Sinclair(Bally's Sport) nearing a deal for NBA streaming rights for direct to consumer offering

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info from a reliable source - someone who works for a cable TV provider.

the cable provider received an e-mail stating that "this confirms that MN Twins games will remain on Bally Sports North in the near term."

cable providers were preparing to launch a Twins contingency channel as soon as July 1 if needed.
the e-mail told providers to keep the alternate channel ready "for any possible changes in the near future."

so, no change for now, but I certainly noticed the use of the terms "in the near term" and "in the near future."
 

and the Strib chimes in with this article from Twins beat writer Phil Miller:

The Twins will remain on Bally Sports North for the rest of the 2023 season, according to a source with knowledge of the network's plans, after BSN's parent company, Diamond Sports Group, made a payment of several million dollars to the team by Saturday's deadline.

The 12-season contract, which expires this fall, loses money for the network because more than 37% of its former subscribers have dropped cable or satellite over the past decade, according to testimony by Diamond Sports CEO David Preschlack in bankruptcy court in late May.

But BSN, which hopes to strike a new deal with the Twins for next year and beyond, chose to maintain its ties with the team, even at a loss, for the season's final three months.

if true, disappointing news for fans who were hoping that a move away from BSN might create new opportunities to watch the Twins - especially for cord-cutters who use streamers like Hulu Live and You Tube TV.
 

bump for some Bally's related news:

Major League Baseball took over the Arizona Diamondbacks' game broadcasts after a federal bankruptcy judge granted a motion Tuesday for Diamond Sports to reject its rights agreement.

MLB took over production of the broadcasts beginning Tuesday night at Atlanta in a game the Diamondbacks won 16-13. There were some early glitches, which included closed captioning being locked on during the first hour.

MLB took over the broadcasts of San Diego Padres games May 31 after Diamond Sports missed a rights fees payment and let the grace period expire.

Diamond Sports determined its contract with the Diamondbacks was not profitable. Bally Sports Arizona paid the Diamondbacks on a per-game basis for any games played after July 1.

(in a statement, Diamond Sports Group added this)

''We are continuing to broadcast games for all other teams under contract without disruption and we anticipate making all rights payments to the remainder of the MLB teams in our portfolio through the end of this season.''
 

Bump - in the "what the bleep" department - Diamond Sports is suing its own parent company - Sinclair.

from Yahoo Sports:

In addition to fending off creditors during its ongoing bankruptcy re-org, Diamond Sports Group has taken up a legal battle with parent company Sinclair Broadcast Group.

The owner of the 19 Bally Sports-branded RSNs filed a lawsuit against Sinclair on Wednesday, July 19, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The complaint, which was filed under seal, alleges that Sinclair engaged in “fraudulent transfers,” “misappropriation of assets” and other fiduciary improprieties, resulting in the wrongful allocation of some $1.5 billion.

Among the defendants listed on the adversary-proceeding cover sheet include Bally’s Corporation, which Diamond has cited for unspecified breaches related to the companies’ joint naming-rights deal. Also named in the suit are Sinclair president and CEO Chris Ripley, executive chairman David Ripley, chief financial officer Lucy Rutishauser and exec VP of corporate development Scott Shapiro.

In a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday, Sinclair shed some light on the complaint. Per that 8-K, Diamond is said to have taken issue with the distribution of “approximately $1.5 billion,” which Sinclair allegedly used to help pay down DSG’s $8.6 billion debt load. In addition, Sinclair notes that Diamond now claims that the Bally’s naming-rights deal was “not fair to DSG and was designed to benefit [Sinclair].”

Sinclair added that Diamond is seeking “unspecified monetary damages.” For its part, Sinclair declared that the defendants “believe the allegations in this lawsuit are without merit and intend to vigorously defend against plaintiffs’ claims.”

On the same day Diamond filed its suit against Sinclair, the company took similar action against JPMorgan Chase, which it originally subpoenaed back on June 28. The investment bank acquired $1.025 billion in preferred equity in Diamond Sports as part of Sinclair’s financing of its acquisition of the RSNs in 2019.

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FWIW - Diamond is still working on a proposed reorganization plan after filing for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy court Judge has just given Diamond an extension through Sept 30 to work through creditor issues. In the balance - Bally Sports has the rights to 12 NHL teams and 16 NBA teams. So the whole saga that MLB teams went through could repeat for NHL and NBA teams this Fall.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Bump - in the "what the bleep" department - Diamond Sports is suing its own parent company - Sinclair.

from Yahoo Sports:

In addition to fending off creditors during its ongoing bankruptcy re-org, Diamond Sports Group has taken up a legal battle with parent company Sinclair Broadcast Group.

