|
The Sinclair Broadcast Group subsidiary filed
for Chapter 11 protection on Tuesday, citing its high debt,
outdated broadcast rights agreements and sports viewers'
cord-cutting trend.
Diamond attorney Andrew Goldman said during the company's first
bankruptcy hearing in Houston that it needs the right to stream
MLB games online to make up for lost revenue from declining
customer cable subscriptions.
"The (MLB) Commissioner's office has made it clear that they
want to take back the rights and go it alone, which will
effectively drive us out of the market if they are successful,"
Goldman told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez.
MLB's attorney, James Bromley, responded that Diamond cannot
force teams to provide additional streaming rights or make up
for declining cable revenue.
"We are dealing with a broken model, and it is not the
responsibility of MLB to fix that model," Bromley said.
MLB said in a statement that it was ready to broadcast games
online if the bankruptcy causes any short-term disruption.
Diamond, which also broadcasts games of 16 National Basketball
Association teams and 12 National Hockey League teams, has
negotiated additional streaming rights for their games, Goldman
said.
Diamond is "willing to pay fair value" for MLB streaming rights
and it previously reached streaming agreements with five MLB
teams, Goldman said.
However, he said MLB has instructed nine other teams not to
allow Diamond to stream their games online.
National cable subscriptions declined to 62 million in 2022 from
83 million in 2019, dragging Diamond's revenue down 24% over
that period, the broadcaster's court filings showed.
Diamond intends to continue broadcasting games and making
payments to teams during its bankruptcy. It has a restructuring
deal that allows lenders to take ownership and eliminate nearly
$8 billion in debt.
(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth; Editing by David Bario and
Richard Chang)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
|
