Dish Network has dropped AT&T Sportsnet and the Utah Jazz

According to Cord Cutters News, Dish Network has dropped AT&T Sportsnet making it impossible for Jazz fans to watch the Jazz with Dish Network.

From the Cord Cutters News story:

Regional sports networks AT&T SportsNet and Root Sports were removed from Dish TV today. Dish customers will no longer have access to AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, and Root Sports Northwest.

“The current RSN model is fundamentally broken,” said Brian Neylon, group president, DISH TV. “This model requires nearly all customers to pay for RSNs when only a small percentage of customers actually watch them.”

Dish says that AT&T SportsNet and Root Sports were “demanding rates that would be passed on to nearly every customer” which resulted in the companies being unable to come to carriage deal terms.

Yet again, fans of the Jazz get a raw deal with AT&T SportsNet and Dish Network. Year after year we see issues with this channel whether it’s games just randomly not showing, or the sound dropping for quarters at a time, or them simply not broadcasting every game when they annually force Jazz fans in the Jazz market to look for streams online to watch their team. Now they’ve found a way to not be broadcast to a major group of their fans. This is also not all on AT&T SporstNet. If you’re a Dish Network subscriber, it’s time to call and cancel. A company that forces the costs of Regional Sports Networks onto their subscribers and not in their business model, doesn’t deserve your business. And considering they regularly do this, there are other options for you to explore including major competitors in DirecTV and Comcast.

It’s really a shame the Utah Jazz are locked into another year of AT&T Sportsnet after recently signing a one-year extension. They have to find a different provider as well as a streaming option.

And that might actually be the solution. How many fans would be happy to stop searching the drethers of the internet to find an illegal stream coming from an out-of-state illegal site with a million popups of local singles in the area ready to date you. That’s the reality of the situation for a major group of fans that just got dropped by Dish. Ryan Smith has done a great job since buying the team with improving the fan experience. The next thing he can do is improve things for the fans who are watching at home.

Our own Adam Bushman put up a thread on Twitter with information and options and you should check it out!

How much would you be willing to pay for a season of Jazz basketball? For reference, my League Pass subscription renewed and came in at $214.