The implosion of the regional sports network business has allowed local broadcasters to step into the breach with live local pro-sports telecasts. The question now is: Can stations keep and even grow their sports stature, or will they get stuck on the bench once direct-to-consumer operations hit their stride?
The bankruptcy plight of Diamond Sports Group and its lineup of Bally Sports-branded regional sports networks — as well as Warner Bros. Discovery’s 2023 decision to walk away from its regional sports networks in Denver, Houston, Pittsburgh and Seattle — opened the door for several major-market stations to distribute games over the air that for decades had been available only to pay TV subscribers.
