Money-losing, sports-oriented streaming service FuboTV said it is closing down its sportsbook and exiting the online wagering business.

At one time, the virtual MVPD saw gambling as a way it could generate additional revenue and profits from its sports-loving subscribers.

“Following our previously announced strategic review, we have concluded that continuing with Fubo Gaming and Fubo Sportsbook in this challenging macroeconomic environment would impact our ability to reach our longer-term profitability goals,” FuboTV co-founder and CEO David Gandler said. “Therefore, we have made the difficult decision to exit the online sports wagering business effective immediately.”

Also: Rich Greenfield Urges Investors to Sell ‘Money-Losing’ FuboTV

In an SEC filing FuboTV said that “it expects to incur certain immaterial charges in connection with these matters, primarily related to severance and other employee-related costs; however, the Company may also incur further charges, the amount and timing of which cannot be estimated at this time.”

The company said it also expects to incur certain non-cash impairment charges of intangible assets and other noncurrent assets of approximately $70 million. It said those charges are primarily related to market-access agreements. It may also incur certain cash charges for the termination of certain contracts.

Fubo also released preliminary third-quarter results and said, despite increasing revenue and subscribers in the third quarter, Fubo will post an adjusted EBITDA loss of about $100 million, up from $81.3 million a year ago and from $79.1 million in the second quarter.

Also: Ryan Reynolds Gets Channel, Stock in Deal with FuboTV

FuboTV said its North American revenue is expected to be $210 million in the quarter, up 34% from a year ago. Rest-of-world revenue is expected to be at least $5.5 million.

U.S. subscribers are expected to exceed 1.22 million, up 27% year-over-year. Rest-of-world subscribers are expected to be about 350,000.

The revenue and subscriber totals exceed the company's previous guidance.

Fubo stock, which had a 52-week high of $35.10, closed at $4.05 Monday, up 6.3%. It rose another 9% in after-hours trading. ■

Reports that The Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN is close to forming a sports-betting partnership with DraftKings looks like a bad beat for other betting companies on Wall Street. 

The deal would create an ESPN-branded sports book and increase the amount of odd and other betting information carried during ESPN programming, 

Disney has been looking to find a way to capitalize on the growth of legalized sports betting and has been seeking as much as $3 billion in a long-term deal with a sports-betting partner, according to Bloomberg.

Disney already owns a stake in DraftKings, which it acquired when it bought 21st Century Fox’s assets. 

ESPN declined to comment. DraftKings said it has "a great, long standing relationship with ESPN" but wouldn't comment on potential negotiations.

As the biggest player in TV sports, ESPN could give a big boost to sports books, especially if it were made easy to move from watching a game to placing a wager.

The report drove DraftKings shares up more than 2% in Friday trading. Meanwhile, shares of other gambling stocks were not so lucky. 

Rush Street Interactive, which operates the BetRivers sportsbook, dropped almost 5%; Caesars Entertainment fell more than 4%; Flutter Entertainment, which owns FanDuel, was down more than 2%; MGM Resorts slid about 2%; and Bally’s Corp. was off 2%.

Disney shares were down 3%.

With its squeaky-clean image gambling has posed a dilemma for Disney and ESPN. But a year ago Disney CEO Bob Chapek said on an earnings call that some research indicated that betting might not damage his company's brands. 

"We've done substantial research in terms of the impact not only to the ESPN brand, but to the Disney brand in terms of consumers changing perceptions of the acceptability of gambling," Chapek said. "What we're finding is there's a very significant insulation. Gambling does not have the cache now that it had say 10 or 20 year ago."

He noted that the younger sports fans that ESPN needs to replace aging fans want gambling as part of their sports experience. On TV, that's more of a lean forward type of experience, he said.

"As we follow the consumer, we necessarily have to seriously consider getting into gambling in a bigger and bigger way and ESPN’s the perfect platform for this," Chapek said.  ■

NBC Sports said it made a deal with BetMGM that will integrate BetMGM into Football Night in America and other NBC Sports content.

During Football Night in America on Sundays on NBC, BetMGM will be featured in segments hosted by former NFL quarterback Chris Simms and sports betting and fantasy expert Matthew Berry. The segment will look at betting lines and situation that could expect wagering on that weeks Sunday Night Football game. 

Betting lines from BetMGM will also be featured on the score and stats ticker at the bottom of the screen during Peacock Sunday Night Football Final.

“It is a tremendous opportunity to partner with the talented team at NBC Sports and have the ability to engage with football fans nationwide,” said Matt Prevost, chief revenue officer at BetMGM. “We look forward to delivering NBC viewers our BetMGM trading team insights as well as entertaining segments that showcase the excitement of betting with BetMGM.”

NBC Sports will also feature BetMGM odds and lines in all betting and fantasy content hosted by Berry on platforms including Peacock, and on co-branded content hosted by Simms, including the Chris Simms Unbuttoned podcast.

“As we continue to innovate within the rapidly growing sports-betting marketplace, this new partnership with BetMGM will allow NBC Sports to engage more fans across multiple platforms,” said Will McIntosh, president of NBC Sports Next & Fandango. “We’re looking forward to collaborating with BetMGM and are excited about the future activation opportunities this partnership will present.” ■

Gray Television said that it is launching Beat The Odds, a weekly sports betting series, on 100 of its stations starting September 2.

The series is being produced by Gray’s Las Vegas station KVVU-TV and its Tupelo Media production company and comes at a time when sports betting is becoming one of the fastest-growing TV advertising categories as wagering becomes legal in more states.

"Beat the Odds showcases two of the most popular aspects of sports for the public: betting analysis and compelling storytelling," said Michael Korr, VP and General manager of KVVU.

Also Read: Ernie Anastos Pushes Positivity in Syndicated Weekend Series

KVVU news anchor Dave Hall will host Beat the Odds. The show will also feature handicappers Jack “Fat Jack” Ross and Ted “Teddy Covers” Sevransky, former NFL linebacker Brandon Marshall and reporter Mariah Janos.

“Beat the Odds is a different type of sports betting show,” said Tupelo Media Group CEO Cary Glotzer. “It will give sports bettors top-notch analysis and information, and it’ll be very entertaining, with features on sports history and how sports influence culture. It’s why we developed the show – to create a format that really engages sports and betting fans.”

The show’s executive producers are Korr, Glotzer, and Tupelo Media Group CTO John Servizzi. ■

Attorney General Letitia James is warning consumers of streaming and social media to beware of ads from "deceptive online sports betting companies" during the Super Bowl.

Online sports betting only became legal in New York in January and James said New Yorkers have been bombarded with come-ons for "risk free bets" and "$1,000 welcome offers." Online sports book ads online and on-air have been bombarding the country at large of late with some big name actors and sports figures touting in-game betting, parlays and the like.

James said the free bet offers often come with strings attached that consumers may miss. She said that online sports betting companies whose ads mislead consumers "can expect to hear from my office."

James offered some tips: 1) "Learn what other users are saying about the platform"; 2) "Read the fine print on bonuses and other promotions"; and 3) "Beware of unexpected restrictions on accessing your account."

James also included links in her statement to the New York Council on Problem Gambling and Gamblers Anonymous. ■

The New York State Gaming Commission approved four licensed mobile sports wagering operators to begin taking mobile bets in the state beginning at 9 a.m. on January 8, and cable networks are gearing up for what they hope to be a big financial windfall.

Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, FanDuel, and Rush Street Interactive, which operates the BetRivers Sportsbook, got the green light from the Gaming Commission on Jan. 7, about a week prior to the January 15 start of the National Football Leauge playoffs and around a month before Super Bowl LVI on February 13, the biggest betting day of the year.

In a press release, Rush Interactive CEO Richard Schwartz said New York’s decision came just in time. 

“With the college football championship game on January 10th and NFL playoffs approaching, and the NBA and NHL seasons in full swing, in addition to countless other sports and betting options available for play, fans have endless entertainment at their fingertips at BetRivers,” Schwartz said in a press release.

Eyeing a $10 Billion Opportunity

New York State expects mobile sports gambling to represent a $10 billion revenue windfall annually. On Nov. 8, the state agreed to allow mobile sports wagering — about 18 other states, including neighboring New Jersey, have allowed it for months —- with the government taking 51% of gross revenue generated by the providers. 

With New York in the mix, however, other states that have been on the fence regarding mobile sports betting — including Connecticut, Delaware, Ohio, Louisiana, and Maryland, which have approved mobile gambling but haven’t gone live — will give them a needed push. 

“When it starts in New York, it becomes a national story,” said sports consultant Lee Berke, CEO of LHB Sports Media & Entertainment. “You’ve got four of the biggest sportsbooks starting on this, they’re creating New York-specific commercials, it’s going to become a subject of New York-based media outlets,” which should give any fence-sitters a needed push.

