https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/01/bally-sp...omers.html

Quote:

• Bally Sports regional networks went dark for Comcast cable customers early Wednesday, a month into MLB's regular season, as carriage negotiations broke down with the channels' bankrupt operator Diamond Sports Group.
• Comcast's Xfinity pay-TV customers will automatically receive $8 to $10 a month in credits, the cable company said.
• The carriage spat presents another pain point for Diamond Sports — which is looking to emerge from bankruptcy this year — as well as for the beleaguered regional sports network industry.

Quote:MLB teams no longer available to Comcast customers

Detroit Tigers
Miami Marlins
Cincinnati Reds
St. Louis Cardinals
Tampa Bay Rays
Texas Rangers
Atlanta Braves
Los Angeles Angels
Kansas City Royals
Minnesota Twins
Milwaukee Brewers

*Note: Comcast is not a provider in all of these teams' markets.

And here's a potential media partner apparently struggling...

Cost the Padres $50M last year when they shut down. One of the reasons they had to dump salary.

Interesting that a key issue was that Comcast ultimately wanted to shift the Bally networks to a different tier than the broader cable package. That has long been a deal-killer for sports networks, but I’m not sure how the sports networks are able to make this argument any longer when most of them have their own separate over-the-top streaming services and, in the case of Disney/Fox/WBD, even putting together their own skinny sports channel bundle (which is the same as creating a separate sports channel tier package).

(05-02-2024 02:32 PM)Aztecgolfer Wrote:  Cost the Padres $50M last year when they shut down. One of the reasons they had to dump salary.

John Mozelik and Bill DeWitt made comments about revenue insecurity in the offseason when talking about the Cardinals free agent spending. It was assumed they were worried about getting Padre'd by Diamond Sports either this season or next.

I own a brewpub and we just put the finishing touches on a fantastic promotion, where one of our beers would cost Max Fried's ERA while the Braves were playing.

And now we don't get the Braves. Ugh.