Will More MLB, NBA, NHL Teams Stream on Bally Sports+ Now That Amazon Is an Investor?
As Diamond Sports Group prepares for a new future, it could start pursuing more major league sports teams for its linear channels and streamer.
The transformation of Diamond Sports Group (DSG) from a bankrupt company circling the drain to a viable business with a future is going to be a relatively quick one. That’s thanks to a big investment from Amazon and a $495 million settlement with parent company Sinclair Broadcasting, and now that the Bally Sports brand appears to be sticking around for the long haul, fans might well wonder if their favorite team will join up with the company and stream games locally on the Bally Sports+ platform, which is set to partner with Prime Video Channels.
- MLB has told Amazon it will not make any more streaming deals with Diamond, and any future agreements will have to be with Amazon itself.
- NBA and NHL commissioners have both signaled a desire to pull away from the regional sports network model.
- Amazon’s ability to distribute content via Prime Video Channels could be a game-changer for all these leagues.
Why Do Sports Leagues Want to Get Away from Regional Sports Networks?
In cable’s heyday, regional sports networks (RSNs) were the most profitable way to distribute live sporting events in local markets. Distributors and channel owners collected handsome fees, and many times cable plans forced viewers to pay for RSNs whether they watched them or not.
But that was when cable was in more than 100 million households in the United States. That number has dropped by 25% as of today, and the subtraction of so many viewers has made the RSN model essentially untenable. That’s one of the big reasons that Diamond had to enter bankruptcy proceedings in the first place; it was no longer bringing in enough revenue from carriage fees to pay the sports teams who show their games on a Bally Sports channel.
Diamond’s bankruptcy proceedings have caused the commissioners of each league it partners with to publicly question the RSN model. In April, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said his league needed to “reimagine” its relationships with RSNs, and the NHL’s Gary Bettman has been preparing for the collapse of the entire model. Major League Baseball and its commissioner Rob Manfred have been clear for months that they’d like to pull away from RSNs and figure out a new broadcasting/streaming future for the league.
Will Amazon’s Investment Change Any Minds?
Throughout Diamond’s bankruptcy proceedings, the messaging from the NBA and NHL has been less outright contempt and more frustration regarding the lack of certainty. Unlike MLB, neither league has made angry, public statements about how poor relations between themselves and Diamond are; on the contrary, both have made every effort to work with the company through the bankruptcy process.
Customers of Bally Sports+ shouldn’t expect any new NHL or NBA teams on the service this season, however. All of the 15 NBA teams and 12 NHL teams that appear on Bally Sports linear channels are already streaming on Bally Sports+, and it’s highly unlikely any of the teams not currently signed up with Diamond are going to switch broadcast partners with just a few months left in the regular seasons of both leagues.
Whether any new MLB teams join up with Bally Sports+ is a different question. While the league has already told Amazon that it would only make new streaming deals directly with that company even if it invested in Diamond, its position could change based on the structure of the deal between Amazon and Diamond. Bally Sports channels are currently slated to broadcast 11 MLB teams this season, but Bally Sports+ holds the streaming rights to just five of those clubs.
MLB’s insistence that it would do no further deals with Diamond could be genuine, or it could be a ploy for leverage to secure better terms in any future contracts. It would undeniably be easier for the league to send the streaming rights to the six clubs whose broadcast rights are already owned by Bally Sports to Bally Sports+ than it would be to sell them to other providers, and now that DSG’s future as a company is seemingly secure and Bally Sports+ will see greater distribution via Prime Video Channels, some of MLB’s fears regarding broadcasting chaos could be allayed.
It’s undeniably an exciting time for Diamond Sports Group, a company that looked like it had no long-term future whatsoever a month ago. Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, Diamond can now look into potentially luring more major league sports teams to its Bally Sports+ streaming service, if leagues can be convinced Amazon’s investment will lead to a bright future for DSG.
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.