Another incentive for states: the enormous amount of money to be made. Some reports estimate that New York could reap about $1 billion in yearly profits from mobile sports betting. The state also is charging each mobile sports wagering operator a one-time $200 million licensing fee, and other providers are expected to join the fray. Initially nine providers were conditionally licensed by the state — Bally Corp.’s BallyNets; BetMGM, WynnBET; PointsBet New York; and Empire Resorts, doing business as Resorts World — were the others. The state Gaming Commission is still considering those five other applicants.   

“The remaining five conditionally licensed Mobile Sports Wagering Operators continue to work towards satisfying statutory and regulatory requirements necessary to launch and will be approved on a rolling basis when requirements are met,” the Gaming Commission said in a statement.

New Jersey has said gross revenue from online sports wagering was about $1 billion in September, most of that from mobile transactions. New York allowing mobile betting might cut into that handle — New York City gamblers were known to travel into the state just to make mobile bets. According to some reports, New York gamblers made about 25% to 30% of the sports bets in New Jersey. 

For television networks, the initial windfall is likely to be in the form of additional advertising — already Caesar’s Sportsbook, FanDuel, DraftKings and Rush Street, have been ramping up ads leading to Jan. 8. While sportsbooks have been advertising on sports channels ever since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed legal sports wagering in 2018, Berke said the introduction of the largest media market in the country to mobile wagering is a game-changer. 

“As it becomes more national in scope, the economics change in terms of being able to offer up a range of national content in a range of national media outlets,” Berke said. “Even six months ago, buying on the NFL, people were starting to do it, but it’s inefficient because half of the country can’t bet. When New York kicks in, suddenly, things change.” 

Berke said that viewers should expect similar programming on other sports channels, as “the line blurs between what is sports programming and what is sports betting programming.”

At YES Network, the home of New York Yankees baseball, Brooklyn Nets basketball, New York City Football Club soccer and New York Liberty basketball, the initial impact will mainly be on ad sales. But the RSN, the most-watched in the country, already has strong relationships with sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings, so New York's entry into mobile sports betting “just makes YES all the more valuable to these entities,” said spokesman Eric Handler. 

FanDuel and DraftKings probably have the biggest relationships with television networks, having inked a deal with Turner Sports in October 2020 to integrate betting information into content from TNT, TBS and Bleacher Report. That pact also included the ability for Turner to collect referral fees if bettors placed wagers through their sites. 

MSG Moves Aggressively

Across the board, sports networks have long been anticipating this day, and many have spent the past few months forging partnerships with casinos and sports wagering outlets and creating programming geared toward gaming aficionados.  

One of the more aggressive networks on the programming and deal fronts has been New York area regional sports network MSG Networks, which has expanded its sports betting-focused programming. In October MSG Networks launched Odds with Ends hosted by former New York Giants players Mathias Kiwanuka and David Tyree on Sunday mornings during the NFL season; and The Bettor Half Hour hosted by Alex Monaco to complement its existing betting shows including The Betting Exchange with sports gaming experts Katie Mox, Jeff Johnson and former New York Jets safety Erik Coleman.

Also last year, MSG Networks struck marketing partnerships with FanDuel, Bet 365, BetMGM and Caesars Sportsbook.   

Caesars Sportsbook also plans to launch a new series on MSG Networks and its social media channels featuring actor and comedian JB Smoove — who also stars in the sportsbook’s national commercials. The show, One Course with JB Smoove, will integrate Caesars Sportsbook betting odds and content. In addition, the gaming giant and MSG Networks will launch a 20-part programming marathon to bring back the 2013 series Four Courses with JB Smoove, where the actor and comedian conversed with athletes and celebrities over dinner and which will now be updated with Caesars-themed content.

Caesar’s Sportsbook also will sponsor a special month-long programming block tied to former New York Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist. ■

Sinclair Broadcast Group CEO Chris Ripley said Tuesday that additional streaming rights deals for its upcoming direct-to-consumer RSN service could be coming soon, adding that he believes the company has enough content in hand now to launch the product successfully. 

Ripley, speaking at the Bank of America Leveraged Finance Virtual Conference on Nov. 30, said Sinclair is in “active and ongoing negotiations,” with the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association for streaming rights, and that although it only has rights from four major league baseball teams, that could change.

“I do think there will be some news around some of these renewal negotiations shortly,” Ripley said at the conference.

Sinclair has been under fire ever since MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in October that Sinclair hasn’t secured the necessary streaming rights for the direct-to-consumer service, hinting that teams may be reluctant to give away rights without a fight. The DTC service is considered to be crucial to the future health of the Sinclair RSNs, which have seen their subscriber rolls dwindle as traditional pay TV distributors have battled with cord cutting.

Sinclair has maintained that it will not waiver from its plan to launch the DTC service. Although the broadcaster has not said which MLB teams it has deals with, speculation has been that they are the Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers and Miami Marlins, all of which -- with the exception of the Brewers, who were 95-67 this year -- posted losing records in 2021. The Tigers signed free agent shortstop Javier Baez earlier this week, which should boost interest in the club next season. 

That could be a moot point as the MLB Players Association’s collective bargaining agreement with the league expires at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday (Dec. 1) and many are speculating that there could be a lockout. Even Ripley acknowledged if that happens, it could be bad news for the RSNs. 

“I don't have any insight into the labor negotiations there, but if the season is delayed, we won't have key tentpole products to support both our linear channels and any new DTC,” Ripley said. “That definitely could have an impact on the start.”

Ripley also commented briefly on the recent carriage negotiation with Dish Network, where the broadcaster managed to secure a multi-year retransmission consent agreement, but could not reach a deal for the RSNs.

“We had a very lengthy, complex and difficult negotiation with Dish,” Ripley said at the conference, adding that he was happy there was no disruption in service to Dish customers. “The challenge with them is the RSNs have been off for two years and they have dropped every RSN from the portfolio that they could. So it was not going to be possible to get there.”

Ripley said it is “always a possibility” that Sinclair will return to the negotiating table with Dish for the RSNs, but added he is also pursuing other opportunities with distributors that don’t carry the channels. 

Regarding opportunities, Ripley is still excited about the prospect of sports gambling, and added that its relationship with casino owner Bally's will be a big plus as it moves to launch its first gambling-oriented product. 

Ripley said Sinclair is working with Bally’s on a “Watch and Play” offering centered on tennis, which he said is the second most bet-on sport in the world.

Also: Sinclair's Ripley on RSNs: Believe It or Not 

While still the most popular programming in terms of TV ratings, sports has hit a bit of a snag with younger viewers who don’t tend to devote the time to watch full games as much as older viewers do. Younger viewers tend to watch highlights, or snippets of games online, he said.

“The solution is to make it interactive. That’s the type of experience the younger generation is looking for,” Ripley said, adding that the idea is to offer younger viewers a lean-forward experience, with exciting graphics and rewards for watching in addition to the betting option. “Once we roll out a tennis ‘Watch and Play,’ we’ll move on to other major sports. We’re really excited about giving the consumer an integrated, exciting, interactive live betting experience. That’s probably one of the biggest things we’re working on with Bally's.” ■

The squeaky clean Walt Disney Co. is ready to dive into the gambling pool as sports betting becomes legal in more of the country.

Speaking on Disney’s earnings call Wednesday afternoon, CEO Bob Chapek said that Disney has studied how getting involved in betting will affect the brands of Disney and ESPN and found that there won’t be any damage.

“We’ve done substantial research in terms of the impact not only to the ESPN brand, but to the Disney brand in terms of consumers changing perceptions of the acceptability of gambling,” Chapek said. “What we’re finding is there’s a very significant insulation. Gambling does not have the cache now that it had say 10 or 20 year ago.”

Also: New York Mobile Sports Betting Could Mean Big Money for Networks

Chapek admitted Disney had concerns about gambling. “But I can tell you that given all the research that we’ve done recently, that is not the case," he said

Gambling “actually strengthens the broad of ESPN when you have a betting component and it has no impact on the Disney brand,” he said.

That means Disney is ready to push its chips into the pot. And that would be good particularly for ESPN.

He noted that the younger sports fans that ESPN needs to replace aging fans want gambling as part of their sports experience. On TV, that’s more of a lean forward type of experience, he said.

“As we follow the consumer, we necessarily have to seriously consider getting into gambling in a bigger and bigger way and ESPN’s the perfect platform for this," Chapek said.

Gambling offers the demographic opportunity to attract younger viewers, and also has “not insignificant revenue implications,” he said. “This is something that we’re keenly interested in and we are pursuing aggressively.”

The New York State Gaming Commission’s decision to approve mobile betting licenses for nine gaming operators — including FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars Entertainment, Bally Sports and others with strong media ties — could be a big windfall for cable, broadcast and streaming sports channels that have spent the past three years forging relationships with sports books.

The New York State Gaming Commission on Nov. 8 issued 10-year mobile betting licenses to a group including FanDuel, DraftKings, Bally Corp.’s BallyNets; and to BetMGM, a partnership between MGM Resorts International and Entain PLC. The second group consists of Caesars Entertainment‘s Caesars Sportsbook; Rush Street International; Wynn Resorts’ WynnBET; PointsBet New York; and Empire Resorts, doing business as Resorts World.

