Regional sports networks subsidiary Diamond Sports Group has filed a motion in the Houston court overseeing its bankruptcy, seeking to make DirecTV pay the full contracted rate for Bally Sports San Diego and Bally Sports Arizona, even though these channels have been stripped of their flagship pro-sports teams.
Diamond accuses DirecTV of having exercised an “unlawful course of ‘self-help’” since July, deliberately reducing the fees it pays Diamond by a redacted amount.
Diamond, a subsidiary set up by Sinclair Broadcast Group to manage the Bally Sports channels, said DirecTV has “no basis for withholding any portion of the payments due to it,” for reasons that are also redacted in its ”enforce stay and compel performance“ filing to a U.S. bankruptcy court on Tuesday.
A Diamond rep sent Next TV this statement Wednesday afternoon: “This motion was filed to protect Diamond Sports Group’s contractual rights while we reorganize. DIRECTV has breached its contract with DSG’s by improperly withholding payments contractually owed to Diamond, which has satisfied its obligations under the agreement. DSG has had a long relationship with DIRECTV and intends to continue partnering with them to provide live games to fans in our regions.”
A DirecTV rep responded: "When DSG ceases to carry a team, they seem to think we should continue to pay them for the right, even as we need to pay the new rights holders to ensure continued transmission to our subscribers. That makes no sense, and it is not how our agreements with DSG work."
Also read: Bankrupt Diamond Officially Announces Bally Sports Schedules For the NHL's Panthers and Lightning
Bally Sports San Diego has been bereft of its primary programming source, Major League Baseball”s San Diego Padres, ever since Diamond tore up the team’s local sports contract back in May. Chapter 11 leverage enables restructuring Diamond to ditch such unfavorable contracts.
Since that time, the channel’s programming lineup has been filled with replays of NASCAR races, boxing matches and other sports events, as well as various, inexpensive-to-acquire non-live sports programming.
Likewise, the NBA's Phoenix Suns and WNBA's Phoenix Mercury demurred on renewing their Bally Sports Arizona contracts last spring. Diamond, meanwhile, cut the MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks loose in July. And just last week, Diamond and the NHL”s Arizona Coyotes agreed to go their separate ways.
These days, Bally Sports Arizona is filled with the same goulash that the San Diego channel is, but Diamond still wants DirecTV to pay full rate.
UPDATED: On Wednesday, however, one former Bally Sports Arizona employee tweeted that the channel's operations had shut down.
Some personal news: pic.twitter.com/0noeDIcXAzOctober 11, 2023
This dispute comes after DirecTV and Diamond recently agreed to a short-term renewal of their overall carriage agreement, as the subsidiary continues to navigate through a very tedious restructuring process that promises to drag into 2024.
