With a deadline to finally submit its long-awaited restructuring plan once again being pushed off indefinitely, Diamond Sports Group announced Monday that it has signed a carriage renewal deal with Comcast, ending a blackout that lasted nearly three months. (This story was updated from an earlier version reporting that a deal was said by Diamond to be close at hand.)
Financial terms of the deal weren't included in Diamond's announcement. According to Comcast, Bally Sports channels will now be included on the pricier "Ultimate TV" package. (Comcast all along wanted to bump the regional sports networks to the higher tier, which was the basis for the impasse.)
“Entering a new carriage agreement with Comcast, our third largest distributor, is a critical step forward in our restructuring effort, and we are pleased that fans will again be able to access broadcasts of their local teams through Xfinity," said David Preschlack, CEO of Diamond Sports, in the statement. "With certainty on our distribution, we are focused on finalizing an agreement with the NHL and resolving our ongoing negotiations with the NBA. We are mindful that time is of the essence with basketball and hockey seasons fast approaching, and once agreements with our team and league partners are complete, we intend to move expeditiously to present a plan of reorganization to the Court.”
Last week, Diamond lawyers convinced the Houston court overseeing its protracted bankruptcy to once again delay, indefinitely, the presentation of its long-awaited restructuring plan, which was supposed to happen starting Monday.
“We believe that we have made substantial progress on resolving our issues with Comcast, and we have the intention of fully documenting and executing an agreement with Comcast to broadcast our RSNs in the very near term,” Diamond lawyer told Brian Hermann told the Houston court.
Also Read: Everything You Need To Know About the Bally Sports Bankruptcy
Diamond, which operates the 18 remaining Bally Sports regional sports networks, has been in Chapter 11 since March 2023. And 15 of it's Bally Sports channels had been blacked out on Comcast since the beginning of May, with Diamond unwilling to cede to Comcast's hardline demands that its channels be placed on a more expensive premium tier.
With 12 Major League Baseball franchises calling Bally Sports their exclusive local-TV home, it's been an issue for baseball fans this summer.
Also read: Diamond Sports and Comcast Reportedly Back in Negotiations
Diamond's sports league partners, most pungently the MLB, have expressed in no uncertain terms that they don't see the Sinclair Broadcast Group subsidiary as having a viable future without carriage on the No. 2 U.S. pay TV platform.
At least for now, Judge Chris Lopez played along and gave Diamond yet more time to get Comcast back in the tent before it presents its restructuring plan, despite an admonishment to Diamond lawyers in June that they should come ready with a "viable plan" on July 29.
For his part, at last week's hearing, Diamond lawyer Hermann seemed to acknowledge that his team probably doesn't have a lot of time ... and that avoiding liquidation might not happen, despite his best efforts.
“If we conclude that we cannot reorganize the business, which is a possibility, we will similarly pivot quickly,” Hermann said. “That is not our focus today, but that is a possibility and that’s not lost on us.”
With the Comcast deal in hand, Diamond has deals with all of the major pay TV distributors, save Optimum/Suddenlink operator Altice USA.