The owner of the 19 Bally Sports-branded RSNs filed a lawsuit against Sinclair on Wednesday, July 19, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The complaint, which was filed under seal, alleges that Sinclair engaged in “fraudulent transfers,” “misappropriation of assets” and other fiduciary improprieties, resulting in the wrongful allocation of some $1.5 billion.

Among the defendants listed on the adversary-proceeding cover sheet include Bally’s Corporation, which Diamond has cited for unspecified breaches related to the companies’ joint naming-rights deal. Also named in the suit are Sinclair president and CEO Chris Ripley, executive chairman David Ripley, chief financial officer Lucy Rutishauser and exec VP of corporate development Scott Shapiro.

In a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday, Sinclair shed some light on the complaint. Per that 8-K, Diamond is said to have taken issue with the distribution of “approximately $1.5 billion,” which Sinclair allegedly used to help pay down DSG’s $8.6 billion debt load. In addition, Sinclair notes that Diamond now claims that the Bally’s naming-rights deal was “not fair to DSG and was designed to benefit [Sinclair].”

Sinclair added that Diamond is seeking “unspecified monetary damages.” For its part, Sinclair declared that the defendants “believe the allegations in this lawsuit are without merit and intend to vigorously defend against plaintiffs’ claims.”

On the same day Diamond filed its suit against Sinclair, the company took similar action against JPMorgan Chase, which it originally subpoenaed back on June 28. The investment bank acquired $1.025 billion in preferred equity in Diamond Sports as part of Sinclair’s financing of its acquisition of the RSNs in 2019.

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FWIW - Diamond is still working on a proposed reorganization plan after filing for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy court Judge has just given Diamond an extension through Sept 30 to work through creditor issues. In the balance - Bally Sports has the rights to 12 NHL teams and 16 NBA teams. So the whole saga that MLB teams went through could repeat for NHL and NBA teams this Fall.
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color me confused. Its like one of my kids suing me for not buying them something
 


JimmyJamesMD said:
color me confused. Its like one of my kids suing me for not buying them something
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As I read it, Diamond is claiming that Sinclair took or kept money that should have gone to Diamond, thereby making it harder for Diamond to operate as a profitable enterprise.

in another story, I saw a notice that Diamond and Sinclair have somehow redefined their legal status so that they operate more like separate companies. I think that is connected to the bankruptcy.
 

Another one bites the dust. The Colorado Rockies need a new TV home.

according to the Denver Post:

"The Rockies' TV future is in limbo. AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain notified its employees that the regional sports network is shutting down, according to multiple sources close to the situation. The last day of work for full-time employees at the network is Oct. 6, although it will continue running through at least the end of the year."

Options for the Rockies: revert the rights to MLB, or possibly join the Altitude regional sports network owned by Stan Kroenke, which airs the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets (both teams owned by Kroenke.)
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Another one bites the dust. The Colorado Rockies need a new TV home.

according to the Denver Post:

"The Rockies' TV future is in limbo. AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain notified its employees that the regional sports network is shutting down, according to multiple sources close to the situation. The last day of work for full-time employees at the network is Oct. 6, although it will continue running through at least the end of the year."

Options for the Rockies: revert the rights to MLB, or possibly join the Altitude regional sports network owned by Stan Kroenke, which airs the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets (both teams owned by Kroenke.)
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The later seems a no-brainer. Denver never needed two RSNs.
 

I was listening to the Marchand and Ourand podcast about the dispute between Charter and Disney/ESPN. this could get very interesting.

one of the big points of dispute: Charter is proposing that its cable customers should receive access to Disney’s ad-supported streaming services Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu at no additional cost. Disney - as you might expect - disagrees strongly.

when ESPN rolls out a stand-alone streaming option - potentially in the next few years - that could be a big nail in the coffin for the traditional cable TV bundle. there are media people speculating that Charter may be ready to get out of the video business and move to an internet-only company.
 



I remain unconvinced that people want or will pay for what will essentially be ala carte.

Would you pay $50/mo just for monthly access to ESPN, 2, U, News, and + ? Hell no.

I bet something like that is what it would take in order to break even on all the revenue they bring in from channel bundles.


That's the reason all of this has worked up to this point: you can force people to pay for channels they don't use. Because, there are a few channels they do use, and they're willing to pay if they get everything (even if they never use most of it).

People are not going to pay $50 for ESPN, $40 for FOX, $30 for Viacom, $30 for NBC/Comcast, $20 for Netflix, etc. etc. etc.


