Bally Sports RSNs Are Reportedly Preparing For Bankruptcy

[Ronnie-]

Protection of the bundle? What does that even mean? Being forced to pay for 4 ESPN channels, 3 FX channels, 3 Disney channels all carrying crap on them?

You will buy it sir, and you will like it.

It is for your own good.

 

[Yespage]

You mean the minority. Yes, given an option, there are always some cheap people out there who will do without.

Linear television remains the choice for most people. That simple.

Does every thread in Cord Cutting need to devolve into a discussion on bundles, like we are in Progressive commercial?

 

[Bruce]

Let get this thread back on subject, big week for Diamond, as I posted before, the deals with Comcast/DirecTV are up soon, turned out it is this week with Comcast.

Second thing, Diamond is supposed to be giving a restructuring plan to the Bankruptcy Court by Saturday, they might be about to ask for another extension, because of the deals with Comcast/DirecTV/Charter need to be done first.

Diamond Sports Group Prepares for Creditor Hearing, Comcast Negotiation

Diamond Sports Group has until this Saturday to negotiate a restructuring plan with its creditors that would result in the end to its Ch. 11 bankruptcy it claimed in March. The company has been rejecting media rights contracts throughout the Major League Baseball regular season, resulting in the...

barrettsportsmedia.com

 

[MikeD-C05]

Does every thread in Cord Cutting need to devolve into a discussion on bundles, like we are in Progressive commercial?

Ok Flo.

 

[Joe The Dragon]

Let get this thread back on subject, big week for Diamond, as I posted before, the deals with Comcast/DirecTV are up soon, turned out it is this week with Comcast.

Second thing, Diamond is supposed to be giving a restructuring plan to the Bankruptcy Court by Saturday, they might be about to ask for another extension, because of the deals with Comcast/DirecTV/Charter need to be done first.

Diamond Sports Group Prepares for Creditor Hearing, Comcast Negotiation

Diamond Sports Group has until this Saturday to negotiate a restructuring plan with its creditors that would result in the end to its Ch. 11 bankruptcy it claimed in March. The company has been rejecting media rights contracts throughout the Major League Baseball regular season, resulting in the...

barrettsportsmedia.com

and is comacast going to push for an 3-5 year deal on the RSN's with directv? just to have teams drop out as soon as next year?

 

[Bruce]

and is comacast going to push for an 3-5 year deal on the RSN's with directv? just to have teams drop out as soon as next year?

What would Comcast’s deal have to do with DirecTV.

If Diamond survives, continues to pay the teams, they cannot drop out until the end of the contract between the team and Diamond.

Once Diamond misses the payment, then they are on their own, see San Diego for example.

 

[Bruce]

Diamond Sports seeks to cut NBA, NHL fees in last-ditch bid to survive another year: sources

The Sinclair subsidiary, which declared bankruptcy in March with $9 billion in debt, owns the broadcast rights to 15 NBA teams and 12 NHL teams as both leagues prepare to open their seasons next mo…

nypost.com

Highlights-

It has reached an agreement in principle with Comcast on a carriage deal for roughly one year and has just reached a similar contract with DirecTV, sources said.

has made a take-it-or-leave-it offer to cut rights fees to the NHL and NBA in a last-ditch bid to avoid liquidation

Diamond proposed cutting the fees to both leagues by up to 20% ahead of a bankruptcy court-imposed Sept. 30 deadline

The NBA and NHL are leaning toward accepting the haircut, which would allow Diamond to survive for another year, the source said.

“This is a reorganization that will become a liquidation,” another source said

Diamond will shut its doors but not until it makes some money from more profitable contracts so the creditors get some recovery, two sources said.
There have been no viable buyers for Diamond in bankruptcy, sources said.

So one year to go if the court agrees.

 

[Bruce]

Reading more about this, I am amazed their restructuring plan to come out of Chapter 11 is to liquidate in a year.

Only corporations can get away with something so idiotic.

 

[Radioguy41]

I wonder if the genius that created this whole mess by buying up all the RSNs thinking it would be a cake walk extorting more money from the carriers gets a golden parachute after the toilet is flushed?

 

[dishdude]

Reading more about this, I am amazed their restructuring plan to come out of Chapter 11 is to liquidate in a year.

Only corporations can get away with something so idiotic.

This is what really ticks me off. An individual couldn't spin off their credit card debt into a separate entity!

