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Alexander: Yes, the Angels will be back on cable … but what happens down the road?

November 16, 2024

The world according to Jim:

• At last, the Angels have a TV destination for 2025. Diamond Sports Group, whose TV contracts with a bunch of major league teams were in jeopardy, has escaped bankruptcy, and all is right with the world again.

Right? Right??? …

• Actually, the world of televised sports is transforming rapidly around us, and it’s not a bad idea to begin preparing now. And it’s not just junk events, like the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul “fight” with which Netflix broke the seal on its foray into live sports Friday night.

There’s cable. There’s streaming. There’s over-the-air TV. And you just know there will be future platforms or ways of consuming sports media that haven’t been invented yet, or that we wouldn’t even come up with in our wildest fantasies. …

• We’ve written about this before, of course. Cord-cutting, and the reaction to it, is transforming the ways we watch our games. Often it’s confused the issue, as we ask ourselves: “OK, which events are streaming-only? Which ones are on linear TV, and if so what station? Does anyone still watch cable?”

(To that last, the columnist sheepishly raises his hand.) …

• It’s hard to dispute this point, though: When cable was ascendant, it was an absolute boon to the sports viewer, who in most cases was getting the benefit from lots of viewers who cared not a whit for athletic pursuits but whose cable bills were puffed up by subscriber fees for ESPN, FS1, TNT, TBS and the rest. …

• For all of those who rebelled against that concept … well, you had a point, but there was a counterpoint. If you were subsidizing sports programming you weren’t watching, who’s to say sports fans’ cable bills weren’t helping subsidize programming that they didn’t watch but you did? …

• Here’s where it stands now: If you have shed one humongous cable bill, how many streaming services do you have to subscribe to in order to see all of the programming that interests you? Just with sports alone, Amazon Prime, with NFL Thursday nights and the NBA starting next season, is essential. Apple TV+ has Friday night baseball – always exclusive to the streaming service, even if your hometown team is playing – and Major League Soccer, whose dedicated area on that service should be known as the Messi Channel (and how will they ever cope now that Inter Miami has been eliminated from the playoffs).

You’ve got the Premier League, the Big Ten and more NFL on Peacock, still more NFL and a variety of European soccer on Paramount+, and NHL games plus a variety of college conferences on ESPN+. I’m sure there are streaming services that I’m missing. …

• And I’m guessing we will soon reach the point where the MLB.TV streaming option will not be limited to just out-of-market games as it is now, with its crazy quilt of blacked out territories. As of this year, the Angels’ deal with Diamond – under, now, the brand name of FanDuel Sports – will include a direct streaming component which will also be offered through Amazon Prime. …

• This likely will be, no pun intended, the bottom line (since broadcasting rights money is so critical to so many franchises): Five years from now, being a sports fan could be more expensive than it’s ever been, especially in this crowded market.

• Some teams in some places are returning to over-the-air TV – including the Ducks, who are airing the majority of their games on Channel 13 as well as through the new Victory+ streaming service, and the Kings (with seven games scheduled on KCAL/Ch. 9). But with eight different SoCal teams desiring or needing air time (Dodgers, Angels, Lakers, Clippers, Kings, Ducks, Sparks, Rugby FC LA), there’s not enough channel capacity to accommodate everybody.

(And that count doesn’t include the Rams and Chargers, who are under the national NFL contract; USC and UCLA, tied to Big Ten media contracts as well as the Big Ten Network, and LAFC and the Galaxy, wedded to Apple TV+). …

• The Dodgers’ and Lakers’ long-term deals with Spectrum would seem to be bulletproof, but what happens down the road?

The Lakers offer a subscription streaming option for their SportsNet channel, either monthly or through the season, and access remains free for those who are Spectrum broadband/mobile subscribers. As of yet, the Dodgers’ SportsNet LA channel only offers free streaming for Spectrum subscribers, but we’ll see if that changes before the 2025 season begins. …

• As for those who care about the teams but whose budgets are strapped? There’s still radio. It’s free – for now. …

• Get well, Gregg Popovich. The longtime San Antonio Spurs coach is recovering from a recent stroke, and while it would be wonderful to see him back on the sideline at some point, his health matters most.

Beyond that, it’s always been enjoyable to watch his expression brighten any time anyone brings up Pomona-Pitzer, among his early stops in this business. (Fact: I covered a game when he coached the Sagehens all those years ago. I don’t remember a lot about our conversation afterward, but neither one of us was as sarcastic then as we are now.) …

• Brusdar Graterol undergoes labrum surgery, and is expected to miss the first part of the 2025 season. And while Dodger fans are bemoaning this news, I’m guessing there’s also this thought in lots of their minds: “Please, just be ready for October.”

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Orange County Register

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Alexander: Yes, the Angels will be back on cable … but what happens down the road?

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