The future of watching the Vegas Golden Knights on television has become unclear, but fans shouldn’t worry about missing any games this season.
Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns the AT&T SportsNet brand that airs most of the Golden Knights’ regular-season games, plans to pull out of the regional sports network business effective March 31, according to a report from the Sports Business Journal. Of the Golden Knights’ seven remaining games after March 31, four were previously scheduled to be shown on the network, which is carried by Cox, DirecTV and CenturyLink. (The other three are set for ESPN and ABC.)
A blackout is unlikely to occur, however, since affected teams across the NHL, NBA and Major League Baseball, including the Golden Knights, can come to an agreement with Warner Bros. before the end of the month to take back their own broadcasting rights.
The Golden Knights are expected to reach such a deal, according to a source, and continue airing their games through the end of the regular season. The team could either rebrand AT&T SportsNet for the two-week period to keep the games on the same channel number or move them elsewhere. Streaming could also be an option.
The same broadcast crew will stay in place. The Stanley Cup Playoffs will not be affected, as regional sports networks no longer carry any postseason games after the NHL’s new television deals with the Walt Disney Company and Turner Sports kicked in last year.
The first three rounds will be split between Disney (ESPN and ESPN2) and Turner (TNT and TBS), while the latter has rights to the Stanley Cup Finals this season.
Many other non-Warner Bros. Discovery regional sports networks are also on the way out. Diamond Sports Group, which owns the most regional sports networks in the country under the Bally Sports banner, is reportedly headed for bankruptcy, a situation that likely triggered Warner Bros. Discovery’s exit.
The long-term impact is anyone’s guess. Professional sports leagues appear to be going the way of consumers, cord cutting and moving toward streaming. Major League Soccer, for example, is broadcasting all of its games without any blackout restrictions on AppleTV starting this season. Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said his league has contingency plans “no matter what happens” with the regional sports networks.
The Golden Knights are deferring all comment to the NHL. “The NHL is closely monitoring the RSN situation,” the league said in a statement. “We will be prepared to address whatever circumstances dictate to provide our fans with access to our games.”
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