Battle Over MLB TV Rights Continues

With the next round of the battle over MLB teams’ broadcast rights set for Wednesday in a Houston bankruptcy court, at least one team is going to get its local rights back from the troubled parent of Bally Sports, reports The Dallas Morning News.

Diamond Sports failed to make a second rights payment to San Diego on Tuesday, allowing for the Padres to recapture their rights, according to a report from the Sports Business Journal. MLB will take over distribution of Padres games beginning Wednesday, according to the report.

Citing an unnamed source, the report said MLB will make the games free to stream through the weekend. The report also indicated that MLB plans to make games available in the San Diego market on Fubo and cable providers such as DirecTV, Cox and Charter.

The ability to stream games direct-to-consumer in market has been a central element of the fight between Diamond and MLB. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher M. Lopez will hear arguments about whether Diamond can be compelled to reject the rights.

While a decision is not expected Wednesday, the San Diego situation does provide some insight into how quickly things could proceed when, and if, a decision is rendered.

The Padres’ situation is a bit different than other clubs who have not received recent payments from Diamond. Bally Sports San Diego is not part of the Diamond bankruptcy filing because the team has an ownership stake in the regional sports network.

Diamond has skipped at least one local rights payment to the Rangers, Cincinnati, Arizona, Cleveland and Minnesota. The Rangers did not receive a payment, as scheduled, on April 15, but are not due another payment until June. Each local rights contract is somewhat different, making it difficult to compare one situation to another.

The Rangers last month filed a joinder to a lawsuit MLB brought on behalf of Minnesota and Cleveland seeking to compel Diamond to make rights’ payments or relinquish the rights.