Trend: Watch Regional Sports via HD Antennas
Watching Regional Sports via HD Antennas is a trend that is sweeping the nation. HD Antennas can deliver, for free, all the major sporting events in HD. The Super Bowl, Olympics, World Series, NHL Finals, NBA Finals, FIFA World Cup, every local NFL game, most NASCAR races, most Indy races, domestic Formula 1 races. And, the list goes on and on.
But something is changing and even more sports will be coming to antenna viewers across the country. In Phoenix you can now watch all of the Suns NBA games and Coyotes NHL regional sports games via an HD antenna. In Las Vegas you can watch all the Golden Knight NHL regional sports games on an antenna. Utah Jazz NBA regional sports games are now available with a HD Antenna. The ACC recently cut a deal with The CW to broadcast, for free, over fifty games a season. Ion is broadcasting WNBA games.
But what has changed? Why can these sports, which were once isolated to special pay packages, be had for free? Because people are cutting the cord and no longer paying regional sports fees to the cable and satellite companies.
Understanding the world of sports television rights takes a PHD but it basically boils down to this: when people cut the cord they stop paying for regional sports networks and “Regional Sports Fees.” And when TV watchers stop paying Regional Sports Fees to support the Regional Sports Networks (RSNs), it means that the regional sports teams (MLB, NHL, NBA) lose a lot of money.
How much money? A lot of money! To put the amount of money that RSNs are losing due to cord cutting, lets do some money math, the best type of math there is. First, just ten years ago, close to 100M homes had cable or satellite. Because of cord cutting, that number is now down to about 60M homes.
So, if each subscriber was paying $7.5 per month for “Regional Sports Fees” then regional sports fees generated $750M per month in the United States, or $9B per year for the RSNs. Now, only 60M homes pay that fee so RSNs only generate $450M per month or $5.4B per year.
So because of cord cutting, RSNs are collectively losing $3.6B per year. That is a lot of money, and it is not getting better, it is getting worse. So the regional NHL, MLB, and NBA teams need to figure out how to not lose quite so much money. And to do this, they are trying to grow the size of their audience by distributing the sports broadcasts for free. But in order to watch the free games you need a digital antenna.
How to Watch Sports via HD Antennas in Denver
In Denver, all the Rockies, AVs, and Nuggets are not yet available on antenna. But stay tuned, that could change. Altitude Sports has been blacked out for 3 years on Xfinity and Dish, so no AVs and Nuggets distribution. AT&T Sportnet Rocky Mountain (Rockies) has no home currently, as AT&T has dropped them, so Monfort will need to figure out some alternative distribution method come March 2024. If the trend that is happening across the country now continues, there is a very good chance these regional sports games could be available for free via an antenna.
