New Channel 32? Established stations 11, 5, BSM? Sports TV intrigue continues: Media Views (2024)

It was a day of fond reminiscing, the fifth anniversary of the Blues’ only Stanley Cup championship in their more than 5½ decades in the National Hockey League. As in previous anniversaries, Game 7 of the Cup Final reaired on St. Louis television.

But on this showing, which was Wednesday, that game appeared on MyNetworkTV, Channel 32 over the air, rather than on Blues longtime local television partner Bally Sport Midwest. Channel 32 is owned by Gray Media, as is longstanding St. Louis CBS affiliate KMOV (Channel 4). Then on Saturday, the Blues’ victory parade is scheduled to be streamed on the app of KSDK (Channel 5) at 6 p.m. — five years to the day the raucous celebration unfurled downtown.

Is that a harbinger of where their games, at least a good chunk of them, eventually could end up?

BSM parent company Diamond Sports Group has been mired in a bankruptcy case for more than a year that involves MLB and NBA teams as well as the NHL. The next hearing is scheduled for July 29 — only about 2½ months before the hockey season starts. The Blues as well as the Cardinals remain under contract for BSM to continue showing their local package for years to come, but that could be impacted by developments in bankruptcy court.

Bally seems intent on honoring its Cardinals deal through the rest of the season, so any potential change for them likely would not take place until next spring. But the hockey team could be more immediately impacted, and Blues CEO Chris Zimmerman said the club is closely following the situation.

“With us, the Cardinals and nine other NHL teams, the answer is an ongoing monitoring of Diamond Sports’ work with the bankruptcy court,” he told Matthew DeFranks, the Post-Dispatch’s beat writer covering the team. “... One of the greatest challenges throughout this process is uncertainty about what’s next and the timelines.”

Channel 32, which showed the Blues anniversary coverage, has been available over the air (on “free TV”) only since last week and also is carried by Spectrum (Charter) cable’s Channel 186. It shows reruns of shows such as “Law & Order,” “Chicago Fire” and “Dateline,” and previously had been on the digital 4.2 channel, which now is devoted to weather coverage.

Zimmerman said the club is working “to keep building and evaluating new broadcast partners,” and added that Gray and KSDK “have been important partners in different programs.

“Quite honestly, we’ve done some interesting things with KSDK, particularly during the Cup year when NBC was still the national broadcaster. I would tell you that both of those entities have been important partners in different programs.”

One local television executive told the Post-Dispatch this week that the Blues “have snuggled up” to the Gray operation, which runs a weekly in-season program devoted to the team on KMOV and Zimmerman called “an important ongoing partner.”

JD Sosnoff, general manager of Gray’s local endeavors, said he can’t speak about pursuing the Blues now because they remain under contract with Diamond. But when asked if Channel 32 would be interested the next time the Blues’ and Cardinals’ TV rights are in play, he firmly said, “Yes sir.

“Any time a St. Louis major league sports organization is available, we’d have an interest in it if the opportunity was there. But it’s not now.”

If the bankruptcy court that is presiding over the Bally/Diamond case makes Blues rights available this summer, that would leave little turnaround time for any new TV partner before the hockey season opens.

“It would be a heavy lift,” Sosnoff said. “That’s a lot to put together in a very short amount of time. But we’d do everything we could within reason.”

Viewership reach

If Gray ever would get a local team’s TV rights in the current TV environment, Sosnoff said the vast majority — if not all — the games would be on Channel 32. That’s because the legacy station, KMOV, has CBS network obligations that rarely can be preempted. It’s a similar situation that most, but not all, of the other major St. Louis network affiliates face. Although they do have ancillary channels, there is a varying degree of transmission strength and video quality as well as ability to bump shows.

Sosnoff said the MyTV pre-emption restrictions aren’t rigid.

“We have positioned ourselves as a great option if this ever becomes available,” he said.

Sosnoff added that Channel 32 is available over the air throughout the region, anywhere that receives the KMOV signal, and people watching TV through an antenna might need to re-scan their device to access the new outlet. It is transmitted from the same tower as KMOV, and the move to Channel 32 from 4.2 might be more in status enhancement than in impact because 4.2 recently converted to high definition and also is widely available.

