Comcast and Diamond Sports Group are not renewing the deal: no tigers on Xfinity

On By Vaseline

play

If you have Xfinity and are trying to watch the Detroit Tigers, you’ll probably need to find some other options.

Diamond Sports Group, which operates all 18 of Bally Sports’ regional channels, and Comcast were unable to reach a new carrier agreement before Tuesday’s deadline, leaving tens of thousands of Michigan customers in the dark about local Major League Baseball coverage and, if things were to happen will not be resolved in the coming months, NHL and NBA games.

Bally Sports Detroit is one of the few channels where in-market streaming is available through the Bally Sports+ app. BSD is also still available on DirecTV and FUBO. For those outside the state of Michigan, MLB.tv is still an option for Tigers games.

“It is disappointing that Comcast has rejected a proposed extension that would have kept our channels on the air and that Comcast has indicated it plans to intercept the signals, preventing fans from watching their favorite local teams,” Diamond said Sports in a statement released Tuesday evening. “Comcast has declined to engage in substantive discussions, despite Diamond offering terms similar to those of many of our larger distributors. We are a fan-centric company and will continue to seek an agreement with Comcast to restore broadcasts, and at this critical time for Diamond, we hope that Comcast will recognize the important and mutually beneficial role that Diamond and RSNs play in the media ecosystem.

Last year, Comcast reported that it had just under 15 million cable subscribers in the country, although trends indicate that “cord cutting” has been a part of all traditional cable services for years.

Diamond Sports has been on the brink of extinction in recent years, filing for bankruptcy and letting MLB take over production and distribution for two teams last season.

A few hours after the service outage on Xfinity, Diamond Sports and DirecTV announced a new multi-year distribution agreement.

The Tigers released a statement Wednesday morning reminding customers that these decisions are beyond their control.

“We are disappointed with the stalled negotiations between Bally Sports Detroit and Comcast, and the inconvenience this may cause to Tigers fans,” the statement said. “Fans who subscribe to other cable companies are not affected. Those affected can continue to watch Tigers games on the Bally Sports+ app, DirecTV, Fubo and MLB.tv. The Tigers have no say in this matter, but are hopeful about the two parties.” will reach an agreement as soon as possible.”

In January, news broke that Amazon would partner with Diamond Sports to distribute its channels, although that move still needs to be approved by the bankruptcy courts.

“We have been very flexible with Diamond Sports Group for months as they went through their bankruptcy proceedings, which last fall gave them an extension from the Bally Sports Regional Networks and a unilateral right to extend the term for another year, which they did not want to do. exercise,” Comcast said in a statement Tuesday evening. “We would like to continue carrying their networks, but they have rejected multiple offers and now we no longer have the rights to this programming. We will proactively credit our customers for associated costs; most automatically receive $8 to 10 per month in credits.