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Amid many reports of Diamond Sports Group and Comcast talking a deal to restore Braves baseball and the other RSNs back to Comcast, comes this news from beat reporter Justin Toscano:
Great news for Braves fans: Diamond Sports Group and Comcast have reached an agreement. The Braves will be back on that cable package on Aug. 1.
The carriage dispute is over.
— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) July 29, 2024
The Bally Sports networks were pulled from Comcast their demand to place them on a higher tier in response to the cable giant losing over two million subscribers this year. Diamond balked at the request and the channels were removed on May 1st. The RSNs are available back at their original tier, which is the “Ultimate TV” package. So “ultimately” Comcast caved and the channels are back.
Comcast and Diamond Sports Group announced they’ve reached a new carriage deal today. Under the agreement, fans who subscribe to Xfinity’s “Ultimate TV” package can watch MLB games again beginning Thursday. They can also stream on the Bally Sports app using Xfinity credentials.
— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) July 29, 2024
At first blush, it appeared that Comcast attempted to force Diamond’s hand by restoring talks around the time that Diamond was due back in bankruptcy court in Houston on July 29th. Diamond has yet to put a plan together to pull themselves out of bankruptcy. That court date was pushed back, and any leverage was lost. It is difficult to negotiate with another party that can refuse to pay or render services, so Comcast caved. I mean, Diamond pushed themselves into bankruptcy to avoid payments anyway, so what incentive to they have to come out?
Many sports fans, including myself, will only submit to a high bill from a cable or streaming package for football season. Comcast is surely aware, but now in August they can add fifteen MLB teams to their lineup.
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