This article takes a deep dive on the woes of the Sinclair RSNs:
https://www.nexttv.com/blogs/sinclair-rs...everything

Some highlights:

Quote:"A lot of reasons have been given for the need for a restructuring [of the RSNs' $8 billion in debt]. The pandemic, which has decimated sports teams and networks as seasons were shortened or canceled; the pressure to issue rebates to distributors for undelivered games; and the decline in overall linear programming viewership have all contributed to RSN declines. And while those reasons are certainly valid, one very important factor in the Sinclair RSN’s current dilemma is missing: timing."

"The problem: while sports was and is still considered one of the few things that TV viewers watch live, the cost of the channels was getting out of hand. At the same time, distributors were pushing back against sports channel affiliate fee increases, claiming that not enough subscribers watched the channels to justify the cost. Cord cutting made the idea of carrying expensive programming even less attractive."

"According to a report in the Wall Street Journal Wednesday, creditors of the unit that holds the RSNs -- Diamond Sports Group -- are preparing to possibly restructure about $8 billion in debt. Sinclair, which set up Diamond Sports to bear most of the debt load of the Fox Sports acquisition -- the broadcaster is only on the hook for about $170 million of that obligation -- had earlier tried to restructure the debt through an exchange offer. Bondholders, who would have had to take a substantial haircut in that exchange, took a pass."

"[The decline in subscribers to traditional pay TV] has some pundits wondering if the deterioration of the traditional model where linear networks pay fees to sports networks based on their total number of subscribers, is on the way out.

But there is a danger in switching to a direct-to-consumer model, mainly that sports networks will have to rely on revenue from customers that want to watch them, not everyone with a pay TV subscription. That could be a big difference -- currently there are about 80 million TV homes, and some analysts estimate that only about 30% of those customers watch sports. That could mean that a D2C regional sports offering would have to charge about three times more per month just to make as much money as it was receiving under the old model. As a result, many in the industry are hoping for some kind of hybrid model."

What would a hybrid look like? Possibly having the RSNs split games between one channel that is included in a package paid for by all subscribers to a multichannel service and one that requires an extra charge.