Fenway Sports Group Chair Tom Werner noted that “conversations are ongoing” pertaining to if recently acquired SportsNet Pittsburgh or a RSN “run by MLB will broadcast the Pirates next season,” according to Michael Silverman of the BOSTON GLOBE. FSG “now owns” the Pittsburgh RSN that broadcasts the FSG-owned Penguins and Pirates. Werner said, “The court is in settlement discussions with various distributors. I just don’t know if this is going to be settled quickly.” He added, “In the end, people will watch the content, it’s just how is it going to be distributed.” Werner: “There’s a lot of conversation about consolidating, so that there’s not as much, you know, ‘one day it’s on Apple, the next day, it’s on Amazon, it’s on this, and the next day it’s on TNT.’ There’s value in knowing that there’s one stop for games” (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/16). The Minneapolis Star Tribune's Phil Miller noted he has heard "for several months now that Major League Baseball wants to bring local TV rights in-house, ideally offer all 30 teams streaming over the air however you want to get it and sell the product directly to the consumer.” Miller noted the Padres and D-backs are already on board, and he has a “hunch that the Twins are headed in that way just because it’s already almost December and they’re going to start playing in three months and they need to know who’s televising” the games (“Daily Delivery,” STARTRIBUNE.com, 11/16).
TWIN CITES TV: In Minneapolis, Michael Rand reported a ruling in bankruptcy court Wednesday “means the Timberwolves -- and almost certainly the Wild, once a similar NHL ruling happens -- will be local TV free agents after this season.” The Twins are already in that position, but none of the three teams have “publicized their preferred path forward.” Rand: “As a consumer I have to wonder if there is still value in bundling teams in one market, not one sport, together.” Even in a “Bally Sports North-free world,” Rand wrote he “much rather pay a single streaming package fee for those three teams and the Lynx than have them all spread out in separate places and with separate costs.” Short of “making almost very game free over the air” like the Suns, finding a way to “make it easiest and most consumer-friendly through bundling could be the answer” (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 11/16).
