

I will not send a dollar to Sinclair.  Their ethics leave me listening to the radio.

[Otto von Ballpark]

2 hours ago, roger said:

Will be interested in seeing what their package will include.  I don't understand what 'out of market' is.  Is their package only Twins home games?  Or is out of market all the other games in MLB or Sinclair/Ballys?

If the Twins sign on, this new service in the Twins market would offer all of the Twins games carried on Bally Sports North.

The speculation about “out-of-market” is whether the Bally Sports North games would also be available in, say, Detroit, and whether the Bally Sports Detroit games would be available in Minnesota. I would be surprised if that was true.

[lecroy24fan]

25 minutes ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

If the Twins sign on, this new service in the Twins market would offer all of the Twins games carried on Bally Sports North.

The speculation about “out-of-market” is whether the Bally Sports North games would also be available in, say, Detroit, and whether the Bally Sports Detroit games would be available in Minnesota. I would be surprised if that was true.

No way MLB will let it happen. They're not going to end MLB.TV or Extra Innings and lose all that money.

[TheLeviathan]

A hardcore baseball site and the majority of the people posting are rejecting this on the basis of A) way too expensive as a streaming option  B ) Sinclair is an awful company with no trust and good will  C) Pirating is free.

I'll say it here like I'm saying in the other thread: this will appeal to a very small subset of fans.  It is yet another needlessly complicated way to access the game.  The only thing MLB is good at is turning "How do I watch my favorite team: into this:

[PatPfund]

I heard the target market is someone who wants local sports, doesn't get (or want the extras on) cable, and likely trends younger. That absolutely nails me!!! (Well, two out of three, because 63 ain't the new 28.) I'll probably give it a wing for a few months.

(Though I risk losing the time advantage I have over my TN friend. We watch (him)/listen (me), and I seem to have about 20 seconds to get 'future peeks/teasers/spoilers' in before he sees it happen.)

[Melissa Berman]

17 minutes ago, PatPfund said:

I heard the target market is someone who wants local sports, doesn't get (or want the extras on) cable, and likely trends younger. That absolutely nails me!!! (Well, two out of three, because 63 ain't the new 28.) I'll probably give it a wing for a few months.

(Though I risk losing the time advantage I have over my TN friend. We watch (him)/listen (me), and I seem to have about 20 seconds to get 'future peeks/teasers/spoilers' in before he sees it happen.)

Or maybe you're just REALLY good at predicting the future 

[TheLeviathan]

21 minutes ago, PatPfund said:

I heard the target market is someone who wants local sports, doesn't get (or want the extras on) cable, and likely trends younger. That absolutely nails me!!! (Well, two out of three, because 63 ain't the new 28.) I'll probably give it a wing for a few months.

(Though I risk losing the time advantage I have over my TN friend. We watch (him)/listen (me), and I seem to have about 20 seconds to get 'future peeks/teasers/spoilers' in before he sees it happen.)

I hope it's a great solution....Until you realize piracy is free and way more ethical than giving Sinclair money! 

[Melissa Berman]

7 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Ugh. The best part about cable was you had everything you needed in one spot and for one price. But cable has been getting worse and worse (prices keep climbing, service is dreadful, you realize that you have 400 channels but rarely watch more than 15 of them, it's a huge pain and expense to just set up to watch in multiple rooms of a house, etc). With streaming, it's become terribly balkanized and to get all of the stuff you want, you end up paying a heck of a lot more than you think going in...especially if you need to get internet service from somewhere separately.

$20/month for Bally Sports North? That's a big nope, especially since we know their corporate overlords are slime, and every analyst in the business said they vastly overpaid for the FoxSports affiliates they collected and now they're trying to desperately grind the dollars back after treating their fans like garbage.

The Benz move is pretty clownish: he was a quality announcer (it's remarkable how many local play-by-play guys simply aren't very good) and he did a good job with a color man in Jim Petersen that talks A LOT. (YMMV on whether he says enough that's worth listening to, I think, but Petersen talks a lot for an analyst easily more than most) is it on Ballys or the Wolves? Because some of that seems to be a "new owner needs to put their own stamp on the team" feel about it, since they claim to have consulted with the team on it. Of course, if Ballys had a damn clue they would have simply renewed the contract and not asked for the opinion...

Excellent points and analysis, especially on Benz. I was super disappointed that the move had the Timberwolves' blessing. It sounds like it came from both sides. 

"He said he was told, in conversations with BSN and the Timberwolves, that the decision was not related to his performance. He was told, Benz said, that both parties believed it was time for a fresh start."

So if not related to performance, what does a "fresh start" even mean? Agree with your point that it probably is a new owner wanting to bring in their own guy or whatever. It's completely unnecessary; I don't believe in making changes for the sake of it, and making a move so unpopular with fans after you finally just won them back this year is foolish 

[Whitey333]

Bally Sports and Sinclair are a joke!  Maybe the Twins/Wild/ Wolves et.al/ share in some of the blame idk.  Because don't you hurt your own product if you cut off the people from watching your product.  The situation is ridiculous and filled with greed.  Fans are left out in the cold as normal.  

[PatPfund]

13 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

I hope it's a great solution....Until you realize piracy is free and way more ethical than giving Sinclair money! 

That last part does give me pause enough that I wouldn't sign up for the annual deal, but in all seriousness, producing the telecasts isn't free, and ultimately piracy isn't either (it just relocates the costs/incomes, or if that fails to happen then the business fails). If I don't like it, or watch much, I'll just revert to radio.

But I do like to kick in for businesses I use, because I want them to stick around. Like Twins Daily! (My favorite discovery of 2022!)

So all of you reading this, consider becoming a Caretaker!

[SockNet]

I hope when that contract ends the Twins will find something that allows 1-2 games a week on a local channel. Fox 9+ or 45. If fans are losing interest, give it to them for free! That's how you'll get kids invested. Then when they are adults they'll spend money on the greater array of products. Full season streaming, season ticket packages, merchendise, etcetera.

[I wish the twins were good]

On 5/5/2022 at 3:06 PM, snyder said:

At $20 a month, they priced themselves way too high for most people to pick it up. I have Hulu and have been waiting for this, but I am not paying that much a month. $10 a month is my limit.

Honestly, I just don't see how Bally and Sinclair can afford to keep going at this rate. It has been nothing but bad press and angry customers since they took over. At some point, MLB will have to step in because fans that can't watch the games won't keep being fans. 

Please, the people running MLB are just as bad. They're probably exchanging notes.

[USAFChief]

If this ends up available in Tucson, I'm in. And ecstatic about it. $160/yr? Well worth it.

[DJL44]

NESN announces their pricing

Red Sox broadcaster to offer streaming service outside of cable bundle (cnbc.com)

Quote

Starting Wednesday, NESN will charge $29.99 a month for streaming access to its network’s programming, which includes live Red Sox and Boston Bruins games. The first month will cost $1 as a promotional price. An annual subscription costs $329.99 and comes with eight tickets to any Red Sox game in 2022.

 

[Original_JB]

Update:  https://www.startribune.com/bally-sports-north-standalone-app-set-to-launch-on-sept-26/600199056/  No Twins as yet. I had to get Bally's online (and it took them a while) for them to come up with the streaming quality --- 1080p. $19.99/mo or  $189.99/yr.