Comcast We Have A Problem

[DJL44]

20 hours ago, sftwinsfan said:

Midco is also cut off from Bally's as of today. Not completely sure of their reach, but at least a chunk of SD, ND and part of MN. Can't believe this can last long as combined with Comcast it has to be a pretty high percentage of their customers cut off from Twins games. 

Wow. So, after the Timberwolves are done the cable companies are all telling BSN to take a hike? Twins fans must make up such a small percentage of their viewers that they don't care anymore about losing them. The Twins should be absolutely terrified by what is happening.

[Vanimal46]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

The Twins should be absolutely terrified by what is happening.

Agreed. This is not going to look good for their next TV/streaming negotiation this winter. Years of mishaps have gotten us to this point today… The Twins have been out of sight, out of mind for cord cutters the last 3 years. Watching the Twins is no longer in their routine.

No one besides an RSN is jumping at the opportunity to broadcast 150+ games. Why would an OTA channel spend that kind of money for the broadcast when they can get the same size audience watching a cheaply produced reality show or re-runs of King of Queens? 

MLB has a big problem on their hands. The pin is inches away from touching the bubble. 

[laloesch]

55 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Agreed. This is not going to look good for their next TV/streaming negotiation this winter. Years of mishaps have gotten us to this point today… The Twins have been out of sight, out of mind for cord cutters the last 3 years. Watching the Twins is no longer in their routine.

No one besides an RSN is jumping at the opportunity to broadcast 150+ games. Why would an OTA channel spend that kind of money for the broadcast when they can get the same size audience watching a cheaply produced reality show or re-runs of King of Queens? 

MLB has a big problem on their hands. The pin is inches away from touching the bubble. 

pretty good analogy.  MLB will collapse without reliable TV/streaming to all the teams "that don't matter" as some say.  Sure they don't have the clout that the big market teams have which (tv stations covet because of viewership), but they still are a sizeable enough chunk of the overall revenue stream.  MLB should be shaking in their boots with this situation. Alienating the fans, who will eventually lose interest and turn away for good will ultimately lead to the dirty word (contraction).  IT's inevitable.   MLB, the Twins, and other mid to small market teams affected by this had better act quickly and come up with a viable alternative otherwise they are FINISHED.

[Whitey333]

I find it very offensive that the Twins say they had no hand in this TV mess saying its a problem between Bally and Comcast.  What a joke.  They had a chance to do right and go elsewhere for their TV rights and get more access to Twins games not less.  They chose to take Bally (Diamond ) instead and screw the fans.  How did they do that?  Well they claimed poverty all winter and cut payroll by $30 million.  Then later agreed to accept an 85% offer which still netted them roughly $48 million by numerous reports.  Did they reinvest that back into the club after that?  Of course not.  Many of us have been unable to watch the Twins for going on 5 years due to not having access to it anymore.  They told us then that it would be fixed.  It wasn't.  And now it's worse.  Twins keep showing more and more that they are not fan friendly.  Shame on you Twins!  Don't try to blame others.  If nothing else it sure shows how weak their public relations department is.  

[Original_JB]

And just because no one REALLY knows what the h*ll the Twins are thinking sometimes, a quick look at the Target Field lease shows that the Twins pay $600k/yr for rent, and are locked into the lease (not allowed to vacate) for 30 years (2037 is the end date).       https://law.marquette.edu/assets/sports-law/pdf/Minnesota Twins Lease Summary.pdf

[Swing Batter-Batter]

After having Comcast for 2 decades, I recently moved to an area that they did not cover and had to go with Spectrum. As it turns out, Bally Sports North is on Spectrum and I can still watch the Twins........at least for now.

[Parfigliano]

On 5/1/2024 at 7:15 AM, weneedneshek said:

Thankfully I already use DirecTV but this is ridiculous, who knows they may even be next

Thats how I have watched them in NM for 25+ years.

[Chatts]

You can get the MLB channel for a little over 100 a year to watch the Twins..

