Recently, the future of Bally Sports has been in doubt. The network’s owners, Diamond Sports Group, have until the end of this month to find a plan to get out of bankruptcy. Now, though, it seems that MLB teams, at least the Minnesota Twins, are making plans in case the network shuts down before the end of the season.
It was recently reported that the team is in talks to build a direct-to-consumer streaming service as a backup plan. Now, though, Cord Cutters News can confirm that thanks to our readers, a Twins TV channel started appearing on some cable networks this week as a possible replacement for Bally Sport.
The channel for now is off-air, but this is similar to how other MLB teams operated when they lost TV rights with Bally Sports. Launching a partnership with some local cable companies to air the games and a streaming service.
Cord Cutters News reached out to Bally Sports and some of the local cable networks for comment, and at this time, we have not heard anything back at the time of this publishing.
Last month MLB, NHL, and the NBA said in court they worry about Comcast harming Bally Sports’ plans to restructure and exit bankruptcy. MLB went as far as to say that Bally Sports has been “an undependable partner” and that Comcast dropping Bally Sports has hurt the MLB, according to Bloomberg. This has forced the MLB to set up an alternate broadcast option for Comcast subscribers by offering a partnership for discounted Fubo for a few months.
NHL attorney Shana Elberg said the league needs answers now about the future of Bally Sports RSNs. “We have told the debtors unequivocally that we need to get clarity on certain outstanding matters this week,” she said according to the StarTribune.
The NBA attorney also raised real questions about the future of Bally Sports if a deal with Comcast is not reached. “Without a Comcast deal, [Bally Sports] may very well not be able to survive,” said Vincent Indelicato. “We simply cannot wait much longer” to find out.
Now the questions are can Bally Sports survive without Comcast or will Bally Sports accept Comcast’s demands.
Reportedly Comcast wants to move Bally Sports to a more expensive TV package like what it has done with other RSNs. Now the questions are will Bally Sports accept that and will it be enough to help it find a way out of bankruptcy.