Diamond Sports Group making ‘substantial progress’ in talks with Comcast

There may be light at the end of the tunnel in the carriage negotiations between the Diamond Sports Group, owner and operator of the Bally Sports regional sports networks (RSNs), and Comcast.

Per ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez, Diamond claims it is making “substantial progress” on a new carriage deal with Comcast and has requested a brief delay to a scheduled confirmation plan hearing from Judge Christopher Lopez, originally scheduled for next week.

“We believe that we have made substantial progress on resolving our issues with Comcast, and we have the intention of fully documenting and executing an agreement with Comcast to broadcast our RSNs in the very near term,” Diamond attorney Brian Hermann said in court, alluding to Diamond’s regional sports networks.

After striking deals with Charter and DirecTV in April, Diamond looked for a similar agreement with Comcast. However, the two sides failed to come to terms, and the Bally Sports RSNs were pulled by Comcast at the start of May.

Hermann, an attorney representing Diamond, said the company will “move quickly” despite asking for the delay. He also said the schedule for the confirmation plan would be “swift” and that Diamond would be “out of bankruptcy well ahead of the start of the seasons for the NBA and the NHL.”

“It is not lost on the debtors that we need to move quickly,” Hermann said. “We have been moving quickly, and we will continue to move quickly to get to confirmation.”

[…]

“The plan will be to come forward with a confirmation schedule that is swift and can get the company out of bankruptcy well ahead of the start of the seasons for the NBA and the NHL,” Hermann said in court. “I will also undertake on behalf of the company that if we conclude that we cannot reorganize the business, which is a possibility, we will similarly pivot quickly and [ask] for the court to discuss the best way to proceed from there. That’s not our focus today, but that is a possibility, and it’s not lost on us.”

This month, Comcast and Diamond went back to the negotiating table to continue the critical conversations that will shape the future of locally broadcast sports in the United States. If Comcast and Diamond can’t reach a deal, the short and long-term broadcast plans of the teams whose games still air on the Bally Sports RSNs will be up in the air.

[ESPN]