According to an article at Cord Cutters News, All AT&T Sportsnet channels will be shutting down by the end of 2023, with the possible exception of AT&T Sportsnet Southwest, which may be sold and rebranded. In all other markets, hopefully the broadcast rights will revert to the leagues who can find new partners.
The rocky history of Sportsnet
The channels now known as AT&T Sportsnet have had several names over the years. Some were originally branded as Fox Sports, later DIRECTV Sports, later Root Sports, settling into being called AT&T Sportsnet around 2017. The reason for the naming change has to do with ongoing changes in the ownership of DIRECTV.
At one time, News Corp, which at the time owned all of Fox, operated several sports channels. They also held a majority share of DIRECTV at that time. They exited the DIRECTV world, to be replaced by Liberty Media (which at the time owned STARZ.) Fox Sports holdings were largely rebranded as DIRECTV Sports channels under the Liberty Sports banner. However, as the FCC threatened to forcibly break these channels away from DIRECTV, many were renamed Root Sports and made part of a separate business unit.
When AT&T bought DIRECTV and took it private, these channels were renamed as AT&T Sportsnet. In 2021, DIRECTV was spun back off as a separate entity, and part of that deal included transferring the AT&T Sportsnet channels over to Discovery, which also took on Warner Bros. The channels retained the AT&T name even though AT&T had no real stake in them.
Almost immediately, corporate hatchet man David Zaslav announced his intention to wind down the troubled regional sports networks. Not surprising, but perhaps a bit disappointing for the markets served by those networks.
Here’s why you should care
OK, so you might be thinking, “I don’t care about regional sports networks. I can just stream that stuff. ” What you’re not considering is exactly who produces those programs that you stream. All the major league streaming platforms use regional sports network feeds. So this brings up a real question about who will be producing this programming moving forward. The cost of producing these programs is pretty high, with dozens of cameras and a lot of expensive broadcast and upload equipment.
I’d personally like the production to be borne by the teams themselves, and possibly offered to a local station for a reasonable fee. There was a time that every city had sports on broadcast TV, and that time is long gone in many places. While football has been pretty reliably on CBS or FOX affiliates, it’s rare that local folks can watch basketball, soccer, baseball, or hockey on broadcast TV.
Keep in mind that these major sports teams tend to get big incentives from the cities they serve. Not only do they get increased road maintenance, police presence, and public transport for free, they sometimes get fat tax breaks. I’m not against any of that, but the residents of those cities deserve to get something for their money. That something should be the ability to watch over live TV.
The future looks a little murky
There was a time when regional sports networks looked like cash cows. In the last decades, RSN operators have looked more and more like greedy villains. Those companies have spent liberally to get exclusive contracts and now the bill has come due.
I’m not sure what the future looks like for regional sports networks. It may get worse before it gets better. Eventually, it will all shake out, but I’m not sure what it’s going to take for that to happen.
