Another winter of uncertainty? The latest on RSNs for MLB, NBA, NHL

Diamond Sports Group will reach a solemn milestone this week: 18 months in bankruptcy court, dating back to when Major League Baseball was gearing up for the 2023 season. Since then there have been twists, turns and frustrations, but, notably, no resolution.

Diamond, which operates under the name Bally Sports, owns the largest group of regional sports networks in the country, with 33 MLB, NBA and NHL teams in its portfolio even after a handful of cuts over this past year and a half. The uncertainty has hit baseball fans hardest, from their teams getting dropped in-season in 2023 to a major distributor pulling their games off the air in 2024. In between, MLB owners — operating within a sport where local media is more closely tied to payrolls than in the NBA and the NHL — used RSN volatility as an excuse for lower offseason spending.

Diamond descended into Chapter 11 largely because it took on $8 billion in debt when it purchased its RSNs five years ago. But its predicament epitomizes what has become an exceedingly volatile media landscape, and the company’s fate could have profound effects on how fans consume sports moving forward. Below is a look at the most pressing questions surrounding Diamond’s ever-evolving situation — and what it could mean for sports fans.

So where do Diamond’s broadcasts currently stand?

At the end of April, Diamond and Comcast, its third-largest distributor, failed to come to an agreement before the expiration of their deal, prompting Comcast to pull Bally Sports channels off the air. The NBA and NHL were done with their regular seasons by then and thus unaffected, given that playoff games air nationally. But many baseball fans — particularly those who follow the Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins, teams Diamond doesn’t have streaming rights for and reside in markets where Comcast is prevalent — were shut out.

But in a surprising turn of events, Diamond came to an agreement with Comcast on July 29, then subsequently locked in new linear cable and direct-to-consumer deals with the NBA and the NHL 25 days later. The new contracts came with lesser rights fees but an assurance that the 13 NBA teams and eight NHL teams would be broadcast and paid in full for the entirety of the 2023-24 seasons, regardless of whether Diamond…