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The Bally Sports Thread


Georgie56

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2 hours ago, AaronQ said:

The bankrupt Diamond Sports Group has sued Sinclair for fraudulently withdrawing as much as $1.2 billion according to Reuters yesterday. 

 

https://www.reuters.com/legal/sports-broadcaster-sues-parent-sinclair-alleging-15-billion-fraud-2023-08-16/

If they got evidence supporting that, oh boy...

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In addition to the wind-down of BSAZ, the WIAA (the high school sports body for Wisconsin) has announced all their events have moved back to the state broadcast network owned by Allen Media and syndicated to WMLW/Milwaukee and WCWF/Green Bay from Bally Sports Wisconsin.

 

The basketball and hockey tourneys had only previously been a part of it after Bally took over the rights in the MSC days for the rest of the tourneys. Now all the high school championships are back on broadcast, including the upcoming Camp Randall-held football championships.

Edited by mrschimpf
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51 minutes ago, CoopInTheHouse said:

Well, they better find some station to do Diamondbacks baseball on, or else they’ll join the other rejects riding the MLB Local bandwagon.

They already have. There’s no rule that suggests that they *have* to be on an OTA channel.


https://www.mlb.com/dbacks/schedule/programming

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1 hour ago, CoopInTheHouse said:

I legit realized after I posted it that the Diamondbacks already had that plan..

No worries. The fact that they and the Padres had that contingency plan ready in short order is an example of good foresight on the part of MLB. My guess is that if Bally drops more clubs, they’ll most likely go this route.

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4 hours ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

No worries. The fact that they and the Padres had that contingency plan ready in short order is an example of good foresight on the part of MLB. My guess is that if Bally drops more clubs, they’ll most likely go this route.

And as I mentioned in an earlier post, the Rockies may be at risk for that to happen. Either that or another one to throw into the Altitude Sports pile of garage sale items..

 

Edit: Just remembered I did that in another thread..

Edited by CoopInTheHouse
Read the edit.
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  • 3 weeks later...

I can't make this stuff up....

 

Sinclair wants to buy the Bally Sports networks from Diamond Sports.

 

Yes, the same company who partnered with Byron Allen in the venture and who helped drive them into bankruptcy...

 

https://nypost.com/2023/11/02/business/sinclair-broadcasting-wants-to-scoop-up-diamond-sports-sources/

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11 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

Not just the Rangers. As per that article, Bally intends to walk away from MLB entirely after 2024.


Of course, there are also major implications for MLB teams themselves. The loss of RSN money will likely impact payroll (see: the Twins).

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3 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

And now this from Cord Cutters News: BALLY SPORTS PLANS TO SHUT DOWN IN 2024.

 

 

Wow, that's so poorly written it makes me question factual accuracy. Once I see two spelling and/or punctuation errors, I'm done.

 

But with all the speculation and the lack of proofreading aside, it wouldn't surprise me if it actually does happen.

Edited by Big Rollo Smokes
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38 minutes ago, Big Rollo Smokes said:

Wow, that's so poorly written it makes me question factual accuracy. Once I see two spelling and/or punctuation errors, I'm done.

 

But with all the speculation and the lack of proofreading aside, it wouldn't surprise me if it actually does happen.

Here’s an excerpt from the Awful Announcing article cited in the CCN piece (which includes a minor caveat):

Quote

Sinclair’s lawyer described today as a “sad” day for DSG because it effectively means once the 2024 MLB season, it will liquidate. DSG pointed out that nothing is set in stone and alternatives could emerge, and lambasted Seligman for his “crocodile tears.”

 

But Seligman, who spoke for over 20 minutes, said the end of the RSNs, which televise around 37 MLB, NHL, and NBA teams, is near.

 

“To Sinclair folks who originally acquired Diamond, they’re kind of bummed, they’re bummed that this business that they put in a billion and a half of equity value in, is now going to be shut down,” he said. “There’s going to be people losing their jobs…Diamond’s business is going to go away.”

It notes that the recent deal Diamond Sports Group had cut with the NBA–which it presumes it has made with the NHL–“trades rights fee cuts for returning the media rights to the leagues after the current season.” But the fact that Bally Sports’s current NBA television contract was shortened by a year indicates that the possibility of the RSNs ceasing to exist is very much on the table.

