Sinclair Broadcast Group (NASDAQ: SBGI) shares fell Monday after the New York Post reported that bankruptcy is likely for Sinclair’s Diamond Sports Group, which operates 21 regional sports networks.
Diamond announced earlier this month that its Board of Managers has appointed David Preschlack as Diamond’s Chief Executive Officer. Preschlack has been a member of Diamond’s Board of Managers since May of 2022 and most recently served as President of NBC Sports Regional Networks & Executive Vice President of Content Strategy for the NBC Sports Group.
Preschlack has more than 25 years of sports marketing experience at NBC, Disney, and ESPN, and possesses deep knowledge of the challenges and opportunities facing the regional sports network landscape.
“David is the ideal person to lead Diamond at this critical point in its development,” said Randy Freer, Chairman of DSG’s Board of Managers. “David possesses a unique combination of deep sports broadcasting expertise, sound business judgment, and a track record of successfully managing relationships with major sports leagues and multi-channel video programming distributors that will be invaluable as we work to realize the full potential of DSG’s Bally Sports Networks.”
Also, early this month, Sinclair was subject to a downgrade to Underweight at J.P. Morgan, which sees a tough year ahead for ads and distribution.
Analyst David Karnovsky cut from a previously Neutral view: "More broadly, we expect the off-political 2023 to be a difficult year for the group, with a potential recession impact to local ads and elevated cord cutting driving slower gross and net retrans growth versus recent trend."
SBGI shares dipped 43 cents, or 2.7%, to $15.45.
