Without cable, NBA, NHL and MLB teams are now forced to get creative with their TV rights. And a handful of streaming tech providers—like Kiswe and Viewlift—are vying to be major players.
The Utah Jazz aired games locally on the same regional cable channel for more than 30 years, until AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain—as it was known in its final iteration—announced last October it was laying off its employees and shutting down. In search of a new broadcast partner, the NBA’s 23rd most valuable team became one of the earliest adopters of a trend that’s sweeping the sports media world: “stream and beam.”
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattcraig/2024/11/21/stream-and-beam-how-youll-watch-sports-in-the-future/
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The Utah Jazz aired games locally on the same regional cable channel for more than 30 years, until AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain—as it was known in its final iteration—announced last October it was laying off its employees and shutting down. In search of a new broadcast partner, the NBA’s 23rd most valuable team became one of the earliest adopters of a trend that’s sweeping the sports media world: “stream and beam.”
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattcraig/2024/11/21/stream-and-beam-how-youll-watch-sports-in-the-future/
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
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SportsTranscript
00:00Today on Forbes, stream and beam,
00:04how you'll watch sports in the future.
00:07The Utah Jazz aired games locally on
00:09the same regional cable channel for more than 30 years,
00:13until AT&T Sportsnet Rocky Mountain,
00:16as it was known in its final iteration,
00:18announced last October it was laying off its employees and shutting down.
00:23In search of a new broadcast partner,
00:25the NBA's 23rd most valuable team became one of
00:28the earliest adopters of a trend that's sweeping the sports media world,
00:33so-called, quote, stream and beam.
00:36Any over-the-air broadcast television station,
00:39like Sinclair's Channel 14 KJZZ,
00:42could produce and beam the team's games to
00:46anyone in the Salt Lake City market with a pair of rabbit ears antenna.
00:49But streaming was a trickier proposition.
00:53Like many NBA teams whose cable deals crumbled,
00:56the Jazz suddenly controlled its own digital rights and had to figure out how to
01:00launch a direct-to-consumer streaming service in a matter of weeks.
01:04Jazz president Jim Olsen says, quote,
01:07''We needed experts in the business,
01:09and as fast as we needed to move,
01:11we weren't prepared to try to do the whole thing all on our own.''
01:15Enter the company Kissway,
01:17one of several streaming tech providers positioning itself as
01:20a key player in the evolution of the multi-billion dollar local sports media landscape.
01:26The New Jersey-based company helped design and launch Jazz Plus before the start of
01:30last season, fully customized with alternative language broadcasts,
01:34data tracking, and compatibility across two dozen connected devices.
01:39Similar opportunities exist with dozens of teams across the NBA, NHL, and MLB.
01:46By NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's own admission in September,
01:5018 of his league's regional sports networks are either defunct or in bankruptcy.
01:54And while tech giants like Apple and Amazon could fill that void,
01:58they've so far chosen to remain on the sidelines.
02:01That leaves several smaller tech companies including ViewLift,
02:05DeltaTrey, Endeavor Streaming, and APMC,
02:09all racing to sign up as many teams as possible in a red-hot competitive marketplace.
02:15Kissway co-founder Wim Sweldon's,
02:18the Sway in Kissway, says, quote,
02:20''What we're really sort of obsessed by is growing.
02:23We see so much opportunity in different teams,
02:26different leagues, different countries, different verticals.''
02:30The Ki in Kissway is named for his partner,
02:33former Bell Labs president, Jeon Kim.
02:37In case you're thinking it,
02:38that's not to say these streaming products are an instant goldmine.
02:42In its first year, Jazz Plus has had 21,159 subscribers, according to the team.
02:49Accounting for some who subscribe annually for $125.50,
02:54monthly for $15.50, although the price has since increased to $19.99,
03:00or per game for $5,
03:02Forbes estimates the team generated a little over $3 million in subscriptions,
03:07slightly more if you include a separate product packaged with the city's new NHL team,
03:12which has 2,600 subscribers.
03:15For now, that's nothing compared with the old cable model.
03:19AT&T Sportsnet Rocky Mountain was paying the Jazz an estimated $25 million a year
03:24for its linear and digital rights.
03:27The, quote, ''Beam'' deals with over-the-air operations such as Sinclair,
03:31Tegna, and Gray reportedly pay about half that amount on average to NBA teams.
03:37And for now, streaming is nowhere near making up the deficit.
03:41But teams believe added exposure,
03:43in its final season Utah's RSN had only 37% penetration in the local market,
03:48could lead to more advertisers, merchandise, and ticket sales.
03:53Teams see other benefits in building up their streaming presence.
03:56Each new sign-up provides first-party fan data they have never had access to before,
04:02including who each subscriber is and what they like to consume.
04:06This so-called, quote, ''digital intimacy'' as Sweldon's calls it,
04:10can help teams boost those ancillary businesses
04:13and will only improve as subscriber counts grow.
04:17For full coverage, check out Matt Craig's piece on Forbes.com.
04:23This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
04:26Thanks for tuning in.