(Bloomberg) — Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. reached a multiyear deal with Charter Communications Inc., providing relief to a company that has struggled to get TV providers to carry its local sports channels.
The deal includes carrying Sinclair’s local broadcast stations and regional sports networks, as well as the YES Network, Sinclair said Thursday in a statement. The previous contract expired at the end of February and the two sides had agreed to a one-month extension. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
“Charter is a valued partner, and we look forward to continuing to provide our sports, news, and entertainment content to Charter’s subscribers,” said Will Bell, head of distribution and network relations for Sinclair.
Getting dropped by Charter, which sells TV, phone and internet service under the name Spectrum, would have been a major blow to Sinclair. The broadcaster had over $1 billion in distribution revenue at stake on renewing the contract, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Charter, the second-largest U.S. cable-TV provider, has about 16 million video customers.
In the coming weeks, Sinclair plans to unveil a new streaming service by June that will let fans watch professional baseball, basketball and hockey teams in their local market without paying for cable.
Analysts said Sinclair’s streaming plans could jeopardize the talks with Charter. Cable-TV providers typically don’t like when the same programming they are paying to carry is also available online.
Three years ago, Sinclair paid $9.6 billion for the regional sports channels. Since then, TV providers such as Dish Network Corp., YouTube TV and Hulu have dropped those channels from their lineups. At the same time, the overall number of cable TV customers has continued to decline, depriving Sinclair of lucrative subscriber revenue.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
