Diamond Sports Group Expected to File Bankruptcy Impacting Bally Sports Which has Rights to MLB, Soccer, etc.

Parent company Diamond Sports Group, which owns Bally Sports, is expected to file for bankruptcy next week (see article from Sportico). As you can imagine, there are all kinds of rumors about what this means for sports streaming with rants about losing viewing of all sports to some services (such as MLB) going to providing all of their games on MLB.TV but charging $300 - $400 per year. All rumors at this point as no one knows what will happen.

I hope this opens up the ability for providers, such as YouTube TV, to be able to provide local sports once again. Again, rumors are flowing that the company going bankrupt means YouTube TV, and others, would not be in the market to provide the sports streams at all. It might be a bit early to figure out what will happen with sports streaming after the dust settles, but I have to think it will be a better arrangement for the fan.

Time will tell if this will help or hinder fans from watching their teams. I am hopeful this will help and there is the possibility that leagues could take over their broadcasts meaning no more blackouts. I cannot help but wonder if part of the reason Bally Sports is failing is because of how limited they were in their reach for customers. Bally Sports was available as a pay service which I am not sure many people purchased. Others had the Bally Sports network through their provider such as Cox, Direct Stream, or recently fuboTV. I know many others who simply did not watch as it was too much of a hassle to get their channels as they were not available on their selected platform or they did not want to pay extra for Bally Sports. Many others that acquired the broadcasts through other means. Make it difficult to watch sports and people will find other ways or stop watching entirely.

To early to tell how the upcoming bankruptcy will impact streaming, but have to believe it will have impact on this season that is fast approaching for MLB. What exactly will be impacted is rumor and guessing, but I expect we will hear something impacting Bally Sports in the near future. I will continue to hope for improvement to the current structure to make it easier and better for fans to watch sports.

Until next time, have a great week! I am prepping for the Super Bowl later this evening. I cannot wait! Go Chiefs!

Bally Sports Kansas City New #Royals Graphics #TogetherRoyal #BallySports

The start of the MLB season started on Thursday, April 1 and with it we saw a new branded channel. Formerly Fox Sports Midwest. It seems like we have watched Royals baseball on Fox Sports Midwest forever, but looking it up the channel launched in March 2008 (according to Wiki). The new branding is Bally Sports. Bally Sports officially launched April 1 but their web site still says “Coming Soon” and the app on my iPhone and Roku devices still says Fox Sports Go. The rumor was that everything was going to change on Opening Day of baseball, but that does not appear to have happened.

What did change was the broadcast. Broadcasters saying “Bally Sports” now and graphics indicate we are watching “Bally Sports” just to remind us over and over. I am still upset that I cannot get Royals baseball on YouTube TV and have to watch through my Mom’s streaming account from Midco. I am happy that is working and hope it continues to work to watch Royals baseball. I am one of the lucky ones as many people are not able to watch their favorite teams with blackouts or their provider no longer carrying the games (see Contract Disputes posted back in January).

For years we have had the same graphics and I have to admit I missed them when I first started watching the game on Thursday. I was so used to seeing the layout in the lower right hand corner when watching Royals baseball that I missed not seeing it in the corner. I am not sure, but I would guess the graphic for pitcher, batter, score, inning, outs, and count had not changed since Fox Sports Midwest launched in 2008, or if it did change it was not by much.

Having seen the same graphics for so many years, I get set in my ways, and expect to see them to start the new season. I think it will be fine with the new graphics, but I can still complain about what I do not like and then compliment the new changes that I do like.

Typical information on the graphics with the score on the left. Inning, bases, outs, and count in the middle. Then on the right side displays other games. The whole graphic is along the bottom of the screen. The center section is also where it displays MPH for a pitch. 

The addition of the running scores of other games is a new addition. I do not recall where scores of other games would post/scroll on Fox Sports Midwest  but I believe it might have been at the top and only if there was an interesting game in session. The most part, I do not think they showed scores of other games at all. That is a nice new addition with the scrolling scores to help keep an eye on those other games.

The center section section where it displays inning, who is on base, outs, and count needs some work is fine, but could use some color changes. Instead of outs showing as black dots, I would rather see red. The other complaint is that outs usually show left to right so it is odd to see them right to left. Again, not a huge issue, but it is going to take a little while to get used to the change. Although it appears this was only for the first game of the season on Opening Day. The second game of the season on Saturday had corrected the sequence of going left to right on outs, so it was better.

Overall, I like the new graphics and especially the scrolling scores of other games. It will take a while to get used to saying Bally Sports Kanas City, but I am sure we will all get used to it as they say it over-and-over throughout the game, commercials, and via social media.

I am so excited to be watching baseball and happy that at least for now, I get to watch Royals baseball. Enjoy the season for whatever team you follow.