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While some markets, such as New York, are home to multiple competing RSNs -- each with their own portfolio of local team rights -- other markets such as Detroit and Minneapolis have a single RSN that holds the rights for all of the local teams.

The NBA and NHL have yet to put their next seasons on the calendar, although Morning Consult reported earlier this year that the NBA was considering a March-October scenario. While the commissioners of both leagues have said they are targeting January starts, they also want their teams to host fans at their indoor arenas, something that might not be feasible by the start of the year.

The industry has seen the impact of increased competition among live sports at the national level since their return over the summer. The NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Final and U.S. Open in both tennis and golf each suffered significant year-over-year viewership drops, and NFL viewership was down 10 percent this season through Week 4. Several sports media experts, including an executive at a major RSN group, said similar drop-offs could be expected at the local level.

"You're gonna see some cannibalization of ratings mainly based upon which games are most important,” said Lee Berke, president & CEO of LHB Sports, Entertainment & Media. “Is it a particular pitching matchup, or is it a game that's impacting the playoff picture? Those games will attract more attention than the others."

In terms of scheduling, most RSNs have at least one dedicated “overflow” channel for nights when two or more of its teams are playing simultaneously and in many cases work with cable and satellite companies to clear additional space when necessary. While dedicated fans become accustomed to finding these channels, games relegated to these overflow channels can suffer in terms of viewership.

Joe Brown, a former NBC Sports researcher and audience analyst who has since founded JWB3 Media Insights, said the introduction of improved user interfaces that recommend sports content to fans based on their preferences makes channel position less important than it used to be, but estimated the impact of being bumped to an overflow channel could still be a 20 to 30 percent dip in viewership.

"Your most avid fans are going to find it no matter what, but you are going to lose a percentage of your casual fans because it's in a place that they're not used to finding it,” Brown said. “And they're not going to try that hard to find it."

One staffer for a major-market RSN expressed concern that their network might be forced to pawn off a significant number of live NBA games on local over-the-air stations and push MLS and WNBA games exclusively to the network’s streaming service. He suggested this could have a negative impact on advertising revenue. 

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