Edited by T.L. Hughes
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Certain teams, including the Cleveland Guardians, want out of their deal with Bally Sports.

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/mlb/cleveland-guardians/2023/10/12/cleveland-guardians-among-mlb-teams-telling-bally-sports-time-is-up/71157523007/

 

Basically, after this year's NBA season (if Bally still even has it locked down), you can probably stick a fork in them.

 

As for Cleveland (and other markets), will they go exclusively with MLB, or partner with another broadcaster.  I'd love to see them back on WUAB, especially if Gray is willing to put MLB teams in their markets.

 

And do the Dolans still have any irons in the pay tv dumpster fire?  Cablevision had a secondary presence in Cleveland until they sold their systems to Adelphia, and when they collapsed, Time Warner became a de-facto cable monopoly in Northeast Ohio. 

 

They also started SportsTime Ohio after not being able to secure a deal with Fox Sports at the time, although they were later acquired by Fox Sports until the Diamond sale in the Disney/Fox merger.

 

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On 11/19/2023 at 2:42 PM, tyrannical bastard said:

Certain teams, including the Cleveland Guardians, want out of their deal with Bally Sports.

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/mlb/cleveland-guardians/2023/10/12/cleveland-guardians-among-mlb-teams-telling-bally-sports-time-is-up/71157523007/

 

Basically, after this year's NBA season (if Bally still even has it locked down), you can probably stick a fork in them.

 

As for Cleveland (and other markets), will they go exclusively with MLB, or partner with another broadcaster.  I'd love to see them back on WUAB, especially if Gray is willing to put MLB teams in their markets.

 

And do the Dolans still have any irons in the pay tv dumpster fire?  Cablevision had a secondary presence in Cleveland until they sold their systems to Adelphia, and when they collapsed, Time Warner became a de-facto cable monopoly in Northeast Ohio. 

 

They also started SportsTime Ohio after not being able to secure a deal with Fox Sports at the time, although they were later acquired by Fox Sports until the Diamond sale in the Disney/Fox merger.

 

Get in line, Dolans. 🤣😂

 

It's gonna be a long 2024...

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I know one team locally is waiting to announce something but is waiting for word from the courts about what they can do to end-around Bally's rights to get those games elsewhere. Let's just say if everything looks static right now for your team and they're happy on air with Bally, that isn't the reality in the front office at all.

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  • 1 month later...

Amazon will buy a minority stake in Bally Sports, making Prime Video their primary method of DTC distribution, and Sinclair will pay $495 million to settle their (mis)management services of Diamond Sports Group

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/amazon-diamond-sports-investment-reorganization-sinclair-settlement-1235790585/

Edited by tyrannical bastard
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19 minutes ago, TVLurker said:

The RSN nightmare continues.

It really just buys time for the online components; if Spectrum drops them in February, expect the dominoes to fall and for other providers to follow, which is why the NBA set aside games later in the year for other outlets. In Wisconsin, Spectrum is the majority provider, and there is absolutely no way the Bucks or Brewers would stay on Bally if that occurs. Fubo carriage can only overcome so much and it's still going to take several months for Diamond to move from "Baby's First RSN CMS System" (which is pretty much been trashed to hell and back by the Bucks fanbase) to AWS.

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On 1/17/2024 at 11:22 AM, mrschimpf said:

It really just buys time for the online components; if Spectrum drops them in February, expect the dominoes to fall and for other providers to follow, which is why the NBA set aside games later in the year for other outlets. In Wisconsin, Spectrum is the majority provider, and there is absolutely no way the Bucks or Brewers would stay on Bally if that occurs. Fubo carriage can only overcome so much and it's still going to take several months for Diamond to move from "Baby's First RSN CMS System" (which is pretty much been trashed to hell and back by the Bucks fanbase) to AWS.

And now it's been confirmed; ten games this season among WDJT, WMLW, and Telemundo Wisconsin in Milwaukee, with outer markets still TBA;
 

 

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Diamond Sports has secured deals to televise Texas Rangers, Cleveland Guardians and Minnesota Twins games for the 2024 Major League Baseball season, keeping all 12 remaining teams that it held broadcast rights in the fray; however, it still does not have rights to stream games from those three teams over Bally Sports+. (The Twins deal had expired before the start of the year, while the other two teams were being renegotiated.)

Edited by T.L. Hughes
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