Yahoo Finance Diamond Sports Cleared to End Dallas Stars TV Deal a Year Early
(Bloomberg) -- Diamond Sports Group is ending its broadcast deal with the National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars, as the bankrupt broadcaster seeks to make it through the summer.
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The deal was scheduled to run through the NHL’s upcoming 2024-2025 season, but Diamond said it was losing money broadcasting Stars games and had its lenders’ support to end the agreement early. Last year, the company dropped the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes and Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.
Judge Christopher Lopez on Thursday granted Diamond’s request to end its Stars telecast deal. The company, a subsidiary of Sinclair Inc., runs Bally Sports-branded local sports channels and sought bankruptcy court protection 16 months ago — weighed-down by billions of dollars in debt and cord-cutting consumers.
Lopez is scheduled to hold a hearing July 29 at which he will consider whether to approve a lender-supported restructuring deal, The agreement, also backed by Amazon.com Inc., would keep Diamond in business. FanDuel, the sports-betting giant, was close to a naming rights deal with Diamond, Bloomberg News reported last month.
Diamond is attempting to ease concerns from the NHL, MLB and National Basketball Association regarding the firm’s future. Lawyers for the three leagues have questioned whether Diamond’s restructuring plan is viable since it not longer has an agreement with one of its largest cable partners, Comcast Corp.
An MLB lawyer said in May that the league could be forced to set up alternative broadcast options for Comcast’s Xfinity subscribers if the dispute isn’t resolved. Xfinity said in April that it was no longer carrying more than a dozen Bally Sports channels that aired games of more than 30 teams.
The case is Diamond Sports Group LLC, 23-90116, US Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Texas.
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