With the approvals, sports bettors in the state will be able to make wagers through their mobile phones. Previously they could only bet on sports at physical casinos. The impact could be huge. New York state is the biggest sports-betting market in the country by some estimates, and could represent an additional $1 billion annually in wagering revenue. Cable, broadcast and streaming sports channels that have been forging relationships with gaming companies since the U.S. Supreme Court first allowed legal sports wagering in 2018 also could reap big rewards. 

New York residents won’t be able to begin betting on sports through their phones immediately. The state still has a few technical kinks to work out, but most observers believe mobile wagering will begin well before Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13, the biggest betting day of the year.

In an interview, Lee Berke, sports consultant and president and CEO of LHB Sports, Entertainment & Media, said the initial impact for sports networks will likely be on the advertising side. But networks, which have spent the past three years forming relationships with betting houses, are also in line to reap big rewards when remote betting becomes part of the game broadcasts themselves. 

“As much as sports betting has been legalized in over half the country, New York includes the No. 1 DMA in the country and it’s just going to drive the trend toward the acceptance and the marketing and the development of the sports betting business well beyond where it has been up to this point,” Berke said. “It’s a big moment.”

It’s also a big moment for the state, which will charge each licensee a $200 million one-time fee and tax mobile sports wagering revenue at 51% annually, one of the highest among states that allow mobile betting. But the potential for success in New York is huge. The gaming commission estimated New York would reap about $489 million in annual tax revenue from a $1 billion sports wagering market.

Berke said for the networks, the impact will be seen in programming as well as advertising. He noted that Caesars Entertainment has been involved in a big national ad campaign around its Caesars Sportsbook, which launched in August in 11 states and the District of Columbia — Arizona, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, West Virginia, Michigan, Colorado, Virginia, New Jersey, Nevada and Washington, D.C. 

“You’ve got Caesars in the middle of a national ad campaign even though half the states don't allow sports betting,” Berke said. “They’re already spending, but when you open up individual states, it’s naturally going to create a lot of additional media spend in those states to reach those audiences.”

Berke also said to expect more betting-focused content to be available on TV. “There is going to be a lot of fallout from the rights finally being awarded,” he said.

In the meantime, the addition of New York to the mobile betting arena should drive interest and revenue.

While the gaming commission estimated about $1 billion in New York  sports betting revenue, mobile could help boost that figure skyward. New Jersey, which has allowed mobile sports betting since 2018, raked in about $1 billion in sports wagering revenue in September alone. Most of that was via mobile bets. 

Some New York legislators have chafed over the lack of mobile sports betting in the state in the past. In an October article in the New York Times, New York State Senate committee on racing, wagering and gaming chairman Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr., a Queens-based Democrat, said the state was missing out on millions of dollars in tax revenue without mobile betting. That same article depicted city residents who regularly bike over the George Washington Bridge to place mobile bets in New Jersey. 

According to the American Gaming Association, sports wagering generated $886.5 million in revenue nationally in Q3, a quarterly low for the year because of a limited number of end of summer games, but still up 153.1% from the prior year. AGA said that combined sports betting and iGaming revenue for the first nine months of the year was up 200% to $5.36 billion.  

Already the marketing deals are starting to grow. On Nov. 9, Madison Square Garden Sports and Madison Square Garden Entertainment unveiled a multi-year marketing partnership with BetMGM, where the sportsbook would receive substantial brand integration inside the Madison Square Garden arena during New York Knicks and New York Rangers games. As part of the deal, BetMGM will also be featured prominently on regional sports networks MSG and MSG Plus during coverage of the Knicks, Rangers, New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders, highlighted by a virtual blue line during Rangers games and commercial spots during game telecasts, the companies said.

FanDuel and DraftKings probably have the biggest relationships with television networks, having inked a deal with Turner Sports in October 2020 to integrate betting information into content from TNT, TBS and Bleacher Report. That pact also included the ability for Turner to collect referral fees if bettors placed wagers through their sites. 

Bally Corp. signed a 10-year, $88 million deal in 2020 with Sinclair Broadcast Group to rebrand that company’s regional sports networks under the Bally Sports name. Bally also launched its mobile betting app, BallyBet, this year in Colorado and Iowa and plans to expand its online gaming reach to other states. In a press release, Bally Corp. chairman Soo Kim said the NYS Gaming Commission approval advances Bally’s footprint and “marks the latest milestone on our journey towards becoming the leading omnichannel gaming provider in the U.S. Above all, we look forward to providing New York's devoted fan base with engaging, best-in-class, sports betting experiences.“

Bally had earlier been rumored to be among the groups that would win approval from the NYS Gaming Commission, and during a conference call with analysts to discuss Q3 results on Nov. 3 (five days before the award was announced), Bally CEO Lee Fenton said that the company was comfortable with its position to gain access to the state, but lamented the proposed high tax rate for participants.

“No one is happy with a 51% tax rate,” Fenton said on the call. “I think that would be true for all of the partners that we‘ve been working with as well. But it‘s a huge state. And therefore, the scale of it means that you can have opportunities.”

Among those opportunities is with Sinclair’s RSNs, which Fenton said Bally’s could leverage within New York and in the outskirts of the state. “So obviously, I think it will change the cost dynamics of all operators that enter that market in terms of how they might address and attack that market. But clearly, New York is not a market that you want to miss out on.”

Other licensees were equally optimistic. 

Wynn Resorts said in a press release the New York state approval, obtained as part of a partnership with the Oneida and St. Regis Mohawk compacted tribes, is the 19th market for its sports betting service, WynnBET.  

“New Yorkers represent a significant portion of the Wynn Las Vegas and Encore Boston Harbor databases, and we look forward to giving those customers more ways to earn and use Wynn Rewards,” Wynn Interactive CEO Craig Billings said in a release. “We also look forward to meeting and engaging with new customers in the state via WynnBET."

Caesars Entertainment, also is a partner with FuboTV for that sports streamer’s Fubo Sportsbook in Indiana and New Jersey. Fubo Sportsbook officially kicked off in Iowa on Nov. 3.

Rush Street Interactive currently operates online gaming in 11 states, including Connecticut and New Jersey. Once it launches its New York Sportsbook, the company said it will be one of only three companies that has online gaming access in all three states. 

Rush Street Interactive CEO Richard Schwartz said in a release that approval from the New York State Gaming Commission validates the company, “the attractiveness of our offerings, and our ability to deliver value and results to our partners. We are pleased to continue our successful track record of securing access in high-barrier-to-entry jurisdictions, gaining market share, and differentiating our platform through the quality of our products, services, and customer service experience."

Fubo Sportsbook said it reached a deal making it the official sports betting partner with the New York Jets.

Financial terms were not disclosed. Fubo Sportsbook is part of Fubo Gaming, a division of fuboTV, which is counting on the growth of legalized wagering to drive revenue for its sports-oriented streaming TV service. 

A highlight of the agreement, Fubo’s first with a professional sports team, is the creation of a Fubo Sportsbook Lounge at MetLife Stadium for Jets home games. The lounge is expected to open during the 2021-22 NFL season.

Fubo Sportsbook will also become the presenting partner of the Jets Mobile App. Jets Mobile App users will have access to special offers from Fubo Sports book as well as game day incentives tied to the Lounge.

Fubo Sportsbook also intends to utilize the new programmatic ad network created for the Jets utilizing Sportradar’s programmatic activation platform.

“The New York Jets is a leading sports organization with a strong base of enthusiastic and loyal fans and we strongly believe in the future success of the team,” said Scott Butera, president of Fubo Gaming. “We are excited to be their partner in offering this community a truly unique sports betting and entertainment experience. The Fubo Sportsbook is designed to meet the increased demand for interactivity by integrating real-time sports streaming with personalized wagering experiences. The Fubo Sportsbook will also have the ability to leverage first-party data to understand viewing preferences and provide relevant bet recommendations.”

The Fubo Sportsbook Lounge will  have about 7,000 square feet and open to customers 21 year old and over. Fans will be able to watch every NFL game in the lounge and make wagers through the Fubo Sportsbook app.

FuboTV said its Fubo Gaming unit got approval to offer online sports wagering in Iowa.

Fubo Gaming plans to launch its Fubo Sportsbook in the fourth quarter. The company has already gotten approvals to operate a betting service in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Indiana and New Jersey.

Also Read: fuboTV Rolls Out Games, Stats in Time For World Cup Qualifiers

Fubo sees sports betting a compliment to its sports oriented video services.

“We believe Fubo Sportsbook will provide an elevated sports entertainment experience that will bring increased interaction and engagement between sports viewing and betting. We are working with regulators in additional markets as we aim to truly innovate the gaming space,” said Scott Butera, president of Fubo Gaming.

