What Bally’s deal with Amazon could mean for Rays, Bolts viewers
ST. PETERSBURG — Bally’s financial issues soon may lead to more viewing options for Rays and Lightning fans.
Diamond Sports Group, which includes Bally Sports Florida and Bally Sports Sun and which filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, has sold a reported $100 million stake in the company to Amazon, which is expected to make live games available on its Prime streaming service.
There were not a lot of details provided on Wednesday, and the agreement must be approved by a bankruptcy court, but it appears the Rays could be among the first teams to take advantage of Prime’s interest in sports programming.
The Rays — along with the Marlins, Brewers, Royals and Tigers — included streaming rights in their latest deal with Bally. For that reason, those five teams were part of Bally’s soft launch of its streaming app last summer and apparently will be among the first teams to debut on Prime.
While that might be good news for fans who have cut the cord on cable television, the economics of the plan are still to be determined. Amazon Prime sells for $139 a year, or $14.99 per month, but it’s not known if there will be additional fees for sports programming. The Bally app is $19.99 per month, but the company has not said whether that will also give viewers access to watch games on Prime.
Spectrum customers currently can access the Bally app, but it’s not known whether that will also extend to Prime. To those, and many other questions, Bally essentially has asked fans to stay tuned.
“Prime Video will become Diamond’s primary partner through which customers will be able to purchase direct-to-consumer access to stream local Diamond channels,” a Diamond press release said. “Customers will be able to access all local (direct-to-consumer) content, including live MLB, NBA and NHL games, and pre- and postgame programming, for the teams for which Diamond retains (streaming) rights.”
Bally also has streaming rights for the Lightning, but as part of last year’s bankruptcy-related negotiations that deal is set to expire after this season. With the season entering its final months, there may not be enough time to get approval from a bankruptcy judge to make 2023-24 games available on Prime. Bally, Amazon and NHL teams such as the Lightning presumably will be able to negotiate new deals for next season.
Diamond currently has contracts with 37 teams across the NHL, MLB and NBA. MLB took over the broadcasts of Diamondbacks and Padres games last year after Bally affiliates failed to make rights payments.
The agreement with Amazon, which could include an additional $50 million investment, should allow Diamond to pay off some of its creditors and avoid total liquidation. Parent company Sinclair will also provide close to $400 million in financing.