NEW PODCAST: How Broadcast Television Gave Way to Streaming TV with Matthew Keys, Publisher of The Desk

Matthew Keys has covered broadcast television from the inside and now covers it from the outside as Publisher of TheDesk.net. On this episode, he makes the case that local news operators aren't wrong to give away their streams for free. The flaw is stopping there.

"I don't think anybody is making money on local news from streaming," Keys says flatly.

The over-the-air signal is still the strongest asset broadcasters have — and the digital inventory sitting next to it goes unfilled while digital-native outlets with a fraction of the newsroom eat the ad dollars.

The Peacock RSN Incubator Strategy

Keys argues Peacock's much-hyped NBA innovations didn't start on Peacock rather that they started at the regional sports network (RSN) level, in markets like Sacramento and Boston, where NBC is able to test ideas with scale and without streaming risk before ultimately scaling the winners to network. "High reward, very low risk," as he puts it. RSNs aren't a legacy liability. They're an incubator for NBC that no one talks about...until now.

On free ad-supported TV (FAST), Keys poses the question cable networks don't want asked out loud: what's actually different between AMC on cable and an AMC spinoff channel on Pluto? Consumers are asking themselves the same thing — and churning accordingly.

(Image courtesy of CableCompare.com)

The Banana Split

And on the Savannah Bananas: a YouTube-first sports property now landing deals with TNT and the CW — plus an exclusive free-streaming package with Roku Sports Channel — is Keys's answer to what happens when premium sports keep fragmenting across exclusive streaming windows. The gap doesn't stay empty.

Winners: RSNs-as-R&D, FAST, digital-first local disruptors. Losers: cable bundles betting nostalgia beats math.

Full conversation with Matthew Keys is live now.

📺 Watch or 🎧 Listen to the full episode here: https://podcast.stateofstreaming.com/matthew-keys-the-desk-dot-net