The imminent demise of AT&T SportsNet in Denver, Houston, and Pittsburgh has left many Major League Baseball fans wondering where the games for their favorite teams will be televised as Opening Day approaches. 93.7 The Fan host Andrew Fillipponi said he has no answers to those questions.
Warner Bros. Discovery — parent company of AT&T SportsNet — is exiting the regional sports network, giving the Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros, and Pittsburgh Pirates until March 31st to negotiate a deal to reclaim their local television rights. MLB’s Opening Day is scheduled for March 30th, and as it approaches, Fillipponi admitted he doesn’t see an ideal landing spot for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“There are no clear answers. It doesn’t sound like anything’s definitive,” Fillipponi said. “People are freaking out. ‘What if I don’t have cable? Is every cable channel gonna pick it up? Do I need to buy something extra for the remainder of the Penguins season? For the home stretch? For the first round of the playoffs? Do I need to go into my pocket and pay more? Where are these games gonna be?’
“There’s a lot of putting out fires here,” said Fillipponi, as he made mention of a recent interview Pirates owner Bob Nutting gave to The Athletic, assuring fans their games would still be televised. “‘Hey, don’t worry. The games will be on. We don’t know yet where they’re gonna be. We’ll tell you soon, but we can’t tell you right now. I wish I had answers! People are coming up to me — I was at a bar Saturday — I’m just making up stuff. ‘Where are the rest of the Penguins games gonna be? The Spice Channel! Where are the Pirates games gonna be? AppleTV, I don’t know!” I have no clue how that’s gonna work.”
The PM Team host then joked that Netflix could be an option for the dispatched franchises.
“This is my public service announcement: I don’t have answers for you. I know where the games can be heard…I guess this is good for us. Our relationship with the Pirates hasn’t changed. Where the games will be in a month? I have zero clue. Maybe they’ll be on Netflix. Netflix wants to get into sports. Maybe Netflix’ll pick up the Penguins and Pirates. Everyone’s got a Netflix account, or they pirate it or steal it or borrow it from somebody else.”
