Amazon to invest in Diamond Sports (Bally Sports) as part of bankruptcy deal

[Auggie]

ESPN

Diamond owns 18 networks under the Bally Sports banner. Those networks have the rights to 37 professional teams: 11 MLB, 15 NBA and 11 NHL.

Diamond Sports has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the Southern District of Texas since it filed for protection last March. The company said in a late 2021 financial filing that it had debt of $8.67 billion.

SNIP

(Amazon's) agreement with Diamond Sports' largest creditors allows it to emerge from bankruptcy, continue operations and prevents a total collapse of the regional sports network system where the NBA, NHL and MLB would have to step in to take over production and distribution of most of their teams.

Under the terms of the restructuring agreement, Amazon will make a minority investment in Diamond and enter into a commercial arrangement to provide access to Diamond's content via Prime Video.

https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/39327963/amazon-invest-diamond-sports-part-bankruptcy-deal

Networks and regions served by Bally Sports: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bally_Sports (scroll down). It's a lot.

Is Amazon Prime poised to take to control over how much of the country watches televised sports?

[Xavier Breath]

1. They saw the numbers that the Miami/KC game did via streaming

and I'm guessing that now they're going to gut what gets broadcast on cable. My local team already has games appearing on Hulu or some damn thing that I don't get to see, and now here go the rest.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

2. That makes me happy. And a little scared about Amazon growing.

Milwaukee Bucks fan and I use Hulu for live TV. Bally isn't on Hulu, so I need to buy a Bucks NBA pass and fire up the VPN to watch a Bucks game.