Broadcast station owners want rights to local NBA, NHL and MLB games, CNBC says

Broadcast station owners including Scripps (SSP), Nexstar (NXST), Sinclair (SBGI) and Gray (GTN) are interested in obtaining rights to local NBA, NHL and MLB games and have been in talks with leagues and teams about potential deals to carry games on free over-the-air channels, according to CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo and Alex Sherman, citing people familiar with the matter. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), which owns a slate of regional sports networks, has said it would exit the business by the end of this year and Diamond Sports Group, which owns the largest portfolio of RSNs, has filed for bankruptcy protection, the report noted.