Today we learned that Bally Sports will not broadcast the 2022-25 NHL season of the Dallas Stars. According to court documents first spotted by Sportico Diamond Spots Group and Dallas Stars have agreed to terminate their respective contracts and go their separate ways. The contract was originally scheduled to run for almost a year and through the 2024-25 season. Now, the team will end its contract one season early.
It appears the Stars will follow the lead of other professional teams by moving to free television. As of yet, no new deal has been announced.
Late last month, Bally Sports disappeared from another cable TV company. Almost two months ago, Comcast dropped Bally Sports and now, Optimum TV has also dropped Bally Sports.
“Despite our best efforts and continued flexibility to reach a fair and reasonable agreement, Diamond Sports Group continues to seek unsustainable demands that would increase our customers’ television bills and, as a result, Bally Sports Networks has been removed from Optimum’s TV lineup. We do not believe it is fair for Diamond Sports Group to ask its customers to pay high rates for their channels while they are still negotiating content rights with various sports leagues and do not yet know what content will be available to their viewers.
The move comes as Bally Sports waits until the end of the month to figure out a plan to emerge from bankruptcy. Without Comcast and now Optimum TV, many partners at Diamond Sports Group, Bally Sports’ owner, are concerned about the company’s ability to continue operating.
Last May, MLB, the NHL and the NBA testified in court that they were concerned that Comcast would harm Bally Sports’ restructuring and exit plans. MLB went so far as to say that Bally Sports was “an unreliable partner” and that Comcast’s abandonment of Bally Sports had harmed it, according to BloombergThis forced MLB to implement an alternative streaming option for Comcast subscribers.
At last month’s hearing, NHL attorney Shana Elberg also said the league needed answers now about the future of Bally Sports’ RSNs. “We have been clear to the debtors that we need to get clarity on some outstanding issues this week,” she said, according to the statement. StarTribune.
So the question now is how concerned MLB, NHL and NBA are now that a second major cable TV company has dropped Bally Sports.
In a statement to customers, Optimum TV said:
At Optimum, we love sports and our local teams, but it is against the good morals of Diamond Sports Group to charge excessive fees while they are in active bankruptcy proceedings and content rights negotiations. We remain open to negotiations with Diamond Sports Group to have their content reinstated on Optimum’s television schedule and, in the meantime, we continue to put our customers first by providing solutions for viewers who wish to continue watching games broadcast on Bally Sports Networks. For more information, customers can visit optimum.com/ballysports or call 888-822-5151. »