In Iowa, the state Racing and Gaming Commission approve Fubo Gaming to offer advance deposit online sports wagering within the state through a market access agreement with Casino Queen.

Also Read: FuboTV Raising Money For Breast Cancer Research with Jerome Bettis Spot

FuboTV said it will provide Hawkeye state sports better with an experience that integrated sports wagering and live streaming with fuboTV.

While viewers are watching on fuboTV, they’ll also get data from betting and streaming platforms based on first-party user behavior data that will recommend relevant bets and turn passive viewers into active participants, the company said.

MSG Networks said it hired Talaya Wilkins as VP of content strategy.

The former ESPN producer will focus on developing programming targeted at the growing sports betting audience and lead MSG Networks' growing content team.

With legalized sports betting becoming available in more states, sports networks are looking for ways to provide interesting and useful programming to bettors. That programming will also attract advertisers in the betting business, who are spending more ad dollars to attract customers.

Wilkins will report to Kevin Marotta, MSG Networks’ senior VP, marketing and content strategy. 

Also Read: MSG Networks, TVG Gallop With Live Horse Racing

“We are thrilled to welcome Talaya, who comes to MSG Networks after creating and overseeing so many critically acclaimed programs and specials at ESPN,” said Marotta. “Talaya is charged with leading our sports betting initiatives, while also bringing a fresh approach to developing content for New York area sports fans of all ages and interests.”

Wilkins spent 14 years at ESPN, most recently overseeing studio shows for ESPN Plus. She received four Emmy Nominations and played division 1 basketball for the Siena College Saints.

MSG Networks said it made a multi-year deal with FanDuel Group’s TVG network to bring live daily horse races to viewers in the New York area.

The move comes as the television business embraces legalized gambling.

Starting Wednesday, TVG’s Trackside Live show will be simulcast on MSG Plus Wednesdays through Sundays from noon to 7 p.m. ET, featuring live races from tracks around the world. 

Trackside Live also features interviews and expert analysis from TVG’s on-air talent. 

FanDuel’s sports betting show More Ways to Win, hosted by Lisa Kerney, will also begin to air on MSG Networks on weekends during the NFL season.

Also Read: Sinclair’s Streaming RSNs and Warner’s CNN Plus May Be Pay TV’s Biggest Disruptors

“It’s great to partner with TVG and FanDuel to bring so many great, live horse races to fans on MSG Networks,” said Jeff Filippi, senior VP, programming and production, executive producer, MSG Networks. “Fans will see a great variety of races from more than 150 tracks around the world.”

TVG processes more than $2 billion in horse racing wagers annually from residents of 33 U.S. states. 

“We’re excited to be partnering with the MSG Networks to bring premier live racing coverage to its family of networks and its millions of viewers in the New York area,” said Amy Howe, newly appointed interim CEO of FanDuel Group. “This new agreement is part of FanDuel Group’s continuing commitment to invest in our core horse racing television programming and to expand the audience for our racetrack and horsemen partners.”

The agreement was announced a month after New York Racing Association officials said that MSG Networks would no longer broadcast the association’s simulcast programs. according to the Daily Racing Form. MSG had worked with NYRA for 30 years.

Sinclair Broadcasting Group CEO Chris Ripley offered a little more insight into plans to launch a direct-to-consumer version of its Bally Sports RSNs next year, adding that the offering will likely include a full slate of live games and be priced high enough as to not upset its MVPD partners.

Bally Sports has about 19 regional sports networks across the country. While the networks have struck carriage deals with most major traditional MVPDs, it has drawn some attention after streaming services YouTube TV and Hulu Plus Live TV dropped the channels last year. Dish Network dropped the RSNs in 2019.

Sinclair first said it would launch a direct-to-consumer version of the RSNs in 2021, but later extended that timeframe to mid-2022. At the JP Morgan Telecom, Media & Communications conference Tuesday, Ripley offered more insight into the plan.

Sinclair has long said while the RSNs have about 52 million subscribers, mainly through traditional MVPDs, that represents about 35 million unique households, or about half of the homes in the markets of the teams it represents. 

“That, plus the growing fandom of people outside the pay TV bundle, which our research points out to be quite significant, the demand for the direct-to-consumer offering is quite large,” Ripley said at the conference.

Also Read: Sinclair RSNs Face Tumultuous Period Analyst Says 

Ripley touched on the issue of pricing, which most analysts see as the key factor in the success or failure of a DTC offering. While the Sinclair CEO wouldn’t give specifics, he mentioned that it would be a “substantial difference” between what traditional MVPDs are currently paying and what consumers would pony up for the standalone channels. 

Sinclair is currently working out the details of the DTC offering, including the exact games, whether they would focus on monthly or annual pricing, all of which will be revealed closer to the launch date.   

Ripley said the industry is already moving toward a hybrid of linear and DTC distribution, and Sinclair is no different.

“The pay TV bundle has become a multi-platform, app-based experience across distributors, then you’ve got the direct-to-consumer experience which is natively app-based and modern in terms of the user experience,” Ripley said. “That hybrid environment is where we’re going to move to on both sides of our business over time. The key component on how we view the pay TV bundle and direct-to-consumer is really a pricing difference. There will be a substantial difference in prices of what the distributors buy on a wholesale basis versus what a retail customer would pay for a direct and unbundled offering.” 

Ripley wouldn’t get into pricing details, but said it would be high enough so as to protect the existing MVPD relationship.

Also Read: Bally Sports Networks Strike Out with Streamers on Opening Day 

“We will give pricing protection to the distributors to preserve the concept of wholesale pricing into bundled offerings versus retail pricing,” Ripley said. “There will be significant difference there in terms of what the value proposition is for distributors.”

Some analysts have predicted that a direct to consumer offering that included all of the games would have to be priced as high as $25 to $30 per month, more than four times what Sinclair charges monthly for its priciest RSN, Bally Sports Detroit, which costs distributors about $6.85 per subscriber, according to Kagan, a unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence. 

But according to sports consultant Lee Berke, president and CEO of LHB Sports, Entertainment & Media, even at that price point, Sinclair fails to address the main issue – attracting new subscribers to combat the shrinking pay TV universe for RSNs along with the loss of most vMVPD distribution.

Sinclair, like other RSNs, is faced with the unenviable task of trying to appease the segment that is generating most of its revenue -- MVPDs -- while attracting streaming subscribers who want to pay less. It’s not an easy situation, and it is particularly tricky for sports networks. While entertainment streamers like Disney Plus, Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO Max can manage through enormous scale to charge between $10 and $15 per month for service, RSNs, which have high sports rights costs and live programming that is not always year-round, have to charge more just to break even. 

“The problem with that is, it’s not necessarily a consumer-focused strategy,” Berke said of a $25 to $30 price point. “If you please the distributors and yet the fans don’t purchase the service, then what have you done? As I see it, you haven't really solved anything. The problem isn't that the distributors are upset. That’s a symptom of what is going to happen by going direct-to-consumer. The problem is that the universe is shrinking.”   

For sports nets, the answer is in part by offering DTC customers more. Ripley said engagement with its authenticated apps is driven by games, but also by VOD and editorial content created by Sinclair. 

“It's not just about putting the games over the top, it’s about the platform you create around that,” Ripley said, adding that as the business moves more toward digital distribution, opportunities around ticketing, social media and gamification become more important. 

“If you think about where this is headed, there’s been a lot of talk in the video game industry about creating a metaverse around various game experiences,” Ripley continued. “This is no different. The winner here on direct-to-consumer sports will have a metaverse.” 

But the real game changer could be sports betting. Bally Corp., the gaming giant that purchased naming rights to the Sinclair RSNs last year, began beta testing its mobile sportsbook, Bally Bet, in Colorado earlier this month.  The company expects to launch the service in three additional markets this year and in other areas in 2022. 

Ripley said the  opportunity around sports betting is huge, adding that the company is working on a “Watch and Play” experience that would allow viewers to bet on games while they’re watching them. Ripley called gamification the third major prong of sports rights monetization and would eclipse advertising revenue, and maybe even subscription fees, once it hits its stride. 

Also Read: Sinclair RSNs: Timing is Everything

Ripley added that early versions of a “gamified experience” could surface next year, while the overlay of sports betting would depend on which states allow it.

“In four or five years you’re gonna be in many, many markets where you can have a real time gamified experience while you watch, play the game within the game,” Ripley said. “When that becomes widespread, that’s when the real economic opportunity becomes quite significant.”

No sooner did Sinclair Broadcast Group tell analysts that yes, indeed, it does plan to offer direct-to-consumer versions of its 19 regional sports networks next year, than Comcast’s NBCUniversal possibly stole its thunder, with reports that the media giant is looking to shift its RSNs to its Peacock streaming service, or even sell them off.

Sinclair reiterated Wednesday that it would launch a DTC service for its Bally Sports Networks next year -- it had originally expected to launch it this year but back in February said the debut would be moved to 2022. Yesterday was more like a reassurance that plans to go the DTC route were still on, with Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley talking about a vast untapped market for streaming sports. The news comes as Sinclair is still hoping to gain carriage for the channels on YouTube TV, Hulu Plus Live TV, Fubo TV and Dish Network.

