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RSN Execs Looking To Engage Both Linear, Streaming Viewers

NESN's Sean McGrail (l) emphasized the need to be a 24-hour-channel in the current media climateROXXE IRELAND

While RSNs continue to garner strong viewership, execs from three of the top regional nets said their channels are increasingly looking at the road ahead during a panel at the ’18 NeuLion Sports Media & Technology conference in N.Y. NBC Sports Regional Networks President of Group and Strategic Production & Programming Ted Griggs said that while sports might be “the last and best reality television,” the net still is trying to find new ways to engage with its customers. NBC Sports Regional Networks today relaunched its app, now called MyTeams, which focuses on individual teams rather than regions. “We want to engage with a fan 24-hours-a-day outside of just the game time, which is something we haven’t been able to do as well as we’d like,” Griggs said. “It’s about engaging with our customers and fans on the platform they choose to be on.” Griggs said that while the number of viewers who are watching games via the mobile platform is still low, it’s “a growing number, which is the greatest thing of all.” He said, "We view it as a means to an end -- wherever you are, we want to let the customer pick the best available device to watch the game, and that will lead to the next thing. When RSNs started, there was a sense you couldn’t show the home game because that would hurt that crowd. That wasn’t the case. Streaming the game is only making the pie of viewers bigger.”

IMPORTANT TO ENGAGE STREAMERS: NESN President & CEO Sean McGrail said that while his net sees only perhaps 1.5% of its total audience tuning into games via streaming -- roughly 15,000-18,000 subscribers -- he still views the platform as “an important step to continue to engage our audience.” McGrail said, “The vast majority of those viewers [watching the game via streaming] is from in-home, but the point being is that we want to be on every device and available at any location.” NESN recently released a new streaming app that is powered by Playmaker media. Spectrum Networks Senior VP & GM Dan Finnerty said that while streaming was an important area of growth going forward, the net was also being very mindful of pirating. That is something it is keeping a close eye on with LeBron James now playing for the Lakers. “We have to crack the code on ensuring passwords aren’t shared," Finnerty said. "We’ve retained a company to look at it and try to figure out how to suppress it, but it’s a bit of a wack-a-mole situation. We don’t have carriage on Dish Network, and 10% of the linear footprint in Los Angeles is Dish. Because we have relatively full distribution for the Lakers, it’s probably a nominal impact, but it’s still an impact.”

OPEN 24 HOURS: McGrail said that for NESN, an independent RSN, there is a need to be a 24-hour-channel to “have to look like ESPN” in the channel lineup. “We need our viewers to be engaged in primetime,” he said, noting that the net is producing everything on air around the clock, increasing looking towards local content and college games to fill in the gaps around its programming related to the Bruins and Red Sox. Griggs said that while the NBC Sports Regional Networks also want to be active all-day, he views them as “24-hour content creators.” Griggs added, “We want to reach the audience in different day parts using different means, which could be from 6am to 9am on mobile phones, 9am to 5pm on your PC or maybe phone, and then back to traditional TV later on." Griggs: "We want to find the audience where they are.”

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