Launch date, cost for streaming option for Kansas City Royals games has been revealed
When Bally Sports Kansas City inadvertently cut away from last week’s Royals-White Sox game, many fans were upset. Others reiterated their frustration with not being able to watch any Royals games at all.
The latter group is cord-cutters who can’t stream the Royals games on the Bally Sports KC app because they no longer have a cable subscription. At this time, the lone option is DirecTV Stream, which offers a variety of channels including Bally Sports KC. But it costs $89.99 a month.
A new option could be available as soon as next month.
Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns Bally Sports Kansas City, has been planning a direct-to-consumer app (DTC) that will allow fans to watch games without a cable subscription.
Details about the app were shared by Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley in an earnings report.
TheStreamable.com said the app will be called Bally Sports+ and “will cost $189.99 annually or $19.99 per month.”
By comparison, MLB.TV costs $129.99 annually, although single-team subscriptions are available for $109.99. But blackout restrictions won’t allow for Royals fans to watch games in Kansas City as well as a wide radius around the city.
Sinclair owns 19 regional sports networks, including Bally Sports KC, and it will roll out the app in five markets as part of a soft launch.
Bally Sports Kansas City will be part of the soft launch, which will happen before the end of the second quarter, Streamable said. That ends June 30, so Royals fans without cable will have a new option for watching games before the Fourth of July — if all goes as planned.
”With the start of the full Major League Baseball season, our Bally Sports RSNs opened to strong TV audiences with household viewing impressions up versus the same period last year,” Ripley said in a statement, per NationalInterest.com. “This should bode well for the DTC soft launch of five RSNs with MLB teams later this quarter and then a full DTC launch this September. While the DTC pricing will be announced closer to going live, it is anticipated to have an attractive price point as compared to other similar professional sports DTC offerings.”
This story was originally published May 4, 2022 at 10:27 AM.