That NBCU was considering a DTC future for its sports networks first appeared in the Wall Street Journal. But it shouldn't come as a shock. Earlier this year NBCU said it would shutter its NBCSN sports channel, and shift programming to Peacock and USA Network. This seems to be a logical extension of that plan.

Also Read: One Month Later, Still No Streaming Deal for Sinclair RSNs 

While NBCU is also considering selling its seven RSNs to the teams whose games they carry, that could be difficult. Except for the New York Yankees, which bought a majority interest in its YES Network from Fox in 2019, teams haven’t been big players in recent RSN auctions. 

According to the Journal, NBCU considered testing the idea of streaming its RSNs earlier this year, with NBC Sports Philadelphia, the hometown of parent Comcast. But it scrapped the idea for two reasons -- pricing and customer confusion. The paper said that NBC executives balked because the service would have to be priced differently in markets where there were RSNs. That, they feared, would confuse the service’s marketing efforts. 

Also Read: Sports and OTT Streaming Could Squeeze the last Vestige of Appointment TV 

NBCU and Sinclair aren’t the only RSN owners that are considering direct-to-consumer offerings. As traditional pay TV bleeds subscribers at a steady rate, pretty much every network is considering going off on its own. 

Every network has an app in one form or another -- Sinclair launched its Bally Sports  app in April -- though at the moment they are all authenticated, meaning that to watch actual games via streaming viewers have to have a traditional pay TV package. But that could be easily solved. What’s harder to figure out is how a true DTC app would be priced. Some pundits believe that a standalone streaming RSN could be priced as high as $30 per month.  

At that price, plus the cost of a standalone broadband service ($80) and a monthly Netflix ($15) and Amazon Prime ($13) subscription, a typical cord-cutting sports fan would be paying about as much as their pay TV counterparts with 100-plus video channels. 

There also is a wide range of numbers delineating the size of the potential markets for the channels. On its conference call with analysts, Sinclair said it had 52 million subscribers to its 19 RSNs last year, of which 35 million were unique households. 

Also Read: RSNs Scramble for Streaming Deals as Opening Day Approaches 

“The 35 million households represents less than half of the total subscribers possible in the RSN teams' geographic territories, meaning the total number of addressable subscribers under the D2C model is theoretically more than double,” Ripley said on the call. 

Now, that is making a couple of pretty big assumptions. One: there are another 35 million homes out there that really want to watch games but don’t because they think their local RSN costs too much. Two: there is something that will make most of them either get a subscription to a pay TV service that has the RSNs -- meaning they would have to pay even more -- or they would pay for an app that would allow them to watch the games. Three: The app would be priced at a level that would give the buyer the sense that he or she is getting a bargain, the distributor the sense that they weren’t paying too much for the linear channel; and Sinclair the sense that it was receiving the proper remuneration for its content. That’s a lot to consider. 

Also Read: Live Sports Events Are Moving to Streaming 

Analysts have been saying for years that probably only 30% of pay TV customers watch sports. And of the non-pay TV customers that consider themselves sports fans, about 8% say they would definitely buy a streaming sports service, according to a 2020 Verizon Media survey. 

But at the same time, RSNs are faced with a double dilemma: a rapidly deciding traditional pay TV customer base and virtual MVPDs like YouTube TV and Hulu that are trying to gauge whether they can do without them. The next few months are going to be crucial for RSNs -- baseball fans don’t usually get ultra serious about their teams until after the July All-Star break. If the vMVPDs don’t see a notable loss in subscribers during that period tied to not carrying the RSNs, that could embolden them to drop the channels altogether. 

If that happens, it could influence the next cycle of traditional MVPD carriage deals, where operators could decide to either do without the channels totally or pay a lot less for them. 

“That’s why from an RSN standpoint, you have to be able to say you’re going direct-to-consumer,” sports consultant Lee Berke, CEO  LHB Media & Entertainment, said. “There is a reckoning that’s going to come to pass and it's coming to pass for every network. You're seeing the strategies being laid out with all the streamers, how they’re laying out programming, how they're categorizing it, how they’re pricing it, how they’re producing content, sports, entertainment and news. When it comes to the RSNs in particular, they are going to have to move in the next few years. And they have to start preparing for it now.”  

Berke has been a big proponent of direct-to-consumer offerings for RSNs, but he sees them as a complement to the existing relationship with pay TV distributors, not a replacement. At least not yet.

According to some analysts, pay TV lost about 13 million subscribers in the past two years, ending 2020 at 76.8 million customers, not including vMVPDs, down from 89 million in 2018. It’s expected to get worse in 2021-2022.

“The crunch time is happening for the RSNs sooner rather than later,” Berke said. “It’s imperative that they make these changes and offer themselves up on as many different platforms as possible, which I realize necessitates tough conversations and revamping the agreements, but the time has come.”

One factor that could help offset the cost of standalone streaming RSNs is gambling. On the Sinclair conference call, Ripley mentioned the “gamification” of the app, a polite way to say they are going to eventually make it really easy to gamble on practically anything to do with the game you’re watching. That’s been the elephant in the room ever since the U.S. Supreme Court scrapped the federal law that prohibited states from allowing sports gambling and decided to leave it up to individual states to make sports betting legal. Networks and leagues and casinos have been waiting patiently for the flood gates to open. 

According to the American Gaming Association, about 21 states and Washington D.C., have live, legal sports betting, meaning that single-game sports betting is legally offered to consumers through retail and/or online sportsbooks. Six states are classified as “Legal – Not Yet Operational” meaning they have sports betting, but haven’t launched yet, and 13 states are “Active or Pre-Filed Legislation” meaning that bills to legalize single-game sports betting have been introduced or a voter referendum has been scheduled. The prevailing wisdom is that 30 states will have live, legal sports betting by the end of this year.  

Maybe gambling will soften the blow for sports channels, especially if they get a cut of every wager that is made through the remote, but it is a very slippery slope. Currently federal law prohibits the exchange of gambling funds across state lines. But if that law -- The Wire Act -- was repealed, it could open up whole new avenues of revenue. 

While gambling in many forms has been associated with football and basketball for years, in-game betting to some pundits is where the real opportunity lies. Also called prop betting, it means that wagers can be placed on any number of scenarios that happen during a game, outside of the final score. Baseball, which averages about 170,000 at-bats and 950,000 pitches thrown during the regular season, by some estimates, is seen by some as a huge potential gambling opportunity. But it will still be dwarfed by the amount of money spent by traditional distributors for the networks. 

“Sports betting alone is not going to take the place of affiliate revenue,” Berke said.” It could be very valuable, but your affiliate revenues for most any sports network are still going to be the most valuable stream you have. What you’ve got to do is figure out the way to distribute that network in the midst of people changing how they consume content.”

Sling TV said it has launched the DraftKings Basketball channel, offering subscribers real-time scores and betting odds, with future plans for other channels focused on baseball and hockey. 

The launch is part of an earlier agreement between Sling TV’s parent Dish Network and DraftKings to bring the sports betting giant’s sportsbook and daily fantasy information across the satellite TV giant’s brands. 

"This new channel is just the beginning of how we plan to bring the DraftKings sports betting experience to Sling TV customers," Sling TV president Michael Schwimmer said in a press release. "We will continue expanding and enhancing our offerings to be the ultimate entertainment experience for sports fans."

Also Read: Ergen: ‘We Stumbled’ with Sling TV

Sling TV will also launch DraftKings Baseball and DraftKings Hockey channels in the coming weeks.

"DraftKings continually looks at new ways to reach customers through innovative collaborations with recognizable brands such as Sling TV," DraftKings president of product and technology Paul Liberman said in a press release. "We are thrilled to expand this relationship, which will offer Sling TV customers an entirely new viewership experience through this first-of-its-kind streaming service."

NBC Sports Chicago on Thursday will present a special alternative feed of the NBA game between the Chicago Bulls and the Charlotte Hornets that will feature enhanced sports betting data, analysis and commentary.

The BetCast telecast, sponsored by sports book PointsBet, comes as programmers look for ways to capitalize as legalized gambling is approved on a state-by-state basis.

The Chicago BetCast--appearing on NBC Sports Chicago Plus--will have on screen graphics about point spreads, over/unders, money lines and player propositions. Information from NBC Sports Edge will also be provided to track team and player performance and trends.

NBC Sports Chicago host David Kaplan, former NBA player Kendall Gill and PointsBet senior editor Teddy Greenstein will provide commentary during the game.

The traditional game feed, with announcers Adam Amin and Stacy King, will appear on NBC Sports Chicago.

In February, NBC Sports and PointsBet presented an NBC Sports Edge BetCast covering the PGA Tour’s Waste Management Phoenix Open. NBC Sports Washington has produced predictive-game telecasts covering the NBA Washington Wizards and NBC Sports Philadelphia has been doing BetCast versions of 76ers games this month on a regular basis. 

