Sinclair’s direct-to-consumer streaming service, Bally Sports+, soft-launched to five regions earlier this summer. Today, the company announced that the streamer would officially roll out on September 26 across all 19 Bally Sports regional sports network brands (RSNs). This completes Sinclair’s three-year-long venture into establishing its own over-the-top service.
Bally Sports+ will launch across RSNs: Bally Sports Arizona, Bally Sports Great Lakes, Bally Sports Indiana, Bally Sports New Orleans, Bally Sports Ohio, Bally Sports Oklahoma, Bally Sports San Diego, Bally Sports SoCal, Bally Sports Midwest, Bally Sports North, Bally Sports South, Bally Sports Southeast, Bally Sports Southwest, and Bally Sports West.
The upcoming September rollout follows the June initial launch in Bally Sports Detroit, Bally Sports Kansas City, Bally Sports Florida, Bally Sports Sun, and Bally Sports Wisconsin.
With the new service, sports fans can get access to RSNs at $19.99 a month or $189.99 for a year. These are the same RSNs that were previously only available on DirecTV Stream for $89.99. Sinclair’s deal will with the linear TV service will end in 2023.
So, Bally Sports+ subscribers are given access to professional baseball, basketball and hockey teams in their local market without paying the hefty price for cable. Sinclair is also offering subscribers a seven-day free trial.
Chris Ripley, chief executive officer, Sinclair Broadcast Group, said in a statement, “Today is a significant step for the RSN industry as we offer local sports fans across our Bally Sports footprint a new way to watch their hometown teams.”
The company also noted that additional pricing options will be released on September 26 but didn’t offer any explanation of what that would be.
Bally Sports+ is available via iOS or Android devices, Android TV, TvOS and BallySports.com. The service has yet to be available on Roku and Amazon Fire TV, two of the most popular streaming devices.
