In 2019, when Fox and Disney merged, the Fox Sports regional sports networks were put up for sale.
Sinclair Broadcasting outbid Major League Baseball for the then-19 Fox Sports Net channels, paying $10.6 billion. What could possibly have gone wrong?
Everything, as you surely know. Sinclair created a subsidiary called Diamond Sports to run these channels, and given the pandemic, the move away from cable/satellite to streaming, and other factors, these channels started hemorrhaging money almost right away.
Diamond filed for bankruptcy earlier this year and two MLB teams (Diamondbacks, Padres) moved away from the RSN model and their broadcasts were taken over by MLB, with both streaming and cable/satellite options.