Major League Baseball has rejected Amazon's offer to extend a lifeline of about $150 million to the nation's largest regional sports network, which is in bankruptcy, the Post reported.
Diamond Sports, a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcasting, filed for Chapter 11 protection last March as cord-cutting and the resulting loss of advertising revenue continued to change the RSN landscape, as the paper previously reported. I applied.
Last month, Amazon invested about $150 million in Diamond and offered to take over streaming broadcasts for the company's 11 teams, including World Series champions the Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals. He tried to save the Diamond Company. A person close to the situation told The Post.
But MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has argued against the proposal ahead of a bankruptcy hearing scheduled for Wednesday, a person familiar with the matter said.
“They rejected it because Amazon wanted a streaming deal longer than a year,” a source told the Post.
“Mr. Manfred said if you want a digital contract, sign with us.”
MLB and Amazon declined to comment.
At a bankruptcy hearing scheduled for Houston, MLB will ask Diamond to purchase three of its 11 teams in exchange for MLB acquiring the digital rights to all of Diamond's teams in 2025, according to people familiar with the matter. It is said that the company plans to offer a contract that will reduce the amount of media copyright fees it will pay.
Diamond's financiers said the bankrupt company could reject MLB's offer and seek a deal with Amazon, but that would be difficult.
Diamond, which broadcasts games under the Bally's brand, currently owns the digital broadcast rights for five of the 11 teams, in addition to the television rights.
“Diamond was attempting to renegotiate with baseball to acquire digital rights on a long-term basis.'' [for all the 11 teams] That will help bring in Amazon,” the source said.
However, MLB appears to be looking to eliminate the Diamonds and sign its own streaming deal with Amazon or Apple starting in 2025.
The two streaming giants currently have a deal to broadcast select teams, including MLB and the Yankees.
“Amazon wants to sign a digital deal with Major League Baseball,” said a person familiar with MLB discussions.
Amazon's bid for the Diamond portfolio, which was first reported on Dec. 18 by the Wall Street Journal, was announced on Jan. 4 by Yankees-owned Yes Network and James Dolan's MSG. This comes after the company announced that it has entered into a partnership with the potential to You can watch Knicks, Nets, and Rangers games on the same streaming site.
There is also speculation that the merger between YES and MSG could result in a bid to acquire media rights for teams outside the region, according to industry insiders.
Meanwhile, the NBA and NHL have already developed plans to retain Diamond's digital rights starting with the 2024-25 season.
Diamond owns media rights to about half of NBA teams and one-third of NHL clubs.
As The Post exclusively reported, Sinclair made its own offer to buy Diamond in exchange for RSN dropping a $1.5 billion lawsuit against its parent company for racking up debt and charging exorbitant fees. I did it.
