Bally Bankrupt Official? Channel is off air

Ok, so I went to turn on the Twins over my lunch break quick and a message says “Bally Sports is no longer available “

Anyone else running into this???

lindyrig79 wrote:

Ok, so I went to turn on the Twins over my lunch break quick and a message says “Bally Sports is no longer available “

Anyone else running into this???

Yea all comcast and xfinity users will get this. Since Amazon bought them I am sure they will have a subscription service at some point.

http://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/bally-sports-north-comcast-diamond-sports-group-fail-to-reach-agreement-no-twins/89-c5a18c81-9012-4ea4-b6ed-9061b70b9583

“The troubled saga of Diamond Sports – parent company of Bally Sports North – continues as a breakdown in contract negotiations with Comcast-Xfinity resulted in Bally being blacked out late Tuesday evening. The Twins game on Wednesday afternoon against the Chicago White Sox will be the first impacted, but likely not the last.”

Interesting. I’ve refused to pay for Bally’s up to this point. I wonder if now I’ll be able to access games through our Amazon Prime. The one article I checked out seems to indicate that may be the case.

Does this only affect the Twins? I’d hate to not be able to watch the Timberwolves playoff games at this point.

I know that most of the NBA playoff games are a national telecast on TNT or ESPN but if your inside the regional zone, you can only view them on the regional network, which in this case is Bally’s.

gimruis wrote:

Does this only affect the Twins? I’d hate to not be able to watch the Timberwolves playoff games at this point.

I know that most of the NBA playoff games are a national telecast on TNT or ESPN but if you inside the regional zone, you can only view them on the regional network, which in this case is Bally’s.

All Bally content is off Comcast, thankfully the rest of the NBA Playoff games this season will be Nationally televised on ABC and TNT/TBS

Thanks

Joe Jarl wrote:

Interesting. I’ve refused to pay for Bally’s up to this point. I wonder if now I’ll be able to access games through our Amazon Prime. The one article I checked out seems to indicate that may be the case.

The NHL and Amazon deal is still being finalized, it will likely be similar to how they televise Thursday Night Football games, Its an additional tier to pay for with your Prime Membership…

DirectTV still has Bally Sports on.

bzzsaw wrote:

DirectTV still has Bally Sports on.

Yeah Directv is the most stable of all the providers. I think the only channel I lost recently like the last 3 years was NBC and I never watch that. Its back now however.

Diamond Sports and Bally Sports should’ve been taken out behind the barn some time ago. The bankruptcy protections were enough. The product still is terrible.

lindyrig79 wrote:

Ok, so I went to turn on the Twins over my lunch break quick and a message says “Bally Sports is no longer available “

Anyone else running into this???

Xfinity subscribers (myself included) received this email today:

________________
Unfortunately, our programming agreement with Diamond Sports Group has expired. This means we no longer have the rights to carry their channels, including your local Bally Sports network.

The loss of this channel will result in savings that we’ll pass along to you, and you’ll see a monthly credit on your bill in the coming weeks. You don’t need to do anything to receive your credit; we’ll automatically apply it to your upcoming monthly bill statement.

We know that unexpected changes to your channel lineup can be frustrating. We’ve been flexible with Diamond Sports Group, who is in bankruptcy proceedings, but have been unable to reach an agreement that’s fair for our customers.
____________

I suspect the slow motion train wreck that IS the Bally RSN is about to reach it’s final implosion.

All I can say is that there must be something really wrong with the business model of these RSNs. All over the country, they have a monopoly on TV sports, but yet they can’t keep from going bankrupt.

Hayes just posted a story on the Athletic.

Blackout of Twins games due to Bally Sports-Comcast dispute the latest blow for team’s fans

By Dan Hayes
4h ago
127

When they searched for a new broadcast partner this offseason, the Minnesota Twins hoped to expand their audience, a goal they never realized by signing a one-year deal to return to Bally Sports North in February.

But as of Wednesday morning, the team’s expanse will include even fewer eyeballs.

Many Twins fans attempting to tune in Wednesday afternoon to see the team try to extend its longest winning streak since 2008 could be in for quite a shock as Comcast/Xfinity announced it no longer has a deal to carry Bally Sports and air the team’s games, the result of a contractual stalemate between the cable provider and Diamond Sports Group, Bally’s parent company.

Comcast announced the sides’ failed contract talks, which affect 12 MLB teams, late Tuesday night. Bally Sports North disappeared from Comcast’s lineup at midnight Wednesday, which will leave many fans in the dark when they want to watch Twins games.

“The Twins are disappointed by this massive disruption for our fans who simply want to watch our games,” the team said in a statement late Tuesday. “This situation is a business negotiation between Comcast and Bally. The Twins have no role or voice in this matter. We are hopeful the two parties are able to come to an agreement as soon as possible.”

The impending blackout is a public relations nightmare for the Twins and the most recent disappointment for their fans, who have been saddled with one difficult development after another in the wake of the team ending its record 18-game playoff losing streak last October.

The timing alone, with the Twins getting interesting after a horrid 7-13 start, is one matter.

But the blackout comes on the heels of a winter during which the Twins tried to find a new broadcast partner with more reach — team officials estimated the club can get their product to only 1.3 million of the 4.3 million households in the five states that comprise Twins Territory — only to fail and return to Bally on a one-year deal.

The new deal with Bally/Diamond is reportedly worse than the team’s previous pact, which paid the Twins $54 million last season according to court records. Team officials haven’t disclosed how much they received this season.

In part because of their reduced payout from Diamond, and another upcoming offseason of uncertainty over where their games will be broadcast in 2025 and beyond, the Twins reduced their Opening Day payroll from $153.7 million in 2023 to $127.3 million, according to Cots Contracts. After the free-agent departures of Sonny Gray and Kenta Maeda last winter, the $26 million-plus reduction has been a rallying cry for upset fans.

