This week, the Los Angeles Dodgers broke new ground with their first game of the season. It wasn’t the face-off against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo that was noteworthy, but rather their step forward into the world of direct-to-consumer streaming sports. The occasion marked the first appearance of SNLA+, a standalone streaming incarnation of the Dodgers’ regional sports channel, Spectrum SportsNet LA. Making its debut, this venture provides fans with a pioneering platform to live stream the majority of the team’s fixtures outside the traditional cable package.
The inauguration of SNLA+ contributes another contender to the ever-expanding plethora of streaming alternatives accessible for Major League Baseball fans. It also introduces a potential convolution for the league, particularly in a time when simplification and streamlining of television broadcast mediums is a top priority. Currently, the MLB’s broadcast rights are complexly interwoven, with a mix of local and national contracts anchoring 23 out of the 30 teams in the league, inclusive of the Dodgers, to direct-to-consumer streaming within their respective localities.
This fragmentation creates an urgency for MLB’s Commission, Rob Manfred, to execute his grand scheme of developing new national packages. His objective resembles that of the NFL and NBA, to sell these to major streaming platforms by 2028, which coincides with the expiration of most local media contracts within the league. However, this strategy poses challenges, especially for prominent clubs such as the Dodgers.
Currently, MLB teams manage their local media rights individually, hence contributing to the complex network of regional sports channels. For Manfred to neatly unravel this complicated web, it would necessitate persuading the majority of teams to yield these rights over to the league. This transition would also come with new conditions, such as adhering to revised revenue-sharing prescriptions aligned with national broadcasting contracts.
Baseball’s traditional economic disparities are exacerbated within this context, with affluent clubs ruling the league, unrestricted by salary confines. This lack of a salary cap results in minimal competition for acquiring top-tier players. With the introduction of SNLA+, the Dodgers’ streaming service, another leading team has decided to directly engage with fans who have cut the cord, establishing another potentially beneficial revenue channel as the team’s fanbase continues to grow.
A national rights bundle devoid of the most well-liked teams would undoubtedly fetch a lower price than one inclusive of such teams. This would potentially widen the existing wealth gap between the fortune-favored teams and those not as well off. Spectrum parent Charter Communications, the co-owner of the linear SportsNet LA network and SNLA+, presents another stumbling block to the national plan.
The Dodgers encased themselves in a 25-year agreement with Time Warner Cable (later acquired by Charter in 2016) in 2013, effectively locking their local rights away from the reach of the league’s national packages that Manfred aims to kickstart. However, with the inception of SNLA+, the new streaming alternative, the scenario grows more complex for Charter as it presents an additional revenue source in the face of their rapidly declining core pay-TV business.
The most favorable outcome for Manfred would be an underwhelming performance by SNLA+, failing to balance out the plummeting cable revenues with subscriber numbers. In this scenario, the Dodgers might need to depend on the MLB for solutions. It’s a sure bet that the Commissioner will be closely monitoring the progress of the streaming platform over the coming seasons, while facilitating negotiations with the Dodgers and other popular teams.
The future of the Dodgers’ recent move into direct-to-consumer streaming heavily relies on its success or failure. It can either be a remarkable success, a failing endeavor, or a venture that ends up somewhere in the middle. Regardless, this development has thrust the Dodgers to the forefront of an evolving trend in sports broadcasting, redefining viewership norms and offering a fresh approach to engaging fans in the modern era.
The post Dodgers Revolutionize Viewing with Direct-to-Consumer Streaming appeared first on Real News Now.
About Author
