Dan Gilbert’s REG, Gray Media Form Rock Entertainment Sports Net

The over-the-air renaissance continues in sports media as Dan Gilbert’s Rock Entertainment Group (REG), the holding company for the Cleveland Cavaliers and other properties, is launching a sports platform with Gray Media called the Rock Entertainment Sports Network.

The new venture will broadcast live games for several other teams under the REG umbrella—the Cleveland Charge (the Cavs’ NBA G League affiliate), the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, the Lake Erie Crushers of the Frontier League—as well as high school varsity sports. Games will be shown on Gray’s local affiliate stations in Cleveland (WUAB, WOIO) and Cincinnati (WXIX).

The two groups have a longstanding relationship, and most recently partnered to broadcast several Cavaliers regular-season games over-the-air in April as well as the Monsters’ AHL playoff run. “Northeast Ohio is a very large footprint and a very, very, very hungry, ravenous fan base when it comes to sports programming,” Mike Conley, the Cavs’ executive vice president, said in a phone interview. “It was really exciting and a chance for us to really deliver demanding content at the perfect time where we were able to bring that great run to our fans. They tuned in droves.”

“We are partnering on a network,” David Hughes, vice president and general manager for Gray Media, said in a phone interview. “We’re going in together as teammates to provide sports to the people of Ohio. This is not a transactional relationship; this is 100% a partnership. Rock Entertainment Group has been supplying sports and entertainment to the people of Ohio for many years. Gray Media, with WOIO and WUAB, has been supplying sports and entertainment content to the people of Ohio for many years. And so it just makes sense that our two companies, team up together and to do something that I think is going to be really special.”

Hughes added that while this is a linear network, carriage agreements for streaming on mobile devices are still being worked out.

A major point of emphasis for both REG and Gray was the ability to bring high school sports back to the free local airwaves for the first time in 15 years. For much of that time, local affiliate stations had given up on broadcasting high school sports during primetime hours, because the viewership could not pull in the same levels of advertising revenue that regularly scheduled scripted programming can.

“What’s unique about this partnership is we’re standing up a brand-new network,” Conley said. “This is going to be a network that is dedicated to 24/7/365 sports programming dedicated to serving the needs of the residents of Northeast Ohio. We’re not going to take away from primetime slots from a major CBS affiliate, a CW affiliate, etc., but we now have a destination and a predicted tune-in location where fans can get this great content all the time.”

In addition to bringing prep sports back to free television, RESN comes at an intriguing time for the Charge and Monsters. The Cavs’ 2023 second-round pick Emoni Bates has blossomed with the Charge, with hopes of becoming a foundational piece for the Cavs. This past season in the AHL, the Monsters fell just one game short of reaching the Calder Cup Final.

Of course, this venture launches as the Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy saga continues to play out. On Wednesday, the beleaguered RSN provider was granted another delay in presenting its contingency plan as it works to iron out a new agreement with Comcast after a weeks-long impasse. DSG operates Bally Sports Ohio, which has carried Cavaliers games under several different banners since 1990.

When asked if RESN could become the next home for the Cavaliers, Conley reiterated that the team remains under contract with DSG for the 2024-25 NBA season. “We look forward to having our games broadcast on their network again for the upcoming year, and we’re continuing to closely follow their bankruptcy proceedings as we committed to providing accessibility to our fans,” he said.

Though the Phoenix Suns are the only NBA team to completely abandon the RSN model thus far, several NHL teams have left their cable homes for broadcast television and local streaming options in light of DSG’s woes and Warner Bros. Discovery exiting the RSN business.

Most recently, the Dallas Stars launched a free streaming platform called Victory+, while the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers linked up with Scripps Sports, a year after the previous champion Vegas Golden Knights made a similar move. The Seattle Kraken are combining the reach of TENGA’s local stations with streaming access on Prime Video.