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How to watch the Kings on TV this season

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Bandit said:
Good. f***ers.
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From the article:
The Post story also reports that the RSNs could only sell for around $3 billion, a few short years after Sinclair paid around $10 billion for them.​

A significant loss for Sinclair, not taking into account how they’ve been doing each year. The cord cutting must have had a huge impact to their bottom line.

But that said, who knows what the NHL is gonna charge for local games. We might all be back to listening to Nick and Darryl on the radio.
 
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Axl Rhoadz said:
FWIW, when I used the Bally's app last season, never had an issue -- I was impressed with the quality.
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I've never had an issue with picture quality or buffering; however, wanting to watch the game from the beginning while it is in process was a nightmare. You could only fast forward in 10 second intervals and it felt like 75% of the time it would freeze up while trying to get through intermission or commercials and kick me back out to the main page. When it did that, I would have to start over from the beginning and not from where I left off, meaning I would have to do the 10 second at a time fast forward to try to get back to where I was while also hoping it didn't freeze again. You can imagine how many clicks of the button it would take to try to get back to the second intermission at 10 seconds a click.

The existing app was a companion to actually paying for it via a normal carrier so it wasn't built with bells and whistles. At $19.99 a month, the new app will have to allow for standard DVR type features. This has been coming for awhile because Sinclair almost instantly realized they were f***ed when they bought the Fox Sports RSNs as carriers were not going to cave to RSNs anymore. RSNs would get big carrier fees and the carriers would just increase the cost of basic packages, meaning Grandma Peg who only watches HGTV was subsidizing the RSN costs. With the carriers bleeding subs, it made more business sense to tell Sinclair to take a walk instead of raising prices across the board.

Sinclair always had the option of being on the carriers as an a la carte option which would be great for me since I have not cut the cord (although I feel like I have every damn streaming service too) but it makes more sense for Sinclair to invest in its own app and go straight to the consumer at a higher price so here we are. I feel like talk of Sinclair doing its own streaming service started maybe two years ago.
 
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Be careful wishing for leagues and teams taking over game stream production and distribution. It will become a pure marketing function. Like the blogs and podcasts. The ripple down effects are hard to forecast. But based on the track record, the fan experience will suffer.
 
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BigKing said:
I've never had an issue with picture quality or buffering; however, wanting to watch the game from the beginning while it is in process was a nightmare. You could only fast forward in 10 second intervals and it felt like 75% of the time it would freeze up while trying to get through intermission or commercials and kick me back out to the main page. When it did that, I would have to start over from the beginning and not from where I left off, meaning I would have to do the 10 second at a time fast forward to try to get back to where I was while also hoping it didn't freeze again. You can imagine how many clicks of the button it would take to try to get back to the second intermission at 10 seconds a click.
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Yah, I can't speak for that -- I do feel your pain for that type of situation when using the ESPN app. It's not set up very well for someone who wants to watch the games delayed -- they didn't put a whole lot of thought into that.
 
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Axl Rhoadz said:
Yah, I can't speak for that -- I do feel your pain for that type of situation when using the ESPN app. It's not set up very well for someone who wants to watch the games delayed -- they didn't put a whole lot of thought into that.
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Even then, the ESPN app ran circles around the standard Bally's app in that regard. This Bally + app is going to at least need to be equal in this regard or it will be rough at $19.99 a month. I think the biggest thing with ESPN+ is that they show the score on the tile you have to click on, if I'm remembering correctly.

It's so crazy for me--a guy that used to record every game on VHS and then put all of the fights on to a separate master annual fight tape--to not be able to turn on the TV and easily watch the Kings.
 
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BigKing said:
The existing app was a companion to actually paying for it via a normal carrier so it wasn't built with bells and whistles. At $19.99 a month, the new app will have to allow for standard DVR type features.
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Sorry to break it to you, but they aren't making a new app. They are using the existing one and making the + part another component. Lame.