However, a big drawback with Channel 32 is that the only cable/satellite/streaming service that the station currently has a deal with is Spectrum (Charter), thus making it foreign to non-Spectrum customers who are outside the station’s over-the-air reach. But while the station is available throughout the region, the reality is that not many people likely are watching it — viewership-tracking company Nielsen says only about 15% of U.S. households receive over-the-air TV via antennas. So greater ancillary distribution would seem necessary.

“I would love to make that a reality,” Sosnoff said of adding more ways to obtain Channel 32. “We’re just starting, we’ve only been on since last week and haven’t even promoted it yet. It’s too early to say.”

When local pro sports broadcast rights eventually become available, whether that be through bankruptcy or expiring contracts, there figures to be spirited competition for them.

“I think the future is likely going to be a model that could have multiple forms of distribution that would look different than just one carrier,” Zimmerman said.

That could entail utilizing existing over-the-air outlets, streaming, cable and/or a mix of any of those entities. As an alternative, the Blues and Cardinals could form their own networks — or create one that has both.

“Regardless of what happens, I think access to Cardinals games will get easier,” Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III recently told Post-Dispatch business reporter Annika Merrilees. “It won’t just be on two or three bundled cable products. I think you’ll have an expanded array of options for getting our games in the future. I just don’t know exactly what those options will be. But I think from a fan’s standpoint, they’re going to be better off.”

KSDK general manager Alicia Elsner said the station “remains interested in the possibilities to partner with the St. Louis Blues and the St. Louis Cardinals.” Because of Channel 5’s NBC affiliation, that likely would have to be on an ancillary channel.

But KDNL (Channel 30) and its offshoots wouldn’t be in play, at least in the short term.

“I’d love to have them,” station general manager Tom Tipton said but added those outlets already have a bevy of programming that can’t be significantly bumped.

Back to Channel 11?

What about KPLR?

Channel 11 broadcast the Cardinals and Blues for many years but hasn’t done so in more than a decade and a half since both clubs embraced cable-exclusive plans, a model that now is obsolete. A big plus for KPLR in addition to its rich local sports legacy is that it wouldn’t need to utilize a secondary outlet if they’d return.

Kurt Krueger is general manager of that station, the local CW Network affiliate, as well as Fox network-aligned KTVI — both of which are owned by Nexstar Media Group. He said because Nexstar is the majority owner of CW Network, it would be easy to pre-empt its programming to clear the way for local sports teams.

“I’d love to do over-the-air for the viewers,” Krueger said. “Nexstar has shown an appetite for sports.”

CW recently has added LIV golf, ACC football and basketball. NASCAR’s Xfinity Series arrives in 2025.

Standing pat?

All this very well could be getting well ahead of the situation because the Blues and Cardinals remain under contract with Diamond/Bally pending bankruptcy rulings.

“They’ve been a good partner,” Zimmerman said. “We’ve grown with them. We deliver consistent ratings with them. We’ve got a strong audience. Quite honestly, we have a number of years of term left on our agreement. That’s the one side of, ‘Well, they’re working to restructure their debt. Will they be able to do that?’ If they are able to do that, then there’s a going concern that they could continue to carry our games.

“There is a need, a clear need, to be developing new local broadcast distribution plans. We’re evaluating options and partners and business models in the event that Diamond isn’t able to continue and particularly in the event that they wouldn’t carry our games next year.”

FanDuel Sports Midwest?

If Diamond survives in bankruptcy court, fans in the region eventually could be watching games on FanDuel Sports Midwest.

Diamond said in bankruptcy court last week that it has “reached an agreement in principle with a third party on rebranding” its regional sports networks. While the name of that entity was not revealed, the Bloomberg news service reported that the deal is with sports betting behemoth FanDuel. Bally’s naming-rights deal with Diamond expires at the end of the baseball season.

Diamond previously struck an agreement with Amazon for an infusion of cash in exchange for streaming rights to some of its inventory and a minority stake in the company.