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There is an enduring truth that content remains king, regardless of how it is delivered. That truism particularly applies to hometown team sports, where fans have a decades-old track record of adopting any new technology or delivery mechanism to follow their favorites. Soon, one of the most prominent of those distribution systems -- regional sports networks -- will reconfirm the primacy of content as they begin to deliver bundled local programming via a range of emerging media platforms.
The evolving regional sports networks (RSNs) are beginning to shed their linear delivery skins. From broadband Internet, cable, and satellite, to video-on-demand (VOD) and wireless, RSNs will increasingly exist across all screens. They’ll continue to draw sports fans and viewers, who will, as usual, be the early adopters of any new technology needed to stay in touch with their teams.
To begin with, it will be professional team sports that will lead the way into this new RSN era. Reportedly, the National Basketball Association (NBA) is considering whether to allow its member clubs to market and distribute their respective intra-market broadband and wireless rights as soon as next season. Whenever this new policy is adopted, the Cleveland Cavaliers, New Jersey Nets, and 28 other NBA clubs will each be able to offer up live telecasts of their games plus supplemental programming within their respective regions across every available traditional and new media platform.
This follows recent in-market streaming opportunities provided by the National Hockey League to their clubs. Major League Baseball has been very successful at controlling all new media rights at the local level but is increasingly allowing its clubs to offer up regional VOD programming. The league is exploring methods for baseball clubs to exploit live local-market streaming of their non-nationally televised games.
As a natural progression, regional college and high school sports programming will also become part of this bundle. Moreover, categories of sports content will migrate to the screens that show them off to the best advantage. Live, near-live, and condensed games will be found on cable, satellite, and broadband, while condensed games and highlights will increasingly end up on broadband, VOD, and wireless.
Recent announcements indicate a growing trend toward the creation of localized regional sports networks. This week, a federal arbitrator ruled that Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) must carry a regional sports network that includes professional baseball and North Carolina collegiate athletics among its programming. In another report, Fox Sports Net is bringing a branded regional sports network to Kansas City.
The evolving RSN will eventually adapt itself to other media breakthroughs as well -- such as portable DVRs, WiFi, and WiMax-driven iPhones, and other screens and platforms yet to be invented. If someone can watch sports on it, there will be a bundle of regional sports rights that will adapt to it. Concurrently, the same process will apply to national and international sports, entertainment, and news networks as well, each becoming much more than just a single 24/7 linear channel.
Still, the scarcity and exclusivity of regional sports attracting passionate fans will ensure that future forms of RSNs will continue to be at the forefront of these changes. In turn, sports fans will remain a reliable audience eager to adopt new technologies that quickly deliver RSN content.
— Lee H. Berke, President & CEO of LHB Sports, Entertainment & Media Inc.
Researcher
Thursday January 24, 2008 10:45:31 AM
I see, that's what I presumed. Thanks for clarifying this for me! Given the cultural significance of sports in the States, combined with the enormous amount of offered broadcasts––football, basketball, baseball, hockey, racing, pro, college, high school, men's, women's…go figure!––it seems only natural that (regional) sports content will become segmented into a number of customizable packages through different platforms.
The internet, as you point out, greatly facilitates this. I don't think something similar is likely to take off in Europe though––except for the UK perhaps, with its three pro leagues of soccer, and its rugby, cricket and... snooker!
Rank: Cave Painter
Thursday January 24, 2008 9:45:43 AM
Customization of content will go hand-in-hand with customization of platform. Viewers will obtain the content they want, where and when they want to watch it, which is what the Internet is all about.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment.
Lee
Researcher
Wednesday January 23, 2008 10:14:26 PM
Hi Lee,
Thanks for addressing a topic that has fascinated me since my move to the US. Coming from a country that has *zero* sports channels, I am amazed by the abundance of sports that my cable package offers. Now I don't know about you, but there's only so much sports that I can bear, and watch at the same time to start with. But that might be a cultural issue.
Concerning the regional networks, in Atlanta (where I live), we have SportSouth running––owned and distributed by Fox. I'm not a local fan, and I'm sure you know better than me how valuable of a target group local sports fans are. To follow your line of thought, it seems that RSNs offer possibilities to converge content over multiple platforms, simply because there is so much content to offer. Avid local fans can choose the platform that suits their needs, or select/customize a package that bundles their favorite teams altogether...is this latter customization aspect likely to be implemented soon?
Anyway, for me personally a package filled with Newton at Douglass High is more than I can take...but I still see your point!
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