So ESPN just bought local TV rights to half of the MLB franchises with their Fox purchase. They also just purchased MLBAM, so they own out of market MLB streaming. MLB has kept local streaming rights to themselves so far. To purchase all those RSNs when they know all too well that they are a dying business model, ESPN must have a master plan that completely changes how we watch our local games.
I have a feeling that ESPN's counter move to losing their revenue stream of being force bundled to everything is to be the one and only place to go to watch sports including local sports. Could their long game be to buy national in market streaming rights to all teams and sell directly to the customer vs going through cable and bundle everything through ESPN?