It’s been a long May for Major League Baseball fans who are stuck in the middle of the Bally Sports and Comcast/Xfinity drama. On May 1, Bally Sports abruptly went dark on Xfinity/Comcast, meaning many MLB fans across America wouldn’t have a way to watch their teams in action. What’s even more frustrating is that even those who signed up for the MLB streaming package weren’t able to watch their local team live due to blackout restrictions. Now, the MLB is getting upset. And why shouldn’t they? They’re losing roughly half of their viewership because of Bally Sports and Comcast/Xfinity not being able to work out a deal. It’s hurting their operations. For the MLB, it was terrible timing, too, as Bally was dropped right as their season was kicking off. Bally Sports also carries the NBA and NHL, but those regular seasons had just wrapped up, so it wasn’t as noticeable to those viewers. Unless, of course, they wanted to tune into baseball.
Latest on the Bally Sports and Comcast/Xfinity Saga
It’s been weeks now, and there’s still no deal in sight. Diamond Sports, which operates the Bally stations, and Comcast are still “negotiation” over money. I put negotiation in quotes, because it doesn’t seem like talks are really going anywhere. Diamond Sports and Bally Sports carry a dozen MLB teams on their channels, which is more than one-third of the league.
On May 1, Comcast/Xfinity released a statement that read, “The owner of Bally Sports is in bankruptcy proceedings, and we have offered them multiple options to continue carrying their networks. They have declined each one, and we no longer have the rights to continue carrying their content.”
Now, the MLB is speaking out. “This abrupt loss of carriage is profoundly harmful to MLB,” the league and various teams stated in a court filing on Tuesday (May 21, via Bloomburg). MLB’s filing continued, commending on the Bally Sports and Comcast/Xfinity negotiation, “Without incoming revenue from Comcast, substantially increased risk of shutting down altogether.” So, they’re basically saying that Bally will shut down if they can’t come to an agreement with Comcast soon.
Comcast currently has 13.6 million video subscribers in the first quarter this year. Even as negotiation drag on, Bally Sports has stated they’re trying to find a new naming partner for their channels.
Diamond Sports broadcasts about half of all MLB, NBA and NHL games. There’s really not other single provider that offers so many games during the regular season. So, this is a really big loss for Comcast/Xfinity customers. I’ve fielded emails from customers super upset about Bally being gone and saying they’re going to drop Comcast/Xfinity.
Diamond is currently in bankruptcy restructuring. In order to come out on top, they have to review their deals with three major cable partners, including Comcast/Xfinity. They’ve been able to do so with their other partners, just not Comcast. “It’s disappointing that Comcast rejected a proposed extension that would have kept our channels on the air and that Comcast indicated that it intends to pull the signals, preventing fans from watching their favorite local teams,” Diamond regarding the Comcast/Xfinity deal in a statement.
So many customers lost Bally across America, including me. Here’s hoping there’s a Bally Sports and Comcast/Xfinity deal before it’s too late.