That's how you kill the whole damn thing.
 

and now, another episode of "As Diamond Sports turns..."
a key week for the future of Diamond and Bally Sports.

from Barrett Sports Media.com --

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.

Ahead of the start of regular seasons for both the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League – and the local broadcasts of 27 teams – the company is working to catalyze its efforts to reach a resolution. The original deadline was set for this Saturday, Sept. 30, but did not prevent the company from paying two teams that were due rights payments on Sept. 1 – the Milwaukee Bucks and New Orleans Pelicans. Additionally, the Cleveland Cavaliers have been paid and will begin the season on Bally Sports Ohio, although that could change depending on ensuing circumstances. If the mediation were to fall through, however, the company could request teams return the payments.

Earlier in August, the NHL expressed to a bankruptcy court that it may look for emergency relief in order to exit the contracts if a plan is not completed. The league also viewed it as being “critical” that it knew the direction of the company by the start of its preseason.

The NBA stands ready to produce regional broadcasts itself that would be available to stream through the NBA app, and the league would negotiate linear distribution and sell advertising.

Diamond Sports Group is also in the midst of negotiating a carriage extension with Comcast ahead of the expiration of the contract at the end of the week. If no deal is reached, there is a chance that creditors would opt not to authorize upcoming payments that could halt payments for 15 NBA teams.
 

Looks like Diamond Sports and Bally have a deal to survive - but NBA and NHL teams will receive less money. so it appears the Wolves and Wild will be on BSN for the upcoming season but the teams will see a reduction in TV revenue.

from Next TV - a website that covers streaming video:

According to the New York Post, Diamond Sports Group has reached tentative short-term pay-TV carriage arrangements with Comcast and DirecTV.

Simultaneously, the NBA, which has 15 teams under the Bally Sports umbrella, and the NHL (which has 12 Bally teams) are reportedly near agreements on a Diamond proposal to reduce the combined fees Diamond pays each of their teams for local sports rights by 20%.

All of this, the Post's sources say, will buy the bankrupt regional sports network a year to continue to negotiate its massive debt away and sort itself out.

And there was a key development Thursday with Diamond and the Sinclair Broadcast Group adjourning an Oct. 2 hearing over a separate legal beef and agreeing to enter mediation. Diamond has sued Sinclair, claiming its parent "milked" the subsidiary out of billions of dollars through means including bloated management services agreements.

(the article concluded with this)
Diamond now appears to be a long-shot to survive past 2024.

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on a related note, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred was a guest on the Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast this week. a lot of discussion about RSN's and TV rights. Manfred basically said the future is in streaming. whole interview goes about 30 minutes. worth listening to.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Looks like Diamond Sports and Bally have a deal to survive - but NBA and NHL teams will receive less money. so it appears the Wolves and Wild will be on BSN for the upcoming season but the teams will see a reduction in TV revenue.

from Next TV - a website that covers streaming video:

According to the New York Post, Diamond Sports Group has reached tentative short-term pay-TV carriage arrangements with Comcast and DirecTV.

Simultaneously, the NBA, which has 15 teams under the Bally Sports umbrella, and the NHL (which has 12 Bally teams) are reportedly near agreements on a Diamond proposal to reduce the combined fees Diamond pays each of their teams for local sports rights by 20%.

All of this, the Post's sources say, will buy the bankrupt regional sports network a year to continue to negotiate its massive debt away and sort itself out.

And there was a key development Thursday with Diamond and the Sinclair Broadcast Group adjourning an Oct. 2 hearing over a separate legal beef and agreeing to enter mediation. Diamond has sued Sinclair, claiming its parent "milked" the subsidiary out of billions of dollars through means including bloated management services agreements.

(the article concluded with this)
Diamond now appears to be a long-shot to survive past 2024.

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on a related note, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred was a guest on the Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast this week. a lot of discussion about RSN's and TV rights. Manfred basically said the future is in streaming. whole interview goes about 30 minutes. worth listening to.
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Oy. Just let it die already.
 



more RSN and Diamond/Bally News:

from Sportico:
With a week to go before the puck drops on the 2023-24 NHL season, Diamond Sports Group is out of its TV contract with the Arizona Coyotes. The team announced Thursday that it had a multiyear agreement with Scripps Sports to televise all locally broadcast games over the air within the team’s broadcast territory.

The Coyotes and Diamond Sports Net Arizona on Wednesday agreed to end the broadcast agreement, a team press release said.

