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If you have a Peacock subscription, you may soon find that you have access to local sports broadcasts on the video streaming service.
Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) have long been the proverbial thorn in the side of sports fans who want to cut the cord from their cable subscriptions.
These channels show live games for in-market viewers of professional baseball, basketball and hockey teams. And most live TV streaming services only have a limited selection of them thanks to complicated contract disputes with companies like Bally Sports.
That leaves many streamers either doing without televised games of their local teams, paying for expensive add-on services to see games or simply going back to their cable company for a subscription that includes them.
Peacock, which is owned by NBCUniversal, appears to be on the path to ending this problem for a segment of streaming sports fans.
In this article, we’ll look at what is being reported on the potential fix and what it could mean for your wallet in 2023.
During an appearance at a Sports Business Journal conference in December 2022, Mark Lazarus, the chairman of television and streaming for NBCUniversal, announced that the company was actively working to bring live RSN broadcasts to Peacock.
According to a report from Bloomberg, that could happen for some customers as soon as the end of 2022.
However, a follow-up with NBCUniversal representatives conducted by The Streamable indicates that a rollout of RSN content on Peacock would more likely occur in 2023.
The timeline isn’t the only undetermined piece of this news.
We also don’t yet know which of the NBCUniversal-owned RSNs will be available to stream, which customers will be able to stream them and if there will be an additional cost beyond one of Peacock’s regular subscription tiers.
The Bloomberg report indicates that there are ongoing negotiations and discussions between NBCUniversal and its existing partners to ensure that streaming these networks on Peacock is tenable and contractually viable for the teams, leagues, channels and advertisers impacted.
We’ll simply have to wait to see what the outcome of these discussions does to impact the availability of individual RSNs on Peacock. And since each of them has unique agreements with teams and leagues in place, it’s possible that the rollout of RSNs on the platform is staggered.
So, while we don’t know “who” or “what” may impact when it comes to the availability of teams and channels, we do have a list of potential networks and teams that you could see on Peacock in 2023.
| Regional Sports Network | Pro Sports Teams Available on This Channel |
| NBC Sports Bay Area | San Francisco Giants, Golden State Warriors |
| NBC Sports Boston | Boston Celtics |
| NBC Sports California | Oakland A’s, Sacramento Kings, San Jose Sharks |
| NBC Sports Chicago | Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bulls, Chicago Blackhawks |
| NBC Sports Philadelphia | Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia 76ers, Philadelphia Flyers |
| SportsNet New York (SNY) | New York Mets |
If your favorite team doesn’t appear on this list, that likely means it is broadcast on a RSN owned by a different entity. Many teams, like the Atlanta Braves and Hawks, are now eligible for standalone streaming subscriptions with Bally Sports+.
While this only impacts a limited amount of local sports markets, it’s still a significant move in the direction of affordable RSN streaming.
Peacock also recently announced that it will be adding local channel access for Premium Plus-level subscribers. That will allow streamers to enjoy live local news and more without paying for a live TV streaming service.
So if you add live local sports to the already robust library of movies and TV shows on demand, Peacock is making a compelling case for the value of paying for a premium subscription.
The streaming TV landscape is still relatively new and far from perfect, but it’s moving closer to a “true and full” cable replacement as decisions like this are made.
Will you add a Peacock subscription if your local RSN is added in 2023? We’d love to know what you’re thinking about this in the Clark.com community.
This post was last modified on December 7, 2022 2:23 pm
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