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(Stock image via Pexels, Graphic by The Desk)
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Select games from FanDuel Sports Network are coming to Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus and Prime Video for free.
Main Street Sports said the decision is intended to help reach more fans who prefer to watch live events on free streaming platforms.
All three services will market the live games through carousels, content tiles and other means.
Main Street Sports, the regional sports broadcast company that launched from the ashes of Diamond Sports Group last year, will be bringing a handful of premium sporting events from its FanDuel Sports Network channels to free streaming apps this season.
Starting in mid-November, users of streaming apps like Paramount’s Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus and Amazon’s Prime Video will be able to watch a selection of live National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL) games that will simulcast from FanDuel Sports Network in markets where the regional channels operate.
In a statement on Thursday, Main Street Sports said the decision to simulcast some live NBA and NHL games is rooted in a broader strategy to tap into free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) platforms to better serve fans.
“Launching this digital game offering is a big step in expanding our national reach and continuing to prioritize the different ways fans can watch their hometown teams,” Eric Ratchman, the Chief Revenue Officer of Main Street Sports, said in a prepared statement. “By bringing games to free streaming platforms that reach hundreds of millions of viewers, we’re making local sports more accessible than ever and proving what our ubiquitous access model can deliver.”
Through its FanDuel Sports Network portfolio of channels, Main Street Sports already simulcasts a few NBA and NHL games on broadcast TV channels in the markets where it has local TV rights to basketball and hockey events. The arrangement allows fans of teams like the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Memphis Grizzlies and the Carolina Hurricanes to watch a few live games each year on free TV — a strategy that feeds interest in FanDuel Sports Network and its premium streaming app, which costs $20 per month for access to all locally-televised games.
FanDuel Sports Network previously operated as Bally’s Sports Network through a licensing agreement with that company. The channels were previously branded as Fox Sports in most areas. Fox sold the channels to the Walt Disney Company as part of its broader purchase of certain Fox properties in 2019, and Disney offloaded them to Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture operated by Sinclair and Allen Media Group, to satisfy certain regulatory concerns associated with the Fox transaction.
Diamond Sports Group tried to operate the channels as a premium, cable-first experience, offering live sports to pay TV providers, similar to how the Fox Sports networks were distributed. But, in the era of cord-cutting, the Bally’s Sports Networks had limited reach. A direct-to-consumer app eventually launched, but not in time to save Diamond Sports Group from declaring bankruptcy.
Main Street Sports launched with a different mission: Make it easier, not harder, for sports fans to watch games from their local teams. The company has since inked licensing agreements with Gray Media and other broadcasters to simulcast a few games each season on free, over the air TV in some markets. The decision to put more games on free streaming platforms is rooted in that same strategy.
It isn’t clear if FanDuel Sports Network will restrict viewership of local games to the markets where the events are otherwise available on premium streaming and cable TV, but the three streaming partners — Amazon, Samsung and Paramount — all have the ability to make the channels visible to streamers in a specific area, while concealing them from others.
Main Street Sports said all live games offered through Samsung TV Plus, Prime Video and Pluto TV will be prominently promoted to eligible sports fans through content carousels, dedicated sports tiles and through other means. None of the live events will require registration or be placed behind a paywall, it affirmed.
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