 

[Bruce]

Diamond did not present a plan, asked for another extension.

Diamond Sports Asks for Extension of Bankruptcy Plan Deadline

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy for Diamond Sports is poised to run into 2024—well into the 2023-24 NBA and NHL regular seasons—if a federal bankruptcy judge in Texas grants a notion filed by Diamond on …

www.sportico.com

 

[Radioguy41]

This is getting silly. This whole thing started at the beginning of the year. They've had about 8-9 months to come up with a plan and now they want another extension? Ii should be denied. One way or another Bally Sports is going under so what is the point of simply delaying the inevitable?

 

[Bruce]

This is getting silly. This whole thing started at the beginning of the year. They've had about 8-9 months to come up with a plan and now they want another extension? Ii should be denied. One way or another Bally Sports is going under so what is the point of simply delaying the inevitable?

There is no path forward and Diamond seems to know and acknowledge it in the article-

Diamond also insists that “rapidly changing” landscape for the cable industry, with “subscribers’ persistent ‘cord cutting’ as they move away from traditional cable and satellite multichannel video distributors,” has made the situation even more complicated.

Paid Live TV about to lose another 3-4 million subs this year, 8-10 million next year, largely from the main providers ( Comcast, DirecTV, Charter) that carry Bally’s RSN.

Advertising way down, they just cannot make enough $$$$ to support the high prices that the content ( owners of MLB/NBA/NHL Teams) wants.

Just 6-7 years ago, 100 Million subscribed subscribed to Cable/Satellite, the majority received the RSN, now only 55-58 million sub to cable/sat ( the other 13 million are services like YTTV).

But only about 40-45 Million receive a RSN, because of cord cutting, another 20 million sub to services that do not carry it and then providers have packages that does not have the RSN in it.

In 2016, out of 125 Million Households , 100 million subscribed to Cable/Satellite, that is 80%

In 2023, out of 131 million Households, 55 million subscribed to Cable/Satellite, that is 42%

U.S.: number of households 1960-2023 | Statista

How many households are in the U.S.? In 2023, there were 131.43 million households in the United States.

www.statista.com

 

[Bruce]

Deal with Comcast might not be done, just updated it’s Programming Changes page-

Upcoming Programming Changes

Description For programmingchanges

www.xfinity.com

October

• Bally Sports Arizona
• Bally Sports Detroit
• Bally Sports Florida
• Bally Sports Indiana
• Bally Sports Midwest
• Bally Sports Kansas City
• Bally Sports Southwest
• Bally Sports New Orleans
• Bally Sports North
• Bally Sports Ohio
• Bally Sports SoCal
• Bally Sports South
• Bally Sports Southeast
• Bally Sports Sun
• Bally Sports West

 

[DirecTVFanSince2016]

The game feed MLB set up for the Twins (which Bally missed a payment to a few months ago, with the eventual payment only remaining until the end of the regular season a few days ago) is back to showing the "There's a problem with this channel" slate on D* Stream, instead of the Twins logo slate.

 

[Bruce]

Bally’s Arizona has been shut down, not a surprise since the Hockey team was the only thing left on there.

 

[DirecTVFanSince2016]

Are you sure? I'm looking at their schedule on Zap2It and they still have programming on, but it looks to be national filler programming.

 

[Bruce]

Are you sure? I'm looking at their schedule on Zap2It and they still have programming on, but it looks to be national filler programming.

Already filed it with the court-

Diamond Sports Group told the Judge after seeing its court case that this is “the final step in exiting the Bally Sports Arizona RSN, the Debtors have concluded that the Coyotes Agreement is not necessary to the Debtors” business and is unlikely to provide a net benefit to the Debtors or their estates.”

Bally Sports Plans to Shut Down Its Bally Sports Arizona RSN | Cord Cutters News

Late yesterday, Bally Sports Parent Company asked the judge overseeing its bankruptcy for permission not to pay the Arizona Coyotes contract. This will allow Bally Sports to end its TV contract with the company. This comes as Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of Bally Sports, says it...

cordcuttersnews.com

 

[DirecTVFanSince2016]

Ah, well it still hasn't actually shut down, it'll probably just air national filler and some local college/HS sports until whenever they decide to completely pull the plug.

 

[Bruce]

Ah, well it still hasn't actually shut down, it'll probably just air national filler and some local college/HS sports until whenever they decide to completely pull the plug.

Gotta keep getting that per sub fee as long as they can.