In the court document, Diamond argued that the Phoenix RSN “is unprofitable and is projected to be increasingly unprofitable in subsequent years.” DSG went on to add that the current costs associated with operating the RSN “outweigh the revenues the debtors are able to obtain through broadcasting content.”

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and from Awful Announcing:
September 30 was supposed to be D-Day in the Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy, the deadline for the regional sports channel power to file its plan of reorganization. This is the document that once and for all will inform which of the 40 plus team media deals Diamond will walk away from before exiting Chapter 11. Diamond is the owner of the Bally Regional Sports Network, a grouping of 19 RSNs.

The September 30 deadline had seemed critical to the NBA and NHL, whose regular seasons start shortly and would need to know if some of its teams require a backup local media plan.

But a day before the September 30 deadline, Diamond again citing the complexity of the case, asked for an extension of the reorganization deadline, this time to November 29, a 60-day extension. Judge Lopez has not yet filed an order granting the extension, but no reorganization plan is filed either.

Why is that? The answer is clearly back channel discussions between the parties are progressing and the leagues see value in maintaining the Diamond RSN ties where it can

 



Now kill off the rest of em. You can start with North.
 

Ope3 said:
The local Coyetes fanatics are really bummed about the announcement. A couple of swell guys.
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I went to a Coyotes home game once. It was half full and 80% of those in attendance were Red Wings fans...
 

howeda7 said:
I went to a Coyotes home game once. It was half full and 80% of those in attendance were Red Wings fans...
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I would guess the other 20% were relocated Canucks.
 

howeda7 said:
I went to a Coyotes home game once. It was half full and 80% of those in attendance were Red Wings fans...
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I've been there twice and the Gila arena is dogshit, the game felt like an AHL minor league production, and the in-arena talent (microphone folks) were absolutely terrible. Uggghhhh. I have to believe the Mullett is an upgrade even, but I won't venture down there to check it out. At least the Gila was on the far west side of the valley, like State Farm Stadium. I'd never go all the way into PHX to see any of the AZ teams.
 

a little news on Diamond Sports and Bally - from Yahoo sports dated Oct 21:

A week after Major League Baseball asked a Houston bankruptcy court to deny Diamond Sports Group’s request for extra time in which to file its overdue Chapter 11 restructuring plan, one of the company’s largest distributors weighed in to say that it did not object to the requested relief. In doing so, however, DirecTV seized the opportunity to “raise concerns, yet again, regarding the lack of progress” on the part of the bankrupt owner of the 19 Bally Sports RSNs.

In a motion filed late Friday evening with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, DirecTV noted that while it “does not object to an extension of the debtors’ exclusive periods at this time,” it hoped to impress upon Judge Christopher Lopez that Diamond had made little headway in its bid to get its financial house in order.

“Despite more than seven months in Chapter 11, the debtors seem to have failed to shore up both the supply (team rights) and revenues (distribution) sides of their business,” an attorney representing DirecTV wrote.

Diamond was issued its first extension on Aug. 11. As part of MLB’s recent move to try and speed up the endgame, the league stated that Diamond has been burning through its assets, as the company’s “cash on hand declined nearly 90%” between March and August of this year. By MLB’s reckoning, Diamond is down to its last $21.8 million.
 

Diamond finalizes deal with NBA. From Sports Pro Media.com:

Diamond Sports Group (DSG) has agreed a deal with the National Basketball Association (NBA) that will allow Bally Sports to broadcast local games involving 15 teams until the end of the 2023/24 season, before handing back the rights at the conclusion of the current campaign.

Several of the 15 teams will receive lower licensing fees for their rights (estimated at roughly 16% lower) but will get greater certainty over revenue and coverage, as well as the opportunity to pursue alternative distribution methods moving forward.

The NBA's 13 Bally Sports teams will have the option of presenting up to 10 of their games on local broadcast stations this current season.

ESPN also reports that DSG will have the option to extend any deal by a year should it continue to operate a regional sports network (RSN) in a team’s respective market.

It is thought that DSG is close to securing a similar deal with the NHL and deciding which MLB contracts it wants to retain.

So Wolves stay on BSN for this season, but after the season, all rights - including local over-the-air and streaming - revert back to the NBA. as noted, it appears a deal is close with the NHL along similar terms.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Diamond finalizes deal with NBA. From Sports Pro Media.com:

Diamond Sports Group (DSG) has agreed a deal with the National Basketball Association (NBA) that will allow Bally Sports to broadcast local games involving 15 teams until the end of the 2023/24 season, before handing back the rights at the conclusion of the current campaign.

Several of the 15 teams will receive lower licensing fees for their rights (estimated at roughly 16% lower) but will get greater certainty over revenue and coverage, as well as the opportunity to pursue alternative distribution methods moving forward.

