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SALT LAKE CITY — AT&T SportsNet — the current broadcast home of the Utah Jazz — is preparing to shut down. In all regions. For good.
Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of AT&T SportsNet in Utah, alerted teams last week it does not have the money to pay for broadcast rights, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, and will be getting out of the regional sports network business.
The teams affected — including the Jazz — have until March 31 to reach an agreement to take their rights back. If the regional sports networks can't reach deals with the teams, the channels eventually plan to move forward with a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing.
So what happens after March 31?
Well, for the Jazz, not much.
There's a plan in place, team officials confirmed, for AT&T SportsNet to continue to exist as a broadcasting entity to get the team through the end of the season.
The Jazz produce their own broadcast — the producers, announcers, commentators, etc. are employees of the team, not AT&TSportsNet — and that allows the Jazz to quickly pivot to local TV partners, if the station does indeed go dark.
So that takes care of this season, but what about the future?
The good news for the Jazz is the team won't have to deal with the March 31 deadline or any of the other potential fallout of the decision. The Jazz's contract with AT&T SportsNet expires after this season, so there will be no need to head to the negotiation table.
The bad news is the team lost a potential bidder for their rights; but even then, a partnership renewal appeared unlikely.
Jazz owner Ryan Smith has made it abundantly clear he wants more options for Jazz fans in the next broadcast rights deal, which will include increased streaming options and an overall wider reach. Those two things likely weren't going to happen with AT&T SportsNet, regardless of whether they were sticking with local sports.
Warner Bros. Discovery isn't alone in struggling with regional sports. Diamond Sports, which runs the Bally Sports stations that are home to 14 NBA teams, is expected to file for bankruptcy in mid-March due to not being able to afford the expensive broadcasting rights.
That leaves the NBA, and its teams, in an interesting situation. While national TV deals continue to accelerate, there doesn't seem to be a vast market for regional rights.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed the growing concerns during All-Star weekend in Salt Lake City, but didn't seem overly anxious about the issue.
"I would say long term I'm not that concerned, because there are many other ways, platforms, including local over-the-air television, streaming services, other methods, to bring those games linear and digitally directly to fans," he said.
"In the mid-term, it's an issue we're going to have to work through. It is our hope — we've been in extensive discussions with Diamond about a potential restructuring, and I'm fairly optimistic we'll be able to work something out with them. … If we can't, we will make sure we have a system in place for delivering those games to fans."
