There appears to be no end in sight in the dispute between Diamond Sports Group and Comcast/Xfinity that has prevented Braves games from airing on the cable service for more than a month.
Bally’s Sports South and Southeast, owned by Diamond Sports Group, were dropped from Comcast after their contract expired on May 1. The move affects a significant portion of the Braves audience on local providers of Bally’s.
Diamond Sports is trying to emerge from bankruptcy filed last year.
An attorney for Diamond told a bankruptcy judge in Houston on Tuesday that negotiations “are at an impasse,” according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
“Based on Comcast’s intransigence to negotiate off their current position the company has little choice but to explore alternatives to Comcast, including a new deal with FUBO, TV” said attorney Joe Graham, according to the Star-Tribune.
At what was described as a “brief-but-contentious” hearing, Judge Christopher Lopez agreed to move back a final decision on Diamond’s future to July 30.
In the meantime, customers of Comcast still can’t watch Braves games.
Bally Sports South and Southeast in Atlanta are part of 15 regional sports networks in major markets nationwide that had to come off Comcast when the contract expired. Bally Sports South and Southeast also broadcast the Hawks.
As Diamond Sports works through the bankruptcy process, it is trying to secure long-term deals with providers. It has reached agreement with three of the seven biggest providers, Charter and DirecTV. Comcast is now a significant missing piece along with others such as Dish, YouTube TV and Hulu Live TV.
Streaming service FUBO TV is an option for those who want to pay for the Bally’s networks. The cost is about $100 a month.
Comcast is working on deals with regional sports networks to have their content placed on a tier system. This provides subscribers with the opportunity to pay an extra fee for the sports content while eliminating it from a basic package. Such deals have been worked for the Orioles and Nationals (Mid-Atlantic Sports Network), the Pirates (SportsNet Pittsburgh) and the Mariners (Root Sports Northwest). Major League Baseball has stepped in to help deals with distributors, including Comcast, for the Diamondbacks and Rockies.
The deal between Comcast and Diamond expired in September. After a six-month extension was agreed upon, it took effect in October with an expiration date of April 30. Diamond had the opportunity to extend that agreement to a year but did not choose to do so by a March deadline. That meant the end of the rights expired on May 1.
Attorneys representing MLB, NBA and NHL were also at Tuesday’s hearing as the leagues have a great interest in the outcome of the bankruptcy hearing and the future of Diamond.
Proposals from each side are on the table, representatives of both Bally’s and Comcast told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month. The agreement Diamond struck with Charter and DirecTV is on the table for Comcast. The previous working agreement and the tier agreement Comcast struck with carriers in other markets is on the table for Diamond.
