The future of Bally Sports North, the television home of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Twins and Wild, is cloudier than ever with news Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned Diamond Sports Group, which operates the Bally Sports Regional Network, may be on the verge of bankruptcy.
According to Bloomberg, Sinclair is likely to skip a $140 million interest payment in mid-February, which would trigger a 30-day grace period that could lead to the restructuring of $8.6 billion in debt.
Bloomberg says the debt restructuring process could linger into May or June.
The longer the process goes, the longer MLB, NBA and NHL franchises have to wait to receive massive payments owed as part of broadcasting rights agreements with the company.
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From afar, it appears the current NBA and NHL seasons won’t be impacted as Bally Sports only carries local broadcasts through the first round of the playoffs, at which point all games are nationally televised. First-round action in the NBA and NHL will be over before the end of April.
MLB will be in the middle of the regular season when the potential restructuring is resolved. What happens then is anyone’s guess.
Bally Sports North is not available on YouTubeTV or Hulu Live. In fact, outside of FuboTV, it’s not available on any streaming services other than DirecTV Stream. For cable cutters who don’t have a streaming service that carries Bally Sports North, the only other option is paying $19.99/month or $189.99/year to get Bally Sports+.
Bloomberg says Sinclair is considering a new streaming service that would give fans the option to pay for individual games, or even just the last few minutes of a game. Pricing for that possibility is unknown.
