Bally Sports+ Crashes in Latest Blow to Diamond Sports Group
A widespread outage left thousands unable to log into the Bally Sports app, which houses the regional sports streaming service.
If this is a sign of things to come for Diamond Sports Group, the company might not have much time left. On Monday night, fans who tried to use the Bally Sports app to stream an NBA or NHL game were unable to log in, and thus unable to access Bally Sports+ to watch their chosen contest.
- Bally Sports+ crashed for a large section of the country Monday night.
- Bally was forced to acknowledge the outage on social media as thousands of fans voiced their anger.
- The broadcaster’s parent company Diamond Sports Group is still in bankruptcy and may be running out of time.
What Happened to Bally Sports+ Last Night?
Monday is usually a tough day for most of us, but Bally Sports+ had a rougher start to the week than most people. According to Bally Sports’ Help page on X, the issue stemmed from its service provider, which meant that users in multiple markets were affected. Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves fans were some of the worst affected, according to beat writers covering those teams who got multiple reports about the outage.
Our service provider experienced a widespread outage that impacted multiple partners. As it comes back online, signing in to Bally Sports will be impacted. We are currently working with our service provider on resolving this issue. We apologize and thank you for your patience.
— BallySportsHelp (@ballysportshelp) October 30, 2023
The outage did not seem to affect users who tried to watch their respective games on Bally Sports linear channels. Bally Sports+ is the company’s in-market streaming platform, which allows fans to watch any NBA or NHL games appearing on a Bally Sports regional sports network (RSN) without the need for a cable or satellite subscription for $19.99 per month.
What’s the Status of Bally Sports in Bankruptcy Court?
Since March, Bally Sports’ parent company Diamond Sports Group (DSG) has been under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections. It spent the summer clashing with Major League Baseball over which teams would continue to appear on Bally Sports channels in the future, and followed that with a request to the NBA and NHL teams it covers to pay them 20% less than their contracts call for as part of its debt restructuring plan.
The company’s deadline for turning in that plan was Sep. 30, but it has requested an extension. Both MLB and DIRECTV have asked the judge in the case to deny that request, saying the company has had plenty of time already and that further extensions would amount to little more than stalling on the part of DSG.
Regional sports networks across the country are folding these days, as cable companies lose customers and increasingly have difficulty justifying carriage fees for channels that fewer and fewer people watch. Throughout the process, DSG has given little indication that it has a way to surmount the increasing difficulties that even major channel owners like Disney are going through.
In a vacuum, the Bally Sports+ outage could be seen as a blip, just like the NFL Sunday Ticket outage that affected millions of users this past weekend. But in the context of the wider issues happening at Diamond Sports Group, it presents yet another troubling sign that the RSN provider is gasping for air.
Bally Sports+
Bally Sports+ is a direct-to-consumer streaming service that offers live games for those who want access to your local Bally Sports RSN without subscribing to a cable or satellite package.