On Sunday, during the Arizona Diamondbacks game, play-by-play broadcaster Steve Berthiaume warned viewers that later this week, Bally Sports could lose TV rights to their games. Now Bally Sport’s parent company Diamond Sports, has officially filed with the bankruptcy judge to terminate its contract with the Diamondbacks.
Later today, the Judge overseeing the case is expected to approve the motion, and Diamondbacks’ TV rights will move over to MLB.
Already MLB has been in talks with other networks, including DIRECTV, to find new TV partners for their games. This could mean that tomorrow’s Diamondbacks game against the Braves could be the last one to air on Bally Sports.
Even though Bally Sports is expected to lose TV rights to the games and return the rights to MLB, TV providers would still be under contract to pay Bally Sports. This would force DIRECTV and others to pay both MLB for the games being aired and Bally Sports even though the games are no longer shown on that network. They are hoping at the same hearing today to help companies like DIRECTV break free from high contracts.
Bally Sports has already stopped airing the Padres team and returned TV rights to the MLB. The MLB partnered with Fubo, DIRECTV STREAM, and several cable TV companies to air the games in market. It is expected something similar will happen with the Diamondbacks. When details for how you will be able to see future Diamondbacks games are announced, we will have full coverage.
The Diamondbacks was the last MLB team that had to be paid by Bally Sports for the rest of the 2023 MLB season. All eyes will now turn to contract renewals, including the Twins, there will reportedly not renew with Bally Sports after the season ends.