Tigers fans left in the dark as Comcast plays hardball, drops Bally Sports

For now, it's game over for Bally Sports Detroit on Xfinity.

Comcast, the parent company of cable and internet giant Xfinity, and Diamond Sports, the parent company of the vast Bally Sports stable of regional sports networks, failed to reach an agreement on carriage fees by Tuesday night's deadline, and the cable giant has pulled the RSNs off its cable lineup.

That means Xfinity customers in Metro Detroit and throughout Michigan — a number that is believed to be in the hundreds of thousands — no longer have access to Bally Sports Detroit on linear TV, as of midnight Tuesday. That means Tigers games are no longer available, a month into a season in which the Tigers have started an impressive 18-13 and are featuring heralded new play-by-play man Jason Benetti.

"We are disappointed in the stalled negotiations between Bally Sports Detroit and Comcast, and the inconvenience it may cause for Tigers fans," the Tigers said in a statement Wednesday. "The Tigers have no voice in this matter, but are hopeful the two sides will come to an agreement as soon as possible."

There are other options for Tigers fans wanting to view the games, including DirecTV, DirecTV Stream, FuboTV, AT&T U-Verse, Spectrum, WOW! or the Bally Sports Plus app.

The Bally Sports Plus app is $19.99 per month, and subscribers can watch all Tigers, Red Wings and Pistons games carried by Bally Sports Detroit. The app has been criticized for technical issues, which aren't likely to improve if there's an influx of new customers because of the Bally Sports Detroit-Xfinity situation.

Out-of-market fans also can watch Tigers games through a subscription to MLB.tv, for $149.99 for the year. All Tigers games will continue to air on the radio, at 97.1 The Ticket.

This is the latest setback for Bally Sports, which is in the throes of bankruptcy proceedings while the market continues to crash on cable companies thanks to cord-cutting, which has strained the relationship with their traditionally expensive carriage fees.

Diamond Sports is blaming Xfinity, and vice versa.

"It's disappointing that Comcast rejected a proposed extension that would have kept our channels on the air," Diamond Sports said in a statement. "Comcast has refused to engage in substantive discussions despite Diamond offering terms similar to those reached with much larger distributors of ours.

"We are a fans-first company and will continue to seek an agreement with Comcast to restore broadcasts, and at this critical juncture for Diamond, we hope that Comcast will recognize the important and mutually beneficial role Diamond and RSNs play in the media ecosystem."

Said Comcast, in a statement: "We have been very flexible with Diamond Sports Group for months as they work through their bankruptcy proceedings, providing them with an extension on the Bally Sports Regional Networks last fall and a unilateral right to extend the term for another year, which they opted to not exercise. We’d like to continue carrying their networks, but they have declined multiple offers and now we no longer have the rights to this programming."

Details of the contract negotiations have not been made available to the public.

Comcast said in its statement that it will begin issuing credits to customers, between $8 and $10 per month.

Meanwhile, sports fans in Metro Detroit and throughout Michigan woke up Wednesday morning considering their options. One of those is Marcus Abdullah, 35, from Grosse Pointe Woods. He's a big sports fan who has been an Xfinity streaming customer for about four years. He called and canceled his streaming subscription Wednesday morning. He was paying about $195 a month; he kept his internet, so his bill dropped to about $75 a month.

Abdullah isn’t sure what he plans to do to watch Detroit sports. Amazon is coming at some point — but it's not clear when and for how much — after partnering with Diamond Sports earlier this year. YouTube TV and Hulu no longer are options. He's heard the horror stories about the technical issues with the Bally Sports Plus app.

"It's been super frustrating," Abdullah said. "This has been going on for several years now. I'm a very avid Detroit sports fan who wants to watch my stuff."

Diamond Sports has more than a dozen RSNs across the country, broadcasting games of dozens of professional sports teams across Major League Baseball, the NHL and the NBA. Diamond Sports recently reached new deals with DirecTV, Charter and Cox cable companies, but Comcast, with more than 14 million subscribers as of 2023 but dropping, has proven to be a holdout. Cable companies have been losing customers in droves in recent years as, amid rising monthly bills, customers have sought out other, cheaper options, often a la carte style. That has led cable companies to be more cognizant of monthly carriage fees, with RSNs traditionally among the most expensive.

Diamond Sports bought its stable of RSNs for $10 billion from the Walt Disney Company in 2019 but has struggled to stay afloat ever since, even missing some rights payments to teams. It has not missed any payments to the Tigers (believed to be around $50 million a year), Red Wings or Pistons.

Diamond Sports filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, citing more than $8 billion in debt. In recent months, Diamond has seemed on a path toward future viability, particularly with Amazon, eager to expand its live-sports coverage, providing a lifeline by agreeing to take over the Bally Sports streaming service late in 2024 or early in 2025. It's not clear what the pricing would be for that service, though it's likely to be in addition to monthly Amazon Prime Video memberships.

Bally Sports Detroit, formerly Fox Sports Detroit, broadcasts the heavy majority of regular-season Tigers, Red Wings and Pistons games and has seemed to be one of Diamond's more financially stable RSNs amid all the uncertainty and bankruptcy proceedings. MLB has had to step into some markets to broadcast games, after Bally Sports missed some rights payments.

This year's Tigers games have seen the second-largest ratings increase, year over year, in MLB, in part due to the ballclub's performance — after nine years of missing the playoffs — and the offseason addition of Benetti, regarded as one of the best young broadcasters in the business. Benetti, in an unusual move, is a Tigers employee, amid the uncertainty of Bally Sports. Benetti's contract also allows him to miss Tigers games for national basketball and football assignments.

Bally Sports Detroit soon will be under new leadership. Greg Hammaren, senior vice president and general manager for 22 years at Bally Sports Detroit and Fox Sports Detroit before that, announced his retirement last month.

The Tigers annually drew some of MLB’s largest TV ratings during the 2006-14 heyday, which proved such a financial boon that the team even pushed back its first-pitch times for a handful of minutes just to squeeze in a few more ads.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

@tonypaul1984