As cord cutting continues, the three major regional sports network groups in the United States find themselves fighting to survive. Spectrum Sports has cut most of their RSNs since its parent company made an acquisition in 2016. Diamond Sports Group just emerged from bankruptcy, and is now rebranding from Bally Sports to FanDuel Sports Network. Comcast’s NBC Sports Regional Networks shut down some of their RSNs, in addition to the national network. That’s not to mention Warner Bros. Discovery’s AT&T SportsNet, which shut down entirely in 2023. But even with the RSN business at a turning point for every major regional sports network group, they are not in a completely equal position. Here’s a look at where Spectrum Sports, FanDuel Sports Network, and NBC Regional Sports Networks stand.
3. Spectrum Sports
Spectrum Sports has been operating with a lean profile since the late 2010s. This comes shortly after its current owner, Charter Communications, acquired its former owner, Time Warner Cable, in May 2016. Within a time frame spanning from 2017 through 2019, Charter Communications shut down Spectrum Sports Carolinas, Florida, New York, Texas, Wisconsin, and Ohio. They have just two fully owned and operated stations remaining: Spectrum Sports Hawaii and Spectrum Sports Kansas City. The launches of both stations precede that of Spectrum Sports, and airs broadcasts no higher than the collegiate level. For what it’s worth, the latter’s coverage notably includes the NCAA’s Kansas Jayhawks.
Spectrum does hang onto three co-owned affiliates. These include two covering markets like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Hawaii. Between these two stations, they have 50% ownership in stations broadcasting MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers with the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. They also own 27% of SportsNet New York, home of the MLB’s New York Mets.
Unlike some of their other former networks, it’d be unexpected to see Spectrum Sports Hawaii or Kansas City transition into Spectrum News networks. Both stations have been around since before the turn of the century, and been able to service without professional sports. However, it’s hard to see Spectrum Sports adding any new fully owned-and-operated stations. Should they run into a financial hardship, a missed payment to the Mets, Dodgers, or Lakers could be the beginning of the end for Spectrum Sports.
2. FanDuel Sports Network (formerly known as Bally Sports)
Diamond Sports Group’s regional sports networks aren’t in as dire shape now as they were not long ago, when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The bankruptcy, and the series of missed payments that came with it, led to a mass exodus of professional sports teams covered by Diamond Sports Group’s Bally Sports. Since then, Diamond Sports Group has struck a deal with the online sports gambling company FanDuel, and officially came out of bankruptcy in November 2024.
During its bankruptcy, Diamond Sports Group shut down three owned-and-operated stations: Bally Sports Arizona, San Diego, and New Orleans, after they lost the broadcasting rights to professional sports teams in the respective markets. They still own and operate 16 different networks across the United States, now under the FanDuel Sports name. At one point this season, they had renewed the broadcasting rights for just one MLB team; that number is now up to seven. That’s down substantially from the 14 teams they used to carry, but puts to rest immediate rumors that nearly half the MLB would be left looking for a new RSN. In the future, games will be available to local customers on Amazon Prime Video as well.
That doesn’t mean Diamond Sports Group/FanDuel Sports is out of the woods. While Diamond has been able to renew several of their deals, none so far extend past the 2028 season. They’re also at odds with the MLB, who has a desire to distribute games for all 30 teams through their own MLB.TV service (they’ve already admitted the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks, who are no longer with Diamond Sports Group).
It’s also been reported that many of these deals with MLB, NHL, and NBA teams have been negotiated for lower rights fees. Coming out of bankruptcy, Diamond Sports Group is looking to keep on as many teams as they possibly can as they transition from Bally Sports to FanDuel Sports. Admittedly, some of their stations have a stronger portfolio than others. For example, FanDuel Sports Network Detroit has broadcast rights to the MLB’s Detroit Tigers, the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, and the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings, along with team programming for the NFL’s Detroit Lions. FanDuel Sports Network Great Lakes, meanwhile, only has team programming for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns along with simulcasts from FanDuel Sports Network Ohio.
While Diamond Sports Group is in better positioning now than they were in the final Bally Sports days, the valuation of their RSNs have fallen sharply. According to Forbes, their RSNs are currently estimated to be worth between $600 million and $1 billion, compared to a valuation of over $10 billion in 2019. Diamond Sports Group also expects linear revenue coming from carriage fees to decline by 47% by 2027, and advertising and sponsorship revenue to decline by 18% in the same time period, as well as losing 26% of their current subscribers. None of these are promising signs for a sustainable business. Whether or not any more FanDuel Sports Networks across the country begin to shut down remains to be seen, but would not be a surprising development.
1. NBC Sports Regional Networks
As a whole, NBC Sports Regional Networks is arguably in better shape than FanDuel Sports Network and Spectrum Sports. That’s mostly because all remaining NBC Sports Regional Networks have broadcasting rights to multiple professional sports teams, and the company did not file for bankruptcy — better than can be said for its two main competitors.
NBC Sports Regional Networks has troubles of its own, though. They most recently shut down NBC Sports Chicago in September 2024, while also shutting down NBC Sports Northwest in 2021 and NBC Sports Washington in 2023. Also shutting down in 2021 was Comcast’s nationwide sports network, NBC Sports Network (NBCSN). NBC Sports Regional Networks is down to just four owned-and-operated stations across the United States, with an 8% share in a fifth.
Unlike with Spectrum Sports, all of NBC Sports Regional Networks’ remaining owned-and-operated stations are in some of the biggest markets in the country: Bay Area, Boston, California, and Philadelphia. The fifth station is SportsNet New York, co-owned with Charter Communications (who owns Spectrum Sports) and the New York Mets. Between NBC Sports Regional Networks’ four major owned and operated stations, they have broadcast rights to teams including San Francisco-based teams in the MLB and NBA, Philadelphia-based teams in the MLB, NBC, and NHL, as well as the NBA’s Boston Celtics.
Despite their strong remaining profile, NBC Sports Regional Networks is looking beyond linear television to survive. They are now offering regional sports on Peacock in local areas. This is similar to how FanDuel Sports Network operates their own streaming service, and how the MLB wants every team to stream through their MLB.TV service. This signals that Comcast, who owns both NBC Sports Regional Networks and Peacock, is also looking beyond linear RSNs to distribute local sports content.