In the last two years, Sinclair Broadcast Group has acquired a number of regional sports networks (RSN) across the USA that has helped diversify the company’s revenue stream and business risk profile. The many benefits of these new sports network acquisitions include an obvious increase in the company’s profits, the ability to attract new viewers and sports fans from new regions of the country, the augmentation of Sinclair’s subscriber’s list, and let’s not forget the general benefit of these mergers for stakeholders. In addition to these recent acquisitions, Sinclair has created various partnerships that will prove positive for the broadcast group’s many advertisers with the ability to offer the company better buy-in incentives and driving costs for advertisers through the floor in the coming quarters.
Here is a more specific dive into the recent growth of Sinclair Broadcast Group’s regional sports network, innovative plans for the near future, and why Sinclair is your best bet for sports programming across the USA.
Top Level Gains from Sinclair’s Newly Acquired RSNs
Sinclair has recently added 21 regional sports networks to their roster, and these sizable networks have a cumulative value of more than $10.6 billion. Altogether the purchases added to $9.6 billion because many stakeholders retained smaller shares of the companies. These deals have added tremendous value to Sinclair Broadcast Group with monthly revenue spiraling upward, increasing profit margins, and an ability to expand the digital platforms and attract new investors.
These new networks acquired share a subscriber base of almost 74 million, and records indicate that they should see an increase to more than 82 million subscribers before September 2021 generating extra revenue and creating added value for all advertisers utilizing Sinclair Broadcast Group. These networks have generated annual collective revenue of more than $3.8 billion with a possible increase to more than $5 billion over the next calendar year.
There are two ways they plan on using the new RSN’s to increase profits. Sinclair will have the ability to bundle the stations to increase revenue from cable companies and more important, is that they will eventually integrate sports betting into the RSN’s.
Examining the Benefits of Sports Betting
One more specifically exciting trend that Sinclair Broadcast Group hopes to capitalize on with their expanding sports programming from the additional networks in their roster is the sports betting phenomenon that is slowly gaining further legal status across many states in the USA. During the last year, numerous state legislators have created statutes to legalize sports betting. As this trend continues to gain steam and legal-status in more states, Sinclair will have a distinct opportunity to bring these big money-making opportunities to all viewers within their networks. These trends will not only be a huge money-making opportunity for viewers who wish to bet on the sports programming offered, but an even bigger opportunity for advertisers to cash in on what will be a certain uptick is real-time viewership. Sinclair’s innovative team is already creating smart, innovative technology to make sports betting fun, easy, and highly interactive for viewers keeping them tuned-in and excited.
Sinclair’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Chris Ripley, examined and plotted out the company’s sports betting initiatives in Reuters recently saying “If you’re interested in gaming, we’re going to add on extra stats, the ability to do prop bets in the game, pitch by pitch, play by play,” he said. “You can play along and wager while you watch.”
Sinclair Broadcast Group plans to partner with one of America’s already-established professional sportsbook operators to see that this venture sync’s with their programming, quickly and easily offering this added value to all viewers watching on Sinclair RSNs across the country. Sinclair expects ad revenue to increase anywhere from $1.5 billion to $2 billion dollars; specifically coming from sportsbook operators and those companies targeting the sports betting community.
Increase Business Value, Reduce Costs, and Enhance the Viewer Experience
During 2019, the company generated revenue of more than $4.2 billion, and throughout the last nine months, the business tremendously increased monthly revenue. The broadcast group’s new sports networks attribute to about seven percent of the overall revenue increase and Sinclair expects that number to grow to fifteen percent in the very near future.
Sinclair also owns the Tennis Channel, Stadium, and Ring of Honor Wrestling. Fox College Sports was also included in a deal with Disney when the broadcasting company originally acquired Fox Sports Network.
Since February 2020, Sinclair Broadcast Group has implemented various strategies to decrease monthly costs by around 20 percent. The company has been listening intently to its viewers over the past several years and just recently cut a substantial amount of programming that did not interest most subscribers. They have also unveiled new technology that has and will continue to enhance the efficiency of their regional sports networks. Along with these very specific advancements and the exciting things coming from the sports betting arena, Sinclair has an overall long-term strategy has been created to improve company optics, energize the experiences of all viewers, increase the profitability of each channel, and attract new fans who watch (and bet on) a whole array of sports programming Sinclair plans to continue offering and optimizing into the future.
