• by Wayne Friedman , August 29, 2024

Looking to bolster their respective regional sports networks/streaming businesses, which have seen overall weakness across many U.S. operations, the New York market's two biggest companies -- YES Network and MSG Network -- will form a joint venture for a new direct-to-consumer (D2C) business, GAME.

The name -- which stands for "Gotham Advanced Media & Entertainment" -- will be the new streaming home of those companies' streaming apps, MSG+ and YES. 

The YES Network is the linear regional sports TV network for the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets and MSG Networks is the home of the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres.

The launch of GAME will be timed to coincide with the start of the new NBA and NHL seasons.

The new service will give subscribers the option of buying a combined GAME service at $41.99 a month or to buy YES or MSG+ for $24.99 or $29.99 per month, respectively.

Traditional regional sports networks' (RSNs) pay-TV subscribers of those brands will have access to the streaming services for no extra charge.

This comes as another joint venture -- Walt Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox Corp. -- have been attempting to launch a national sports-focused streaming service, Venu Sports, which would give subscribers access to 14 live, linear TV networks.

Venu Sports’ effort has stalled, however, due to a preliminary injunction issued by a U.S. District Court in response to a lawsuit by virtual sports-focused pay TV provider Fubo, which says those companies are engaging in anti-competitive and monopolistic business practices with the new venture.

The Disney-WBD-Fox joint venture is intended to combat cord-cutting of traditional linear TV networks distributed by pay TV providers. Similarly, regional sports networks have been also looking to slow down live, linear TV networks' cord-cutting.  

The biggest RSN group, Diamond Sports Group, filed for bankruptcy in March of this year.