The NBA's 13 Bally Sports teams will have the option of presenting up to 10 of their games on local broadcast stations this current season.

ESPN also reports that DSG will have the option to extend any deal by a year should it continue to operate a regional sports network (RSN) in a team’s respective market.

It is thought that DSG is close to securing a similar deal with the NHL and deciding which MLB contracts it wants to retain.

So Wolves stay on BSN for this season, but after the season, all rights - including local over-the-air and streaming - revert back to the NBA. as noted, it appears a deal is close with the NHL along similar terms.
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Twins/Wolves/Wild should re-launch Victory Sports as both a channel and app.
 

Problem with that, as it is for Ball-less Sports North and the rest, is carriage.

They can’t get the carriage fees they need to be profitable. I don’t know how they were able to get something satisfactory with the legacy carriers (DTV, Comcast), I guess by volume.

But the new carriers (YTTV) won’t give the fees they need.


And thus I can watch a single game on my YTTV.

So I will continue to not give a S about these teams, until their leaderships decided to stop F’ing around and put their games on real TV.
 

MplsGopher said:
Problem with that, as it is for Ball-less Sports North and the rest, is carriage.

They can’t get the carriage fees they need to be profitable. I don’t know how they were able to get something satisfactory with the legacy carriers (DTV, Comcast), I guess by volume.

But the new carriers (YTTV) won’t give the fees they need.


And thus I can watch a single game on my YTTV.

So I will continue to not give a S about these teams, until their leaderships decided to stop F’ing around and put their games on real TV.
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We don't know that. MLB/the Padres got clearance for their "channel" on DirecTV and several cable operators. They won't get the $2/subscriber/month that Bally's got probably, but if it's all 3 teams they might get close. Either way there will be an app subscription option as well. Regardless they really should put a package of games back on OTA TV and I suspect they will.
 

Why would your proposed New Victory be able to get profitable carriage fees, from all modern carriers not just legacy, when Ball-less North can’t?? Why isn’t it just that simple?

The only other knob in the equation is if the Twins/Wolves/Wild would be willing to accept lower payment for their rights.

But if they would be willing to do that with New Victory, why don’t they just do that now with Ball-less??
 

Mind you, my point of view in this is that if you aren’t on YTTV and the like, then you have failed.

Legacy sat/cable are trash, and you shouldn’t just be catering to those folks.
 

MplsGopher said:
Why would your proposed New Victory be able to get profitable carriage fees, from all modern carriers not just legacy, when Ball-less North can’t?? Why isn’t it just that simple?

The only other knob in the equation is if the Twins/Wolves/Wild would be willing to accept lower payment for their rights.

But if they would be willing to do that with New Victory, why don’t they just do that now with Ball-less??
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I don't know whether they will get on YTTV or Hulu specifically. But they may not care. The consumer who is on YTTV is probably a lot more likely to be willing to pay for the monthly App subcription and stream the games than the older one who has cable/satellite. But if you have YTTV and pay $80/month and have to pay $20/month to get the Twins/Wolves/Wild via app you might ditch YTTV if your cable company is also $80/month and has them.

Bally's problem was not whether the carriage fees/advertising covered the $55 million they paid the Twins for TV rights. It's that they had massive debt to repay because Sinclair overpaid Fox massively when they bought the networks.
 

Again, if you aren’t on YTTV then you have failed. Legacy Sat/cable are trash.

In any of those cases though, absolutely absurd to expect anyone to pay even $60/mo (let alone more) and then expect them to be willing to pay extra, additional to access mainstream sports like MLB, NBA, and NHL. Just beyond absurd.

The only reason to pay for a live TV channel bundle is sports!!! So it G-D better well already include all mainstream sports.

Maybe if you like handball or ping-pong, you’ll have to pay extra. But not friggin MLB. Gtfo
 

We're just going to have to wait and see.

if you look at some of the teams/markets that have lost their RSN's, it's a mixed bag. a few NBA and NHL teams have put games on over-the-air TV but are also offering streaming apps. in baseball, the San Diego Padres created new 'channels' that aired on cable but were also available on Fubo, along with a separate streaming package.

in the end, people pay for what they're willing to pay for. There are people who have traditional cable or a streaming package, but still pay extra for Netflix, (HBO) Max, Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, etc.

and ESPN has made it clear that they will be offering a Direct-to-Consumer streaming app in the relatively near future.

so for Twin Cities fans, the days of one channel carrying the Twins, Wild and Wolves may be over.
 

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