Last week, ESPN ran an alternative Daily Wager version of an NBA game between the Brooklyn Nets and the 76ers.

Dish Network has notified subscribers that they’re going to lose more regional sports networks on April 1 when its deal to carry the NBC Regional Sports Networks expires.

The timing is odd, coming days after Dish announced a deal with DraftKings, which wants viewers watching sports and betting on the outcomes.

Under poker player and chairman Charlie Ergen, Dish has been folding its relationships with RSNs, which he had deemed offering too low a return for too high a price. 

Dish, and its Sling TV virtual MVPD, dropped the Fox-branded RSNs last year. The Walt Disney Co. acquired those RSNs when it bought 21st Century Fox, but had to sell them to Sinclair to satisfy regulators.

Sinclair last year made a deal with Bally’s and is renaming the RSNs with the Bally’s brand and plans to launch a new app that will let viewers play interactive games and connected them to Bally’s sports book, where they can make bets.

As sports betting becomes legal in more states, most media companies are looking for ways to cash in on gambling money. In most cases the media companies bring the live sports.

That seems to be what DraftKings was counting on in its deal with Dish. 

“Dish TV and the technology behind it immerses customers within a next-generation viewership experience and reaches these fanbases in a completely new way," said Paul Liberman, president of product and technology and co-founder at DraftKings, when the deal was announced. "This is a unique opportunity for fans to watch games and engage with our real-money products while the technology also allows for further innovation ahead." 

Instead, Dish and Sling seem set to live without another group of RSNs. 

This is what Dish emailed its subscribers: “As of 4/1/2021, NBC Regional Sports Networks will no longer be on Sling. We are committed to providing the best value with the flexibility our customers deserve and, unfortunately, we were unable to come to an agreement on those terms.”

A spokesman for NBCU said, “The NBC Regional Sports Networks offered to continue distribution on fair market terms. Dish and Sling declined those terms and will be dropping the networks."

Other NBCU programming remains on Dish and the two companies are in talks over distribution of Peacock, NBCU's streaming service, which also carries some sports.

The NBC RSNs carry teams including the Golden State Warriors, Washington Wizards and Sacramento Kings in basketball; the Washington Capitals and San Jose Sharks in hockey and the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball.

They televise more than 1,500 live professional games and reach about 35 million homes.

That some of those viewers will join the subscribers leaving Dish not just for streaming but for distributors who carry the RSNs seems to be a pretty good bet.

 Sinclair Broadcast Group has always done things its own way. 

It was among the first to scale up and to use hundreds of TV stations to extract cash from the networks and distributors it works with. It has often been a pioneer in technology. It has also known its share of controversy, from the lawsuits that followed a failed bid to buy Tribune Broadcasting to the commentaries on its newscasts that have cast the company as a right-wing partisan. But when Sinclair, one of the biggest station owners in the country, speaks, the industry listens.

Multichannel News talked with Sinclair president and CEO Chris Ripley about some of the industry’s big-picture issues, including retransmission consent, consolidation, regional sports networks, NextGen TV technology and stations getting into the national news business. The interview was edited for space and clarity.

MCN: We had several retransmission disputes at the end of the year, but I don’t think any of your stations are blacked out now.

Chris Ripley: We’re not in any blackouts now.

MCN: Are retransmission fees going to top out, or continue to keep growing as a source of revenue for stations and as a reason for MVPDs [multichannel video programming distributors] to get out of the video business?

CR: Look, nothing lasts forever. But the share shift that’s going on between cable channels is still going to be a trend for many, many years to come. Broadcast still has a very big disparity of its contribution to total viewership versus its share of the [subscriber] fee pie. That’s why you’ve seen such great growth on the retrans side. It’s going to increasingly come at the cost of some of these cable channels. I mean, who watches USA or FX or AMC? You get all of that stuff on the streaming services. When you take a look at what broadcast provides in terms of the quality of programming, it’s the most premium sports that there are; it’s local news, which is still very important. Primetime has suffered, but it is still as good as it gets and syndication still has a loyal following.

MCN: Are you concerned about the supply of quality primetime programming as the big media companies — NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, The Walt Disney Co. and Fox — increase focus on streaming?

CR: It’s not a streaming thing. The increasing supply of entertainment programming really started with the cable channels two decades ago getting into original programming and that’s just continued now into streaming. It’s a big reason why at Sinclair we’ve chosen to focus on news and sports, because we just see this never-ending supply of new entertainment programming hitting the market, making success in that area very remote, especially for a company our size. We’re small compared to the big media companies and tech companies in that space. But we can compete in local news and sports, where we have core strength and we know there is a predicatible audience for that.

MCN: NBCU’s Peacock is an issue, with the network’s primetime shows streaming before they air on local stations. What’s your relationship with NBC over Peacock?

CR: We don’t have a lot of NBC stations, and I can’t remember which of their shows Peacock airs first. They’re annoyances. They’re not really big game-changers. You know the affiliate association and NBC will tussle over those issues and eventually come to some sort of compromise.

ALSO READ: Sinclair, Bally’s Rebrand Regional Sports Networks

MCN: After Sinclair acquired the Fox regional sports networks, the pandemic hit, shutting down sports for most of last year. [In January, Sinclair and its new partner Bally’s announced plans to rebrand the RSNs under the Bally Sports brand.] This spring, you’re looking for a fresh start and launching a new app. What will it do?

CR: Fox Sports Go will be replaced with a much-needed update, a new digital platform that will have editorial content, it will have streaming. The first version will have TV everywhere. It will be branded Bally Sports. And then the following year we will launch direct-to-consumer products on the same platform.

MCN: Will there be gamification [adding game-like interactive elements to programming] and actual gambling?

CR: The first version won’t have embedded sports betting for lots of reasons, primarily regulatory. Gambling has to exist in the Bally’s Bet [app] world, and there will be a lot of cross-connectivity and crosspromotion and deep links, but you have to go to a separate app to do sports betting.

MCN: So gamification alone will add interest and attention to the games you’re broadcasting?

CR: Oh yeah. All of the research points to a dramatic increase in engagement for people who do sports betting. Those who bet on sports are going to watch more sports at some staggeringly high number. If you’re a sports bettor, there’s a 97% probability you’re watching that event. The other great thing about sports betting, and I believe it’s true about gamification, is that it really skews young. So with 18-to-34-year-olds, about 60% are interested in sports betting or already doing it. If it became easy and it was on their phone and it was legal, that’s a huge number. We think that is a reflection of the video-game generation. They like interactivity. They like rewards. It doesn’t have to be monetary, but in this case monetary works really well. But we can have virtual rewards. We can have recognition. We can have status. If you think about  the social gaming marketplace, it’s a massive business where people are playing games for nothing but the recognition or virtual prizes.

MCN: When betting happens, you don’t get a piece of the handle. You got Bally’s stock and you benefit if it goes up, right?

CR: That’s right. They are going to buy a bunch of advertising and we benefit that way. They
pay us a naming rights fee. We benefit that way. The whole name of the game, the whole point
of all this, is engagement, right? If you do not have consumers engaging with your content, then you’ve lost. And that’s important to us.
That’s important to our team partners. The future of these sports relies on engagement and we need to have the younger generation more engaged with the games themselves. And this is the most potent tonic that we have out there to make it happen. It’s not like the younger generation doesn’t like these sports. They just are not as into watching full games as their parents are. We think they need a different experience for them to spend that time with the actual game content itself.

MCN: Are you going to add gamification to your new shows?

CR: We’re looking at that. Gamification is obvious for sports. We invested in this company called GreenPark Sports, which is taking it to a whole new level. It’s really easy to understand gamification related to sports. It’s a little harder as it relates to news. There are some things, quizzes and polls. There are definitely ways to gamify anything if you really put your mind to it. We generated a bunch of those ideas, but sports is first up in the queue. It has a larger opportunity for us, but we’re definitely going to add elements into news.

MCN: Will you add betting to Tennis Channel?

CR: Tennis is the second most-bet-on sport in the world, and really not that much in the U.S. It’s got a huge volume of content. Everyday there’s a tennis match somewhere with a player you probably recognize. And it has nice breaks in the action that allow for sports betting to happen. I think the U.S. will catch onto that. We’re getting good money from the various [gambling] players that want to advertise on tennis for that reason, and our partner Bally’s is working on specific games that will be tennis-centric.

ALSO READ: NextGen TV Hits Seattle, Its Largest Market Yet

MCN: How many of your stations are transmitting using the NextGen TV ATSC 3.0 standard?

CR: About a dozen. But what’s more important is that by the end of 2021, between us and what we know other [broadcasters] have planned, we should probably reach 60% of the U.S. population by the end of the year. Over half the U.S. population will live in an area that has a 3.0 signal commercially available, up and running. It will have Big Four affiliate content on there and you can have the more modern app-based experience you can have connecting television with the internet.

