The only Stars games that will air on linear television within the team’s local broadcast territory -- at least for the time being -- are those carried by the NHL’s national media partners, ESPN and TNT SportsGlenn James/NHLI via Getty Images
The Stars are taking a novel approach to distribution of their local broadcast rights, partnering with a technology company to launch a free ad-supported streaming service called Victory+ Sports Network that will be the primary home of all their in-market telecasts.
Victory+ is jointly owned by the Stars and A Parent Media Co. (APMC), an over-the-top streaming and ad technology company behind children’s content platform Kidoodle.TV and sports influencer group Dude Perfect’s streaming channel. The two parties signed a seven-year agreement. Specific financial terms were not disclosed.
The move to a digital solution coincides with the mutual decision by the Stars and Diamond Sports Group amid the latter’s bankruptcy proceedings to terminate their local rights deal that saw the team’s games carried by Bally Sports Southwest. The Stars still had one year remaining on their deal with Diamond, which paid the team an undisclosed annual rights fee, but Stars President & CEO Brad Alberts said the team was eager to move on given the uncertainty surrounding the RSN’s future.
“We feel like direct-to-consumer is the future for local sports, certainly, and we’re ripping the band-aid off and going there,” Alberts said. "Many are still saying, ‘We’ll take the [RSN] money as long as it’s there and stay consistent with what we’ve been doing for the last 20 years.’ But we made the decision and finally said, ‘You know what? Enough's enough. Let's get out of this. Let's control our own destiny and not be tied to this thing anymore.’”
The only Stars games that will air on linear television within the team’s local broadcast territory -- at least for the time being -- are those carried by the NHL’s national media partners, ESPN and TNT Sports. Alberts said that the team is weighing the possibility of bringing “a small package” of local games to a linear network in the region, but nothing is imminent on that front.
“Right now, we're intending to go direct to consumer for all the games,” Alberts said.
Stars fans in the Dallas region won’t have to pay to stream games via Victory+, which will be entirely ad-supported and available on a wide range of connected devices. Viewers will have to sign in with either an email address or via their Google or Facebook account. Alberts expects fans to embrace the move given the lack of a subscription fee, and the Stars are prepared to launch a “robust” campaign to educate fans about the change and how to access Victory+.
Alberts said APMC helped “de-risk” the deal by offering the Stars a minimum revenue guarantee. He also said the Stars informed a few key stakeholders about the team’s move to local streaming prior to today’s announcement and it was well received, but how most sponsors will react to the change in distribution remains to be seen.
Several major sports teams -- including the
Golden Knights,
Coyotes/Utah Hockey Club and
Panthers in the NHL -- have left their longtime regional sports networks in recent years. Those organizations each stayed on linear TV, switching to over-the-air broadcast networks and launching paid streaming services. The Stars are believed to be the first to go primarily to a digital platform. Alberts noted that neither E.W. Scripps nor Grey Television, the two station groups that have been most active in bringing local sports rights to over-the-air stations, are currently operating in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market, giving the team fewer options.
APMC President & CEO Neil Gruninger said he expects to add additional sports properties to Victory+, as he is having conversations with several teams in the NHL and beyond.
“The Stars are like the anchor tenant as we’re growing this opportunity,” Gruninger said. “We're having a lot of sports organizations and other teams reach out to us to be a part of this proposition of going direct-to-consumer free.”
Gruninger said APMC’s Safe Exchange ad technology makes the company uniquely qualified to lead the move to an ad-supported model for local sports broadcasting. In addition to the direct sale of advertising, Safe Exchange allows programmers to sell ads programmatically, or via an automated process.
“The missing ingredient right now is this inability to ensure that there's revenue on the other side,” Gruninger said. “With our ad technology, we put ourselves in a position to always have the ability to generate revenue programmatically. Tapping into the open market from an advertising perspective allows us to place ads appropriately.”
Alberts and Gruninger each expressed confidence in Victory+’s ability to provide high-quality streams without service interruptions. Jason Walsh, who produced Stars games for Bally Sports Southwest, will lead production efforts for APMC and the Stars.
Meanwhile, Bally Sports Southwest continues to carry the Texas Rangers and Dallas Mavericks’ local game telecasts. The Rangers’ deal with Diamond
appeared to be in jeopardy ahead of the 2024 season, but the two sides
reached an agreement to continue their relationship in February.
