AT&T Considers Selling Regional Sports Networks to Slash Debt

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ale-of-regional-sports-networks-to-slash-debt

THe question of who the candidates are is uncertain at this time

AT&T Inc. is weighing a sale of its regional sports networks as part of a plan to cut as much as $8 billion in debt by the end of the year, according to people familiar with the matter.

The four regional networks, which includes rights to teams such as the hockey’s Pittsburgh Penguins, basketball’s Houston Rockets and baseball’s Seattle Mariners, could fetch close to $1 billion, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the deliberations are private.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., which agreed in May to buy 21 Fox regional sports networks from Walt Disney Co. for $9.6 billion, could be among the potential buyers, the people said. John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. and Ice Cube’s Big3 U.S. basketball league were among the other bidders for the Fox assets.

AT&T hasn’t started a formal process to sell the networks, and there are no guarantees a deal will be announced, the people said. The four networks are AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Utah, Nevada and Colorado), AT&T SportsNet Southwest (parts of Texas and Louisiana) and Root Sports Northwest (Alaska, Washington and Oregon). The four networks have rights to more than two dozen pro teams, college programs and NCAA conferences.

A representative for AT&T declined to comment, while Sinclair didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Sinclair is an odd candidate here given that they are still waiting to get approval to get the former Fox Sports RSN's.

 

[umfan]

I doubt they are a serious candidate, but the writer was compelled to at least explore who might be a buyer. AT&T bought a lot of lackluster assets when in acquired Warner. There will be interest in these SportNets, but at a much lower price than AT&T would desire. Disney's experience in selling the Fox RSNs is a preview, and AT&Ts assets in this regard are far less attractive.

 

[FreddyE1977]

That is likely to mean the 6th. or 7th. rebranding of our RSN here in Pittsburgh.

 

[Don CT]

I can see the teams making a push to buy these channels.

 

[CTListener]

I can see the teams making a push to buy these channels.

I doubt the Pirates and/or Penguins have any appetite, or budget, for such a purchase in Pittsburgh. The market doesn't have an NBA team, which also works against a team-ownership scenario. Root Northwest has no NHL, nor does the area of Texas served by SportsNet Southwest. SportsNet Rocky Mountain would seem to require common ownership by teams in three widely separated markets to work, and two of those markets currently have only one major pro sports franchise. (Las Vegas will have two when the Raiders move there, but NFL teams are of minimal value to regional nets, which can only show meaningless preseason games, which are likely to be cut from four to two any year now. And Salt Lake has MLS, but that's irrelevant bottom-line-wise at present.)

If there truly is no one interested but Sinclair, then maybe a team or combination of teams can have a network for a lower-than-expected price, but somehow I think team-owned networks are not in the cards for the four regions in play here.

 

[Mgomrjsurf]

Seattle is getting the NHL in the future.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://nypost.com/2020/02/17/atts-auction-to-sell-four-regional-sports-channels-falls-short/

Here is an update

AT&T’s auction to sell four regional sports networks appears to be faltering — the latest sign that the business of airing local sports is in trouble as Americans continue to cut their ties with cable.

The wireless giant has received multiple bids for its group of four sports channels covering markets around Seattle, Denver, Pittsburgh and Houston — but all of them came in around or below $500 million for the lot, significantly short of expectations estimated to be around $1 billion, sources told The Post.

The key stumbling block: AT&T admitted to bidders that over the next 12 months it expects its regional sports networks, or RSNs, will suffer a drastic plunge in EBITDA — a closely watched metric of profitability on Wall Street.

Updated financials show that EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for 2020 will fall to about $55 million, from $115 million last year.