MCN: Was the upgrade expensive?

CR: It’s not too bad. The repack [related to broadcasters’ voluntarily giving up spectrum for the government to sell] ended up paying for a lot of upgrades. At stations with the latest and greatest antennas and plants, all you need to do is change the exciter card, which is not a very big expenditure. But a lot of people are sitting on 20-, 30-, 40-year-old plants, and that gets more expensive to replace. Eventually, you have to buy that stuff anyway. The new transmitters use way less power. They’re solid state. We still use vacuum tubes, believe it or not, in a whole bunch of transmitters. It’s sort of crazy.

MCN: When will ATSC 3.0 generate revenue? What is the low-hanging fruit?

CR: The low-hanging fruit is targeted advertising and sending additional content to the over-the-air populations. About 20% of the population we just way under-monetize, and so this will give us new opportunities to send new content to these people and monetize them better through targeted advertising, which gets a two to three times CPM lift versus nontargeted.

MCN: When will that happen?

CR: It probably starts to pick up steam in 2022, when you’ve got more than half the country covered and you’ve got people with sets that actually receive the data. But NextGen TV for Sinclair has always been about mobility and we’re very focused on getting mobile phones that receive our signals. Mobile phones turn over much quicker than televisions, so you can get up and running much quicker. We received our first prototype phone. You don’t need to plug anything in, no antenna required. It just looks like a normal phone and it receives NextGen TV signals.

Ultimately, we think the car is the ultimate mobile device. The auto manfacturers will want to upgrade their software one day. It’s too expensive for them to do that over 4G or 5G. This would be a great use case for NextGen TV. You can hit a whole bunch of cars with some big files in a very efficient manner and so they’re quite interested in that.

And when you think about self-driving cars, they need entertainment, information and data. So my prediction is that you’ll get some benefits on the core business by getting into mobile phones, but the next-level opportunity is a connected car application. It’s the killer app.

MCN: Does that mean you’re shifting into a data-delivery business?

CR: We’ve always distributed data over the air. Television, that’s just data. We’ll always distribute  some amount of video over the air. But mostly the new opportunities, the new businesses, will have nothing to do with the video business and everything to do with different types of data forms and distributing those to different devices.

MCN: You started the newscast The National Desk last month. You guys made a big deal about it being straight news. Is that a recognition that the commentaries you’ve been running on your stations are not good for business or the brand?

CR: No, it’s got nothing to do with that. We’ve had both conservative and liberal commentary on our stations. That hasn’t hurt our brand or hurt our business. But we get criticized for it. So we make sure we point that out just to avoid the criticism, which is total unwarranted in our opinion. But if we say we’re going to come up with a new news product, a certain set of people just assume that it has a bunch of commentary on it. We have to make sure we point that out, or else [commenters] won’t do the work, won’t watch the show and just write some crazy article. We know who we are and we know how people perceive us. And so we just have to message accordingly.

ALSO READ: Sinclair Set to Launch ‘National Desk' Jan. 18

MCN: Will the TV business continue to consolidate?

CR: It’s a tale of two cities. On one hand, you’ve got the Supreme Court case this summer. Every time the FCC’s tried to deregulate, it’s gotten stuck in the [3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals] spin cycle. The Supreme Court has the chance to break that, so that’s huge. 

On the other hand, a Democratic FCC is coming that’s likely going to have no interest in further deregulation. So the industry will still be encumbered from consolidating. It will be handicapped versus big media and big tech and will continue to be handicapped as it relates to our true competitors, which is unfortunate. It probably means less local news, less services, plus an inferior consumer experience. More consolidation will happen if it can happen and it needs to happen for the viability and the vibrancy and the survival of the industry. Unfortunately, that’s not happening anytime soon, despite the recognition that big tech is a wrecking ball that’s smashing right through the industry.

MCN: So is local TV still a good business?

CR: Yes, 100%. If you’re in the media business, you’re getting disrupted in a myriad of ways. At the end of the day, we have content that matters. We have local news that matters. We have sports that matters. It needs to be transformed and it needs to be on platforms where consumers want to find it. It needs to have new features, like gamification. All of that is easier said than done, no doubt about it. But it’s still a big business and it’s up to us as stewards of the business to transform it into the future. 

Sports-oriented streaming service fuboTV said it acquired Balto Sports as the first part of its strategy to move into the online sports betting market.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Balto helps fans organize and play fantasy games. FuboTV said it plans to use Balto’s automated contest software--and well as its own technology--to create a free-to-play gaming offering. The game will be a gateway to sports wagers.

The Balto staff will be joining FuboTV to help engineer the company plans.

“The acquisition of Balto Sports will enable us to build a first class, free to play experience that brings consumers the best games around live sports,” said fuboTV CEO David Gandler. “From there, we see a natural progression to layer on real money wagering in regulated markets complementing fuboTV’s live streaming video for a highly engaging user experience within our platform. We will be strategic in our approach to wagering as we consider and evaluate different opportunities and will adjust our plans accordingly. We’re excited to launch sports wagering, integrate it into our core offerings and deliver what we believe will be a truly groundbreaking live TV streaming platform to consumers.” 

FuboTV announced its plans to move into betting when it announced third quarter earnings.

“We believe there are significant synergies between consumers who enjoy wagering and our subscribers who enjoy streaming live sports, creating a flywheel opportunity. As we’ve previously expressed, one of our goals with wagering is to expand our total available market (TAM) by developing another important revenue stream for fuboTV, as we are doing with our growing ad sales business,” he said.

Cable networks and operators waiting patiently to cash in on the sports gambling bonanza are going to have to wait a little longer, some current and former TV executives say.

Sports gambling was expected to be a much-needed shot in the arm to the pay TV business when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that individual states could decide to allow wagering on sporting events. But while many states could reap billions of dollars from sports wagering, most have held back for now.

Among media companies so far only Fox, which launched its online Fox Bet service in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in September, has stepped up to the sports wagering plate. Canadian sports-betting company TheScore has said it plans to run wagering sites in New Jersey and other states.

Other networks have dabbled in sports gambling. NBC has its “NBC Sports Predictor,” a free-to-play app, and individual shows have popped up to focus on betting, including ESPN’s Daily Wager and FS1’s Lock It In. Existing fantasy sports companies such as FanDuel and DraftKings say they are ready to pull the trigger once legalized sports gambling spreads to more states.

Slow to Ante Up

So far, though, only six states have active sports betting. Thirteen states have passed legislation that allows gambling on single games and five have authorized sports betting but haven’t yet made it operational, per the American Gaming Association. Some expect the number of states with active sports betting to grow to 12 to 15 by the end of the year, and to 25 states by the end of 2024.

The New Jersey example, though, is promising to gambling watchers. At an NAB Show New York panel on Oct. 15, Bevilacqua Helfant Ventures co-founder Chris Bevilacqua said the sports betting handle for New Jersey — the state that prompted the Supreme Court ruling — was about $450 million last month, usurping Nevada to become the top state in the country for sports gambling.

Bevilacqua said 75% of those bets came from in-game prop transactions on mobile phones. Proposition bets, or prop bets, involve wagering on specific instances rather than the final outcome of a game.

“What’s really going to move the needle is all sorts of in-game betting,” Sports Media Advisors CEO Doug Perlman said at the same conference. “That’s going to cause people to watch more and watch longer, which is going to drive ratings. That’s going to be a huge part of the mix.”

The prospect of networks or distributors getting involved in actual wagering, allowing viewers to place bets through their remotes while watching TV, depends on a lot of factors. One factor is federal law: The Wire Act prohibits the transfer of gambling money across state lines. If the opening happens, though, avenues to additional revenue and engagement open up.

“The perfect sport with the perfect cadence is baseball,” Bevilacqua said. “You’ve got 170,000 at-bats in a year and about 950,000 pitches. You can offer bets on every single one of those in-game occurrences. That’s really designed for the casual fan.”

Horizon Media senior vice president and director of the sports media investment team Adam Schwartz said potential gambling revenue will be a big consideration in upcoming rights deals. “From a network standpoint, we keep talking about how the next rights deals are going to go up through the roof,” he said at NAB Show. “The networks are looking for where that next revenue stream is for them. Betting is going to play into that.”

Schwartz sees Fox as the network likely to jump in head first. “I think you’ll see more programming around it, there will be ancillary programs, within games they’ll be talking about it.”

Ad Bucks Coming First

Bevilacqua said he expects the initial betting windfall to be in the form of more advertising and sponsorships. Sinclair Broadcast Group, which purchased 21 former Fox Sports regional networks in August, forecasted that by 2025 advertisers will spend about $1.5 billion just in sports, mostly locally and regionally.

Regional sports networks in markets that allow sports gambling, Bevilacqua added, would likely benefit most.

MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson wrote in a recent report that gamblers have attractive demographics to media (most are men and younger than 44) and are likely to have a pay TV subscription. In a survey conducted by Altman Vilandrie & Co. for MoffettNathanson, 91% of those who considered themselves to be frequent gamblers had a pay TV subscription, while respondents who considered themselves to be non-gamblers were more likely to be cord-cutters. Gamblers also watched more sports, with 86% of frequent gamblers saying they were regular sports viewers. And sports viewing declines by gambling intensity: Only 40% of non-gamblers are regular sports viewers.

“As gambling becomes more nationally legalized, it could provide a stimulant to pay TV formation as gamblers move from occasional to the frequent categories,” Nathanson wrote. “So far, if we were building a prototype pay TV subscriber with a high customer lifetime value, we would look for an older, rich male who follows multiple sports and is a frequent gambler.”

Major League Baseball has jumped into the gaming arena, partnering with MGM Resorts International on a multi-year agreement.

The deal calls for MGM Resorts to utilize baseball’s official statistics feed throughout its sports betting operations, as well as feature enhanced baseball statistics on an exclusive basis. The two companies will work together on “comprehensive responsible gaming measures” in an effort to protect the integrity of the game both on and off the field, according to officials from both companies. 

“We have proceeded in exploring this opportunity cautiously and thoughtfully – always with an eye on preserving the integrity of our sport,” said MLB commissioner Robert Manfred said during a Tuesday press conference announcing the deal. “We concluded that MGM was the perfect partner for us.”

The deal comes as a result of a May Supreme Court decision allowing state-sponsored sports betting on professional sports. Since the ruling, New Jersey, Mississippi, New Mexico, West Virginia, Delaware, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania have opened up sports betting operations, according to ESPN. 

With the deal, Major League Baseball joins the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League in partnering with MGM.

Manfred said during the press conference that research has shown that sports betting on baseball games could be an important source of fan engagement. “We operate in a very competitive environment and we have to take advantage of every opportunity to drive engagement by our fans,” he said. “There’s been a huge change in public opinion within the legal framework surrounding sports gaming that has presented an opportunity for all sports, and baseball in particular.”

MGM will serve as an official sponsor of MLB and have a branding presence in baseball’s biggest events, including the World Series and All-Star game. The MGM brand will also be prevalent across MLB’s digital and broadcast platforms, including MLB Network, MLB.com and the MLB At Bat app.

Media networks, starved for new sources of advertising revenue, may find a wellspring of opportunity in the form of sports gambling ads, according to Morgan Stanley media analyst Ben Swinburne.

TV networks such as ESPN, Fox, CBS and NBC are expected to be the biggest beneficiaries, Swinburne wrote in a recent deep dive into sports betting. Fox, especially after it sells certain assets to either The Walt Disney Co. or Comcast and concentrates on live sports and news, could see healthy ad revenue gains, as could CBS, he added.

According to Swinburne’s estimates, the post-deal “New” Fox might generate a 2.1% lift in ad revenue accountable to sports betting this year, with CBS experiencing a 1.5% gain. In a more bullish scenario — where overall sports betting revenue rises more aggressively — Fox’s increase grows to 4.1%, with CBS adding 3.1%.

Swinburne conservatively estimated that legal U.S. sports betting revenue will reach $5 billion by 2025 — or $10 billion in a “bull” case scenario. About 20% of that haul will be devoted to TV advertising spent to lure gamblers.

Seeing the Light on Gambling Ads

Sports betting in the United States has resided mainly in the shadows, but it moved into the light earlier this year when the Supreme Court invalidated the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. PASPA prevented states from allowing legal sports betting outside of horse racing and lotteries, but now each state has the right to pass its own laws legitimizing the practice.

Some leagues, such as the National Football League, have frowned upon legalizing betting for their respective sports, but some states such as New Jersey have already given the green light. Others are sure to follow: Swinburne estimated that 31 states will legalize sports betting by 2023.

Swinburne’s base case estimates predict that paid media will attract about $1 billion in sports betting advertising in 2025 — his bull case puts that figure at about $1.5 billion. Of those totals, TV sports betting advertising is expected to account for about 75%.

Related: Sports Sites Encouraged By Betting Ruling

Other analysts were less optimistic. Pivotal Research Group advertising analyst Brian Wieser said new ad categories are likely to emerge in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, but he was uncertain of the overall impact.

“It is hard to tell if growth from those categories offsets softness from more mature brands who are either looking to reduce spending broadly or are shifting away from paid media for their marketing activities,” Wieser wrote in a note to clients.

There is ample evidence that TV will be a big beneficiary of sports gambling. In 2015, fantasy sports companies FanDuel and DraftKings spent huge amounts of money to advertise their services, which some considered to be loosely disguised gambling. Both companies pulled their campaigns after several state attorneys general threatened to bring action against them.

Almost immediately after the Supreme Court ruling, DraftKings said it would offer sports betting, and with such legalized gambling expected to become the rule in most states, others are expected to follow suit, and turn to advertising to differentiate themselves.

According to Kantar, FanDuel and DraftKings spent a combined $400 million on ads in 2015, with about 80% of that figure devoted to TV spots. For the second half of that year, FanDuel and DraftKings represented 2% of total domestic TV ad revenue for the networks that carried sports — ESPN, TBS/TNT, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — and was largely responsible for the acceleration in TV ad revenue for that year.

Direct sports betting advertising won’t be the only windfall for networks — it could also bring a ratings lift.

Swinburne cited Nielsen data that found adults who bet on the NFL watched 19 more games in the 2015 regular season than adults who didn’t bet at all. And casinos and online betting sites could partner with media companies to improve their competitive positioning. Swinburne pointed to Sky Betting & Gaming, a British online gaming company that improved it share of the U.K. market from 6% to 12% after partnering with Sky TV.

Separately, National Research Group said earlier this year that 79% of current and potential gamblers said they would watch more live TV sports, with 63% saying they would watch a greater variety of sports and 60% saying they would watch sports they didn’t watch before.

The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to allow states to offer sports gambling services has been anticipated for months, and betting-focused channels like TVG, TVG2 and WinView are ready to pounce on the opportunity. 

TVG and TVG2 (formerly HRTV) focus on horse racing and allow viewers to place bets online, with TVG available in about 45 million homes. Adding other sports like football or basketball to the mix wouldn’t seem to be that difficult.

“It’s a great day for all stakeholders in the sports industry,” said Perform Group CEO Ross MacEacharn in a statement. “This decision gives fans new ways to engage with and enjoy their favorite sports. For betting operators and rightsholders, it presents a unique opportunity to build an efficient, properly regulated betting market from the ground up and design a model for what 21st century betting should be. We look forward to working closely with our rightsholder partners, legislators, regulators and clients to shape the reality of a safe, engaging sports betting environment.”

TVG and HRTV owner Paddy Power Betfair has been trying to crack the U.S. sports market since purchasing the channels’ parent Betfair in 2015. Originally founded in Dublin, Ireland, in 1988 as a string of betting parlors, Paddy Power last year purchased Draft, a fantasy sports app that operates in 35 states.

Also last year, Paddy Power launched Betfair Exchange, an online horse wagering service for tracks in New Jersey, and has similar services in Europe and Australia, where it offers gambling on soccer and rugby matches. Translating that expertise to online and TV betting on football and basketball in the U.S. shouldn’t be that difficult.

Paddy Power Betfair U.S. CEO Kip Levin told Bloomberg last month that not only could TVG handle additional sports betting tasks, the company had plans to build a new studio in its Los Angeles headquarters for a new channel devoted to wagering on football, basketball, baseball, hockey and soccer.

“We’re ready to go,” Levin told Bloomberg. 

Investors drove Paddy Power shares up more than 12% on the London Stock Exchange on Monday. 

But Paddy Power won’t be alone. Other sports fantasy sites and other betting related businesses are expected to crowd the field. Earlier today, fantasy sports site Draft Kings, which had to pull ads on ESPN two years ago after legislators in New York objected, said it would move into the sports betting arena.

"Our mission has always been to bring fans closer to the sports they love and now, thanks to the wisdom of the Supreme Court, DraftKings will be able to harness our proven technology to provide our customers with innovative online sports betting products," said DraftKings CEO and co-founder Jason Robins in a statement. "This ruling gives us the ability to further diversify our product offerings and build on our unique capacity to drive fan engagement."

And ESPN said in a statement that while it is too early to tell what impact the ruling will have on its networks “we are actively monitoring it.”

DraftLings said it has been readying a mobile sports betting platform since 2017 in anticipation of a favorable court ruling. The company said it is working with state regulatory agencies to apply for operating licenses in those states that already allow sports betting.

At WinView, CEO Tom Rogers said his company’s patents for mobile and digital games of skill that users play while watching live sports on TV also could translate into gambling applications.

“These patents govern the synchronization of mobile devices with live television sports among many other elements,” Rogers said in a statement. “These same patents cover gambling and games of chance and we look forward to playing a leading role with mobile technology and other applications as states decide how to implement their individual sports gambling laws as a result of this Supreme Court decision.”