Q: I don’t see Bally Sports+ in the app store, where is it?
Bally Sports+ is not a standalone app, rather an existing product offering within the Bally Sports app and on BallySports.com. Beginning September 26th, all viewers in Bally Sports regions will be able to subscribe.
 
shuchukfan said:
Sorry to break it to you, but they aren't making a new app. They are using the existing one and making the + part another component. Lame.

Q: I don’t see Bally Sports+ in the app store, where is it?
Bally Sports+ is not a standalone app, rather an existing product offering within the Bally Sports app and on BallySports.com. Beginning September 26th, all viewers in Bally Sports regions will be able to subscribe.
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Oh boy. That would be very Sinclair to just charge people for access to the existing app.

I just looked into some stuff on Reddit. Sounds just like the existing app right down to the very issue I had with it not allowing me to watch the games even though I was logged in with proper credentials.

Makes sense I guess: these idiots took an absolute bath on this deal so it would just be throwing good money at bad to invest in a good app. That would be a long-term play where these guys are probably trying to sell--as rumored--to cut losses and move on. In the meantime, sure: we'll let you access our app for $19.99 a month.

The app is really more of a mobile-friendly app, hence the lack of legit fast forward when using a Fire Stick. When I'd watch full replays, I would cast the app from my phone to my TV instead: I was allowed to fast forward to any point in the game I wanted without issue. From one of the reviews I read, it seems like it is just the same app as before which is really built for mobile and maybe CPUs. I mean, I don't even think the app is currently available for Roku which is easily one of the most popular streaming devices. These guys don't give a shit.
 
The problem with the illegal streams is you just never know when/if they are going to shut down or stop working.

Supposedly all the popular illegal NFL streams took a dump week 1.

Once the contracts are all up there is no reason the Kings and other teams shouldn’t be able to offer direct to consumer for something like $10 a month. You can still sell the advertising and have commercials to bring in extra revenue as well. These teams have to realize the RSN system is on its last legs.

Anyone know how long the Kings contract with Ballys is for?
 
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Bally's app sucks shit. Every time you start a stream they play and ad which wouldn't be a big deal except your feed is always the length of the ad behind and there's no way to fast forward to real time. Every time something happened in the game I read about it here 30 seconds before I saw it.
 
Bandit said:
Bally's app sucks shit. Every time you start a stream they play and ad which wouldn't be a big deal except your feed is always the length of the ad behind and there's no way to fast forward to real time. Every time something happened in the game I read about it here 30 seconds before I saw it.
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Unfortunately the last part is just something that can’t be avoided if you use any kind of streaming service. You are always going to be behind people watching on cable and satellite.
 
Nasti said:
Currently doing the math to see if it’s cheaper to move to an out-of-market location with ESPN+ or pay for Ballys. Good lord.
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They are trying to recoup their $$$ from the purchase, which probably wasn't the best idea in the first place. I think they used it as a foot in the door for the broadcast entertainment space and they underestimated the difficulty.

I just moved up to the PNW this summer and already having the Disney bundle for the kids is going to end up saving me a good chunk of change. I get that the Kings will never be the Rangers and have their own network, but you would think that between them, the Lakers, Dodgers, Angels,, Rams, etc they could all collaborate and come up with a pretty killer product for So. Cal. sports fans. Not only that, transplants are literally everywhere, something like one out of every 7 or 8 people. Sounds like a great moneymaker if done right.
 
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Herby said:
Unfortunately the last part is just something that can’t be avoided if you use any kind of streaming service. You are always going to be behind people watching on cable and satellite.
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A few seconds is to be expected sure, but the difference between the delay on Bally's vs ESPN+ is huge.
 
Herby said:
The problem with the illegal streams is you just never know when/if they are going to shut down or stop working.

Supposedly all the popular illegal NFL streams took a dump week 1.

Once the contracts are all up there is no reason the Kings and other teams shouldn’t be able to offer direct to consumer for something like $10 a month. You can still sell the advertising and have commercials to bring in extra revenue as well. These teams have to realize the RSN system is on its last legs.

Anyone know how long the Kings contract with Ballys is for?
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No they didn't
 
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