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A reported move by Amazon to take over the streaming arm of Diamond Sports Group's operations is among several key recent developments in the regional sports broadcaster's bankruptcy case.
That could mean Cardinals and Blues games would eventually be streamed on Amazon Prime Video instead of Bally Sports Midwest's service.
Diamond is the streaming television and video distributor for dozens of teams throughout Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association, and those games are shown in Bally Sports-branded stores. But Diamond has struggled financially in recent years as consumers shift in droves from cable TV packages, the core of its business model, to streaming. Diamond said in a financial filing last year that its debt was $8.67 billion.
Bally Sports Midwest – local spoke to the Diamond wheel that produces the Cardinals, Blues and St. Louis college basketball telecasts. Louis – lost $13.8 million this year through September, according to a filing in Diamond's ongoing bankruptcy proceedings in federal court in Houston. This comes after BSM posted a profit of $2.5 million last year.
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The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Amazon is in talks with Diamond to buy the streaming arm, with Diamond continuing to operate its pay TV (cable, satellite, etc.) business.
But Diamond currently has the rights to sell these streaming productions directly to consumers with only five of its 11 MLB teams. The Cardinals are not one of the five. for them and others, viewers must subscribe to a pay-TV service carried by Bally Sports to access the stream. A much larger deal would have to be struck for Amazon to hold those contests, and MLB has shown a strong desire to control those rights.
Also last week, Sports Business Journal reported that an agreement had been reached for Diamond to pay in full all but two of the MLB teams (the Texas Rangers and Cleveland Guardians) under contract for next season. The Cardinals are among the clubs he said would receive full pay. The next hearing on the matter in bankruptcy court is set for Jan. 10.
The Cardinals are in the midst of a 15-year, $1.1 billion deal that runs through 2032 for BSM to show their games, with most of that total still owed. He is expected to be paid about $73 million for next season.
Recent maneuvers in the bankruptcy case seem to indicate that if the plan is approved, there will be no interruption of coverage at the Diamond stores except possibly for the Rangers and/or the Guardians in the 2024 season, after two teams are left to fend for themselves. last summer.
MLB doesn't want that to happen again and has been pushing the court for a resolution on next season by Dec. 31. But the recent mediation was described as “constructive” and “productive” and the judge called the parties' agreement not to have another hearing until Jan. 10 an effort to bring “peace to the country.” A lawyer for Diamond said the talks were trying to “bring peace to the valley”.
Some thought Diamond might close after the next baseball season, but that may not be the case. The Sports Business Journal said this week that “a deal with Amazon would obviously change the calculus. Nothing in Diamond's plan would prevent it from entering into new deals with its current partners, and having Amazon as an investor and distributor would likely make those deals more attractive.”
A lawyer for Diamond emphatically told the bankruptcy court last week: “We are not shutting down the business and liquidating.”
Meanwhile, Diamond has reached an agreement with the NHL to continue televising all 11 league teams under its umbrella, including the Blues, for the entire current season. There was some concern that the plug might be pulled before that. Under the terms of the deal, which still has to be approved by the bankruptcy court, the league will assume local rights for next season. That's similar to a deal Diamond made last month with the NBA for the league's 15 televised teams.
So, if all goes well, there will be no change in the way St. Louis watch their teams play through the end of the 2024 Cardinals season.
Sportswriters Ben Frederickson and Jeff Gordon empathize with Cardinals fans who think their holiday gift-giving load is looking a little light, at least so far.
