Will Price of Bally Sports+ Rise Now That Amazon is an Investor?
Following the news of Amazon’s investment in Diamond Sports Group, there are lots of unanswered questions about the future of Bally Sports+.
Diamond Sports Group (DSG) is emerging from a 10-month downpour and is ready to enjoy the sunshine. News broke this morning that the regional sports broadcaster responsible for Bally Sports-branded channels will receive a sizable investment from Amazon, which alongside other recent deals will allow it to exit bankruptcy proceedings. But now that the question of DSG’s immediate financial situation has been answered, new questions about its existing products — specifically its streaming service Bally Sports+ — are arising.
- Amazon says it will distribute streaming content from Diamond on the Prime Video Channels platform.
- Bally Sports+ costs $19.99 per month, currently.
- The price of the service could rise substantially, especially if Amazon gets Major League Baseball to sell it more streaming rights.
Is Amazon Taking Over Diamond Sports Group?
Though the exact terms have not been reported, Amazon is making a financial commitment that will help DSG emerge from bankruptcy proceedings that the broadcaster has been mired in since March 2023. However, Amazon is still a minority investor in Diamond, which means it won’t have control over day-to-day operations or be the final decider on whether Bally Sports+ raises its prices.
However, the press release that announced Diamond’s deal with Amazon clearly states that the latter company will become DSG’s “primary partner” for delivering streaming content through Prime Video, which at the very least suggests that Amazon will have some say in what happens with Bally Sports+ going forward.
Bally Sports+ holds the rights to stream games from 15 NBA franchises, 12 from the NHL, and five MLB teams, but the stability added to the platform by partnering with Amazon could increase those numbers in the future.
Is Bally Sports+ Getting More Expensive?
While there was no official word in Wednesday’s announcement that Bally Sports+ would rise from its $19.99-per-month price point thanks to the investment of Amazon, current customers of the service would be wise to expect a price bump soon. Now that Diamond has a clear path forward to becoming a viable business again, it must think about how to make the streamer as profitable as possible — and as many other streamers showed in 2023 price increases are an important part of that equation.
In the announcement of the deal, DSG said, “Additional details regarding pricing and availability will be announced at a later date.” So, the companies are at least signaling that price changes are a possibility. We have been covering the streaming landscape here at The Streamable since 2017, and in this new era of streaming, anytime a company gets a new major investor, or merges with another outlet, there is invariably an increase in price.
The investment by Amazon could also mean that more teams might be willing to sign on to have their games streamed by Bally Sports+. The platform currently holds the rights to just five of the 11 MLB teams that are broadcast on linear Bally Sports channels, and while MLB has told Amazon in no uncertain terms that any deals to acquire more streaming rights will have to be between that company and the league directly, an increase in distribution for Bally Sports content on Prime Video Channels could help sway MLB to changing its mind.
If Bally Sports+ does acquire the rights to more MLB teams, or if additional NBA or NHL teams join up with Bally Sports because its parent company now has a long-term future again, the price of the streaming service is virtually guaranteed to increase. Live broadcast rights for major league teams are increasingly expensive, and adding even one additional team to Bally Sports+ will require a significant expenditure of cash. While the additional teams would ideally be profitable on their own from subscription and increased advertising revenue, it will take time to build them to scale. Therefore, it is possible that any additions would lead to price hikes across the board to compensate for the initial investment.
Subscribers probably don’t have to worry about the price of Bally Sports+ rising in the short term unless Amazon and Diamond executives agree it needs to start pulling in more cash immediately. But once Diamond fully emerges from bankruptcy court and has its feet under it again, in The Streamable’s expert opinion, customers would be wise to anticipate a price increase for Bally Sports+.
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.