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Bally RSN owner Sinclair looking at bankruptcy
- Thread starter Ccook55
- Start date
The proposed bankruptcy is for Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture of Sinclair and Allen Media. Sinclair Broadcast Group itself would not be part of the bankruptcy filing.
My take is that Sinclair is protected from responsibility because Diamond is an LLC.
In fact, Sinclair would appear to gain more equity in Diamond under a Chap 11 restructure.
The main part of this is that all contracts Diamond has with teams could be canceled by the bankruptcy judge, and each contract would have to be renegotiated.
But all the responsibility is on Diamond, not Sinclair. These RSNs had previously been owned by Fox, but then sold to Disney a few years ago. Disney was forced to sell the RSNs.
In fact, Sinclair would appear to gain more equity in Diamond under a Chap 11 restructure.
The main part of this is that all contracts Diamond has with teams could be canceled by the bankruptcy judge, and each contract would have to be renegotiated.
But all the responsibility is on Diamond, not Sinclair. These RSNs had previously been owned by Fox, but then sold to Disney a few years ago. Disney was forced to sell the RSNs.
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Ever since the deal to buy them was announced, I thought it was an absolutely ridiculous move on Sinclair’s part. No one else wanted these RSNs (not even Fox) and it looked like they bid against themselves, needlessly assuming a lot of debt.
That Diamond is its own holding company might have been the lone smart move Sinclair made in all this.
MLB Could Take Back Bally Sports’ Local TV Rights
Major League Baseball is exploring all of its media options — including taking back local TV rights to 14 teams
frontofficesports.com
If this is to be true.
^^^ This article seems to be talking about Bally Sports specifically, rather than Sinclair or Diamond. I remember when the Fox Sports RSNs rebranded as Bally. Almost immediately there was a realization that they needed to cut costs and that Bally was not in a good place financially. I'm guessing it's unrelated, but I have noticed that, this season in particular, once the NFL regular season ended, more broadcasts of our NBA team have carried on ESPN or TNT rather than Bally, where we used to find almost all our team's NBA games until the later rounds of the playoffs when the national networks would pick up the broadcasts.
While Comcast / Xfinity here still carries Bally Sports, I know other providers do not. I'm guessing it won't be long before we'll need to buy a streaming subscription to Bally or elsewhere to see at least some of the regular season contests.
While Comcast / Xfinity here still carries Bally Sports, I know other providers do not. I'm guessing it won't be long before we'll need to buy a streaming subscription to Bally or elsewhere to see at least some of the regular season contests.
ESPN and TNT only carry a handful of games each week. Not enough for a full NBA slate.
IMO, the three biggest problems Diamond had were:
1. Being dropped by DISH Network, which actually happened before their purchase. Diamond was betting on being able to get back on Dish, and failed at that.
2. Covid-19 and the shortened NBA, MLB and NHL seasons in 2020-21 that impacted both ad sales and subscription revenue.
3. Lots of expensive debt. Some of the debt used to finance the purchase bore an interest rate above 10%. Expensive debt in a business where revenue isn't growing rapidly is a big challenge.
MLB Could Take Back Bally Sports’ Local TV Rights
Major League Baseball is exploring all of its media options — including taking back local TV rights to 14 teams
If this is to be true.
Looks like a blessing for OTA baseball fans because most My Network, CW and / or independent TV stations can fill Sunday afternoons and most weeknights with Baseball games in the season.
If they want to. Nowadays, very few do. Since most local OTA baseball went away around the turn of the century, I'm guessing that there was no money to be made. The RSNs paid much better, and if they're in trouble now, maybe baseball is just not a moneymaker at the local/regional level anymore.
It may also have something to do with Americans' shorter attention spans. Back when life was slower-paced, simpler and people had more disposable time, baseball was a beloved pastime for many. Now, however, with life moving at a seemingly faster pace and younger people especially consuming information and entertainment in different ways, at least in some places, baseball has lost some of its luster and the fan base is aging. I think I read somewhere that the average 9 inning game last season ran more than 3 hours in length. There are 162 regular season games. That's a lot for 'fans" to commit to in 2023. Also, to broadcast a full season means having to hire the commentators, support staff, technicians, equipment, transmission costs, etc. etc. for 3+ hours per game for 162 games. If the attention span isn't there to consume all that, if a particular team is mediocre at best or in a slump or if the fan base is aging, it can be a tough proposition. Also, like many aspects of "media", the landscape is changing. For college football, MLB baseball and other sports, for the past few seasons, the only way to see at least some games was to subscribe to a streaming service to do it. That will most likely expand in the future. If you want to see a particular team or sport, outside maybe the playoffs which tend to have decent numbers and be a money maker, fans may need to pay $$ to watch.
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MLB found very happy partners with Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and You Tube. None of them appear to be going bankrupt.
If rights become available, I'd expect those three plus Netflix to jump in with open checkbooks,
They can’t afford it
Why must these be mutually exclusive? I betcha YouTube, Amazon, Netflix or Apple would gladly take $$$ from a Scripps or a Gray to simulcast their streaming broadcasts. Going streaming-only feels like something MLB would threaten to do, but not actually do it at the last minute after seeing the negative PR that would ensue. (Then again, Rob Manfred has been a rather awfully tone-deaf commissioner...)
Plus there’s Paramount+ (soon to be Paramount+ with Showtime!) … What’s to say Paramount Global makes a package offer that involves CBS’s secondary stations like WLNY, KCAL, WKBD, etc., along with Nexstar, Scripps and Gray stations that pay for OTA retransmissions on a per-market basis? MLB gets a platform that can be their centerpiece and OTA simulcasts as an advertising tool. Win-win in my book.
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Only in the home cities of teams. Amazon & Apple thrive on exclusivity. They're using sports to drive subscriptions.
It might have worked in 2020 or 2021, but with subscription streaming platforms beginning to show problems (along with the rumored merger of HBOMax into Discovery+) and the burst of the tech boom bubble... trying it in 2023 or 2024 might not be the slam-dunk equation we think it will be right now.
The home city simulcast is what I was getting at, like the arrangement the NFL has long had for home market OTA simulcasts of TNF or MNF games. One station, be it a Gray or Scripps or Nexstar (or CBS indie) station, pays Amazon or Apple the money to carry the games that Amazon or Apple produces. The highest bidder wins, the streamer gets the money and a de facto OTA advertisement for their platform and a whole bunch of marketing "good will" yadda yadda yadda...
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They would have to be restricted to those areas that are now blacked out by MLB.TV/Extra Innings. For example, Waterloo IA is blacked out from both Chicago teams, the Brewers, Twins, Royals, and Cardinals. That's a lot of dough to pony up to get all the games. And it would take a lot of money to make it profitable to both MLB and the service airing the games.
One of baseball’s biggest problems is that the games are way too long. I’ve attended a few where the standard nine innings push four hours. Not a good thing, especially on a weeknight, and it makes for terrible television. At least MLB is aware of the issue and is instituting rule changes (such as the pitch clock) to speed up the game. When tested in the minor leagues the pitch clock whacked over 25 minutes from average game lengths.
Baseball purists and traditionalists hate the changes, but they are a small minority. If you can’t hold the interest and attention of more casual fans, the sport is going to die.
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