Bally Sports Networks Go Dark on Comcast

Comcast lost Bally Sports’ 15 RSNs as the clock struck midnight Tuesday, with the two unable to reach a renewal agreement.

Such negotiations often go down to the wire, but Comcast began warning around 9pm ET that it expected the channels to go dark.

“We have been very flexible with [Bally Sports owner] Diamond Sports Group for months as they work through their bankruptcy proceedings, providing them with an extension on the Bally Sports Regional Networks last fall and a unilateral right to extend the term for another year, which they opted to not exercise,” the operator said in a statement. “We’d like to continue carrying their networks, but they have declined multiple offers and now we no longer the rights to this programming. We will proactively credit our customers for the costs associated with them—most will automatically receive $8 to 10 per month in credits.”

Diamond Sports had been on a roll, recently inking a renewal with Charter and hammering out a deal in principle with DirecTV. The programmer seems to feel pretty confident that the tentative agreement will be signed, directing impacted Comcast customers to DirecTV and DirecTV Stream as well as Fubo or its DTC offering Bally Sports+.

“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. Comcast has refused to engage in substantive discussions despite Diamond offering terms similar to those reached with much larger distributors of ours,” Diamond said in a statement. “We are a fans-first company and will continue to seek an agreement with Comcast to restore broadcasts, and at this critical juncture for Diamond, we hope that Comcast will recognize the important and mutually beneficial role Diamond and RSNs play in the media ecosystem.”

Comcast has been inking deals recently with RSNs that move them to less widely distributed tiers, striking such pacts with MASN and SportsNet Pittsburgh. The operator is taking the hard line that customers should have a choice over whether they want to pay for the networks or not. Comcast also is in the RSN business, owning five RSNs, including NBC Sports Bay Area and SNY. Those nets aren’t up for renewal right now.