The Future of Sports Streaming
Sports streaming is always changing. Whether that’s a new platform being released, a new highlight reel, or a game to be watched. Lucky for you, it all can be accessed within the palm of your hand.
With playoff season approaching for many sports teams, and some seasons just at their beginning, streaming has become a necessity. ESPN+, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and YouTube TV are highly accessible, although they come at a price. When using these platforms, many sports channels are at your disposal.
With the constant change and competition within the sports streaming community, it comes as no surprise that channels are buying or creating partnerships to compete for the highest viewership within the industry.
DIAMOND SPORTS GROUP
In news of Diamond Sports and their bankruptcy in March of 2023, Amazon Prime has made a bankruptcy restructuring agreement and has invested in Diamond Sports to start streaming local NBA, NHL, and MLB games on a larger scale.
Another streaming service being added to Amazon Prime Video could call for an extra cost to the consumer. Average add-on prices on Amazon Prime Video average from $6 to $15 a month on top of the blanket cost of $15. Neither Amazon nor Diamond knows the specifics of the pricing, amidst court dates and claims.
“Additional details regarding pricing and availability will be announced at a later date," Diamond Sports said.
Although Diamond is still under trial and in court for their bankruptcy agreement, the MLB teams they have guaranteed to continue streaming are the Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, Miami Marlins, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Angels, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Guardians, and Texas Rangers.
To clear up any midseason confusion, journalist Aidan Gonzalez of ESPN has broken down Diamond’s deals with both the NBA and the NHL going forward into the 2024 season.
“Between now and the end of the regular season, nothing will change for either league,” he said. “But if this deal comes together, a source familiar with the agreement said, rights would no longer revert back to the NBA and the NHL.”
THE CW
The CW, owned by Nexstar Media Group, has picked up its sports audiences as they stream over 300 hours of sports content for free every year. In the year 2024, they hope to increase sports streaming to 500 hours a year. The CW is home to LIV Golf, AAC Football and Basketball, a series called ‘Inside the NFL’, and soon to stream the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2025.
After the service acquired rights to the NASCAR series, the president of Nexstar’s Broadcasting Andy Alford showed his enthusiasm for the project.
“NASCAR’s loyal and passionate fan base and adrenaline-fueled races will provide CW stations with highly valuable live sports content that can deliver big audiences,” He said. “These exciting events resonate in our local markets and with a local Nexstar station within driving distance of each NASCAR market, we are uniquely suited to drive attendance, viewership, and revenues through local coverage, fan engagement, promotion, and value-added marketing solutions for advertisers and brands.”
In recent months, they’ve spoken about partnering with Range Sports to grow their sports audiences even more and build new content. This includes, but isn’t limited to, IP rights for brands (national and local), media rights advisory, branded content, and additional programs.
Range Sports Co-President Will Funk has been hopeful about the kind of success they’ll receive from this partnership.
“[The team is] already into planning and how we can build around the live programming, build ancillary programming opportunities, and see what brands will be a good fit to integrate into the fabric of those shows,” Funk said.
How will you stream your favorite teams this season? Comment down below.