Rangers Announce Creation Of Rangers Sports Network

The Rangers announced the formation of the Rangers Sports Network, a club-affiliated entity that will handle the team’s broadcasting deals. It’s the culmination of the franchise’s months-long effort to create its own network after its broadcasting deal with Diamond Sports Group (now operating as Main Street Sports) expired at the end of the 2024 season.

“One of the main goals when seeking solutions for Rangers television broadcasts was to give fans more access to our games,” Rangers owner Ray Davis said in a press release. “We determined that the best path toward providing our fans with more options is to handle many of the broadcast obligations in-house.

By forming Rangers Sports Network to address the various production responsibilities for team broadcasts and content, we feel the entity is in a strong position to deliver for Rangers fans as well as execute other potential broadcast opportunities in the future,” Davis added.

By creating their own network, the Rangers can negotiate contracts with different cable and streaming providers to handle in-market broadcasting. They’ve already negotiated one such streaming partnership with Victory+, the platform that also has a streaming deal with the National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars. The Rangers plan to announce additional deals with cable and broadcast television providers in the coming days.

Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes that those various forthcoming contracts are expected to expand access to nearly every household within the club’s broadcasting territory — which includes not just all of Texas but most of Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arkansas. Grant notes that only a fraction of households could access Rangers games on Diamond’s Bally Sports Southwest, a result of Diamond’s inability to reach distribution agreements with a number of carriers.

The Rangers took a different path than every other team that had previously contracted with Diamond. Most clubs renegotiated one-year deals with the rebranded Main Street Sports at a slightly lesser fee. A few others turned broadcasting rights to Major League Baseball, which will make those teams’ games available in-market on MLB.tv.