The eighth of the game between the MLB Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 9, 2023 During the inning, the Bally Sports monitor was shown.
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The National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League are concerned about the future of sports on the diamond and whether the region’s sports network owners can develop a viable business plan ahead of the upcoming season this fall.
Diamond Sports, which operates its network under the Bally Sports brand, has been under bankruptcy protection since March last year. The league is concerned that the owners of the largest portfolio of regional sports networks will not be able to develop a viable business plan before the 2024-25 season.
Attorneys for each league raised their concerns at a status conference in bankruptcy court on Tuesday after Diamond said he would delay a hearing to confirm the turnaround plan from mid-June to late July.
“I want to reiterate why timing is so important to the NBA. The 2024-2025 season is about to begin,” NBA attorney Vincent Indelicato said in court on Tuesday. “In order to properly produce and distribute games, a lot of work needs to be done before the season starts.”
NHL lawyers have expressed similar concerns, saying that if Diamond Sports is unable to develop a viable business plan in the coming months, the league may be scrambling to explore options for producing and broadcasting games in local markets. Some MLB teams have made progress without the Bally Sports Network.
At the same time, numerous NBA and NHL teams have reached agreements with local radio station groups to broadcast local games.
Diamond Sports must develop a reorganization plan outlining its future outside bankruptcy protection and obtain court approval to proceed. The approval paves the way for the company to exit bankruptcy protection.
Indelicato said on Tuesday that the NBA has urged Diamond Sports to “develop a very clear business plan by July at the latest.”
For Diamond, crafting a restructuring plan has been a long road fraught with negotiations — with lenders to restructure its heavy debt load, with leagues and teams fighting for streaming TV rights, and with pay-TV broadcasters who will air games. Publishers negotiate.
Recent negotiations between Diamond Sports and Diamond Sports have broken down Comcast Corporation Its lawyers said on Tuesday that this had an impact on the sports network operator’s progress.
Last month, Comcast customers were unable to access the Bally Sports network, affecting fans of 11 MLB teams. Still, the horse-drawn carriage has yet to cause problems for NBA and NHL fans, as both leagues are in the playoffs. Regional sports networks broadcast local regular season games.
A lawyer for Diamond Sports said Tuesday that the company is still in talks with various stakeholders but is at an impasse with Comcast and has no choice but to “explore alternatives.”
Distributors like Comcast have been losing pay-TV customers at a rapid rate in recent years as people opt for streaming alternatives, with regional sports networks among the channels hardest hit. On top of that, Diamond Sports carries a debt burden of more than $8 billion sinclairAcquired the Internet in 2019.
Revealed: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
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