As Diamond Sports Group and Comcast have been unable to reach a new distribution contract, fans who utilize the cable provider to watch their local teams have been left in a difficult spot. Of course, there are alternatives to which they can subscribe to get the games, and for some viewers, they have the ability to purchase a direct-to-consumer plan through the Bally Sports+ app to watch the games. This is the case in Kansas City where the Royals have a 20-15 record and sit two-and-a-half games back from first place in the American League Central. Bob Fescoe and Josh Klingler discussed the situation at length last week on Fescoe in the Morning on 610 Sports Kansas City and underscored the impact of cord cutting on the business.
At the start of Monday’s show, the program received a message from a listener asking for suggestions about how to solve the problem that has prohibited some fans from watching the games. The message ostensibly referred to a retirement home, which elicited laughter from both co-hosts before they elaborated on a potential solution.
“How many people are sharing the login for that these days at the home, right, or can get it to work – that’s the other thing, yeah,” Fescoe said. “At least we’re not the Minnesota Twins who have won 12 in a row and there’s no way to see those games because of the Bally Sports dispute.”
Before the Major League Baseball season began, the Minnesota Twins and Diamond Sports Group finalized a one-year media rights extension. Twins fans have the ability to watch games on Bally Sports North through their cable providers and live stream the games on the Bally Sports app with valid pay TV authentication. Conversely, consumers can watch the Kansas City Royals either with a pay TV provider or stream the team with a direct-to-consumer plan.
“I don’t know who’s watching because nobody can get it up there, and they don’t have the app up there,” Fescoe said, referring to the Minnesota Twins. “I didn’t realize this whole Bally’s thing like certain teams were on the app and certain teams weren’t on the app. Why wouldn’t you put everybody on the app at this point in time? You’re Bally’s.”
Before Diamond Sports Group declared Ch. 11 bankruptcy, Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. testified that Sinclair Broadcast Group executive chairman David Smith requested direct-to-consumer broadcast rights for all the teams it broadcast in the league. Manfred shot down the proposal, to which he then stated that Smith said he would begin pressing clubs to diminish rights fees to make sure he stayed profitable in the RSN business. If they did not agree to that, he stated he would put the entity in bankruptcy and begin to selectively reject contracts.
The latter outcome ended up occurring, and since that time, Diamond Sports Group has terminated deals with both the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks. Major League Baseball stepped in to produce the games and recoup up to 85% of lost revenue to retain competitive balance, and Manfred expressed ahead of this season that the league could handle local broadcasts for up to 16 teams. Diamond Sports Group is in the midst of trying to finalize and gain approval of a restructuring agreement that will include an investment from Amazon for a minority equity stake in the company.
“The Twins are disappointed by this massive disruption for our fans who simply want to watch our games,” the team said in a statement last week. “This situation is a business negotiation between Comcast and Bally’s. The Twins have no role or voice in this matter. We are hopeful the two parties are able to come to an agreement as soon as possible.”
Klingler wanted to know if fans would be able to watch the Minnesota Twins on MLB.TV, to which Fescoe replied that the service does have the game. While Twins games are still airing on Bally Sports North, they are not being distributed as widely due to Comcast no longer airing content from the regional sports network.
“I guess Comcast is bigger up there than it is here,” Fescoe said. “I don’t know anymore – it’s one of those things now [where] I’m to the point of, ‘There are ways to watch. If you choose to take those ways, fantastic.’”
