Bankrupt Diamond Sports Group, the largest operator of regional sports networks, has forged an agreement with the National Hockey League to keep all 11 clubs currently under contract with Bally Sports on the channels until the end of the regular season.
The agreement, presented Tuesday in the Houston bankruptcy court overseeing Diamond’s restructuring, allows Diamond to reduce fees for certain clubs. However, after the NHL regular season expires in April, all team local TV and streaming rights will revert back to the league.
Teams involved include the Anaheim Ducks, Carolina Panthers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues and Tampa Bay Lightning.
Diamond agreed to similar terms with the NBA last month. And last week, it announced a deal to keep nine Major League Baseball clubs in the Bally Sports fold through next summer, with possible arrangements with three other MLB clubs still possible.
With short-term deals also carved out with DirecTV and Comcast for pay TV carriage, Diamond — a subsidiary of Sinclair — may have bought itself enough time to forge a deal that will stave off liquidation.
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon is in talks with the RSN operator about possibly propping it up with an investment and plying its direct-to-consumer streaming rights to Amazon Prime Video.
Diamond entered Chapter 11 restructuring back in March, looking to manage $8.67 billion in debt.