[Major League Ready]

19 hours ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

The bottom line is that small market teams like the Twins will have to live off of lower TV revenues which will impact attendance and take revenue down even more.  Player contracts will suffer and small market teams will contract.  All this will occur UNLESS MLB gets the owners/players on the same page and moves to a salary structure that shares 100% of the revenue and has an equal cap/floor for all teams.  They also need a national contract similar to the NHL (They'll never be at the NFL/NBA level nationally).  The longer MLB and the Union drag their feet, the more people lose interest in BB and more teams dissolve.  They will eventually be down to a handful of teams in large markets.

It sucks for us true BB fans, but it is reality and basic economics.  Let's pray for MLB and the Union to wake up to this reality.

The Yankees, Mets, Cubs, Dodgers, Red Sox, and Astros already have their own channel.  All of the other markets are going to be in jeopardy as the RSN model likely continues to struggle with situations like Comcast.  It seems RSNs will have to go to subscription based model that can't possibly allow them to pay the current rates on existing contracts.  MLB hired a group of industry experts to come up with a solution.  My guess is that solution could not be rolled out for this season.    

BTW ... MLB had record revenues again last year.  The doom and gloom is not warranted.  They have a problem with distribution that is going to be hard to navigate.  It would have been much easier to evolve into a new model if Diamond and the existing contracts would have gone away.  Some teams would have really took it in the shorts short-term but eliminating those contracts would have provided a wide-open path to a new distribution model.

I wonder how feasible it would be for MLB / NBA / NFL / NHL / WNBA and the various soccer leagues to form a partnership and develop a new network distributed on their own streaming platform and also distributed through any other medium that wishes to partner.  Obviously, that's a lot of interests to meld but those other sports must anticipate similar problems.  Perhaps they should have attempted to buy Bally's when they were in bankruptcy.

[Vanimal46]

47 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

Perhaps they should have attempted to buy Bally's when they were in bankruptcy.

Wouldn’t surprise me if that was and still is the plan. MLB just can’t take on the debt Diamond Sports Group has on their books, so MLB is waiting for them to finalize bankruptcy. Amazon coming in to bail out DSG this winter delayed the inevitable. 

[Major League Ready]

46 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Wouldn’t surprise me if that was and still is the plan. MLB just can’t take on the debt Diamond Sports Group has on their books, so MLB is waiting for them to finalize bankruptcy. Amazon coming in to bail out DSG this winter delayed the inevitable. 

Very good point.  They were probably surprised by Amazon jumping in.  This could also explain why MLB would want the Twins to keep the status quo for one more year.  They would still have a problem if the teams demanded MLB as the new owner of Diamonds sports to honor the existing contracts.  All of the teams would have to agree to a new revenue model specific to local broadcasts to make acquiring Diamond a viable plan.

[jaimedude]

Anyone else trying the Direct TV stream free trial and thinking about dumping Comcast. Started the trial seems decent and comparable cost, actually cheaper than my Comcast cable bill. Worth it to watch the Twins. 

[Tjwalsh65]

I currently have the MLB Package.  I am fortunate that while I live in SE Minnesota.  Not far from Iowa and Wisconsin.  I use a product called bolt.  When I first got it my internet looked like it was from Iowa which meant 6 teams were blacked out.  For almost a year something change and my internet looks like it is from Illinois and I am able to get all games but White Sox and Cubs.

 

 

[NotAboutWinning]

Honest question here… do the non-Ballys RSNs (Yankees, Mets, Cubs, Dodgers, Red Sox, and Astros) rely on cable revenue to the same extent?

[lecroy24fan]

4 hours ago, jaimedude said:

Anyone else trying the Direct TV stream free trial and thinking about dumping Comcast. Started the trial seems decent and comparable cost, actually cheaper than my Comcast cable bill. Worth it to watch the Twins. 

Every package I have looked at is missing several channels I watch and/or costs more than my Comcast package does that includes internet.