Beyond settling for the reportedly lesser deal, the Twins’ one-year accord with Bally doesn’t include a direct-to-customer streaming option, which means fans in the Minneapolis Metro market willing to pay for the product can’t purchase it without using a provider such as Comcast/Xfinity or Dish Network. As it sought new broadcast partners, the Twins considered providing their own service, which would have given fans the option to stream games without needing a cable provider.

The Twins are one of seven teams with Bally that don’t offer a direct-to-customer streaming option for fans.

The combination of all those factors left a considerable portion of the team’s fan base salty throughout the offseason and during the team’s poor start over its first 20 games. Now, many of those fans are unable to tune in as the team pursues its 10th straight victory. It was not immediately clear how many viewers were impacted, but many had voiced their displeasure with the situation on social media before Wednesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox.

The team’s choice to return to a partner mired in a contract dispute that limits viewership only further complicated a tenuous scenario for a franchise hoping to rekindle its relationship with its fans after failing to draw two million of them to home games last season.

Comcast drops Bally RSNs, injecting more chaos into sports TV landscape

Both Comcast and Diamond released competing statements issuing blame to the other side late Tuesday.

Diamond’s statement read: “It’s disappointing that Comcast rejected a proposed extension that would have kept our channels on the air and that Comcast indicated that it intends to pull the signals, preventing fans from watching their favorite local teams. Comcast has refused to engage in substantive discussions despite Diamond offering terms similar to those reached with much larger distributors of ours. We are a fans-first company and will continue to seek an agreement with Comcast to restore broadcasts, and at this critical juncture for Diamond, we hope that Comcast will recognize the important and mutually beneficial role Diamond and RSNs play in the media ecosystem. In the meantime, fans in Comcast regions can access our networks through subscriptions to Fubo, DirecTV or DirecTV STREAM or through our direct-to-consumer offering, Bally Sports+ for the teams for which Diamond retains DTC rights.”

Comcast issued its own statement while offering $8 to $10 monthly credits to customers.

“We have been very flexible with Diamond Sports Group for months as they work through their bankruptcy proceedings, providing them with an extension on the Bally Sports Regional Networks last fall and a unilateral right to extend the term for another year, which they opted to not exercise. We’d like to continue carrying their networks, but they have declined multiple offers and now we no longer have the rights to this programming.”

Diamond is in the middle of a protracted bankruptcy process, and a confirmation hearing for a restructuring plan that could help the company avoid liquidation is set for June. But one of the keys for that plan to be successful is Diamond reaching an agreement with major distributors, such as Comcast. The choices Diamond and Comcast make from here, then, will not only affect fans’ ability to watch games immediately, but also could have a significant impact on the overall RSN landscape in the long term.

as long as the Pohlads………………

So to recap, the Twins/Pohlads couldn’t sign any free agents because they lost out on the regional TV money this offseason, shopped around and couldn’t find anyone better including themselves to stream/broadcast it, went back to Bally’s for the bag, didn’t use any of that money to better their team, and now wash their hands of any responsibility they had in their heavily publicly subsidized product ending up not being available to the overwhelming majority of fans/taxpayers.

Pohlads gonna Pohlad.

Kinda late with your weekly Pohlad rip aren’t ya?

Dutchboy wrote:

Kinda late with your weekly Pohlad rip aren’t ya?

No, I think this is round 2. Or as I like to say, if some is good, more is better!

I have Midco so it’s bigger than just Comcast. Bunch of BS as usual.

lindyrig79 wrote:

I have Midco so it’s bigger than just Comcast. Bunch of BS as usual.

Same was pissed when I went to turn on the twins..thankfully the wild season is over or I might have had a meltdown. What a joke.

BigWerm wrote:

Pohlads gonna Pohlad.

That’s great!! I’ll have to remember that.
Yup, Twins tying to set up streaming in the off season and went with the pot o’ gold when Bally came a courting.

Soon all major sports teams will hopefully have their own streaming service. Ballys was so bad, the free streams where more reliable.

It will be interesting how this plays out in the future. Having to intentionally subscribe to and pay for a streaming service is going to alienate marginal fans and new fans are not going to be brought in.

I have Directv. it was nice to see 10th win in a row

FSN/Ballys has always been a part of my basic TV option. I’ve never streamed it or had to pay extra for it.

I for one hope it does not move to an exclusive streaming platform that I have to pay extra for just to watch the local sports teams.

Xfinity They took away my INSP a few months back.

I gave up on it a while ago when it was above and beyond basic cable and we made the jump to streaming. At first I thought I’d miss being able to flip on the Twins (grew up a Twins and Brewers fan due to proximity in Western WI).

I finally realized that 95% of my baseball consumption is on the radio while working/fishing/or outside. There’s not enough action to hold my attention unless I am there in person. I can’t remember the last time I watched a baseball game from first pitch to the final out on television. My wife would think I’m having a medical emergency if she saw me on the couch that long.

I put this in the Twins thread which also was on a Bally’s rant for a bit.

FUBO still has Bally’s. There is a surcharge for “local” sports programming, but I chose FUBO for Bally’s so I am fine with the cost. I can watch the Twins on a labtop or phone – do not need to be at home.

The Verizon 5G box + FUBO saves us about $70/month or more per month vs going through comcast.

Spectrum in WI still carries Bally’s.
Brewers games. No Twins. FYI for the discussion.

HBC cable out of Winona still carries the Twins. Watched tonight Twins 5 Red Sox 2 for 11 in a row

We have Spectrum in Owatonna, we are still good to go with Bally and another win for the Twins last night over Boston.