Sinclair’s effort at an over-the-top streaming service for cordcutters has picked up steam with the addition of NBA games.
Sinclair will announce Thursday that it has acquired the right to stream NBA games via the new over-the-top streaming service it plans to launch later this year, according to Sports Business Journal. Bloomberg reported last week that such a deal was coming.
Under the deal, Sinclair will be able to stream games involving the 16 teams it owns the rights to within their local markets. As usual, those games will only be available out-of-market on NBA League Pass.
Currently, those who have cut the cable cord are largely unable to watch their local teams through a major streaming provider. Only DirecTV Stream, the most expensive of the streaming bundle services, carries the Sinclair networks.
Sinclair previously reached a similar deal with the NHL, but still lacks rights for 10 of the 14 Major League Baseball teams to which it has rights.
The Sinclair-owned RSNs, currently branded after the Bally’s casino chain, were previously owned by 21st Century Fox. They were included in Disney’s $71.3 billion acquisition of most Fox assets in 2018 and then spun off in order for that larger deal to pass regulatory muster. Sinclair won an anemic round of bidding as there were not many takers for the properties, paying less than half of the channels’ estimated worth at that time.
[News from SBJ 1.13]
