Bally Sports will launch its direct-to-consumer app on June 23 starting with 5 markets. The long-anticipated service will cost $19.00 a month and features teams specific to a given region. This means that Bally Sports will not be a nationally available service along the lines of ESPN, ESPN+ or FS1.
Bally Sports, which is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting, is made up of the rebranded Fox Sports-owned regional sports networks that were spun off after Disney bought multiple assets from Fox. The new offering could prove very significant for the company as the Bally Sports linear channel has been dropped from a number of cable providers as well as every major cord-cutter-focused streaming bundle.
At the moment the only markets that will have the option to sign up are places are markets that carry the Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays.
With no other major sports leagues playing regular-season games the service is obviously starting with MLB action, albeit long after the season actually started.
