Diamond Sports Group, which provides local television broadcasts for nearly half of NBA, NHL and MLB games, filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection in Texas on yesterday, caught between expensive broadcast rights agreements and sports viewers' cord-cutting habits, Reuters reported. Diamond Sports, a Sinclair Broadcast Group subsidiary that operates the "Bally Sports" branded channels, listed assets and liabilities between $1 billion and $10 billion each in its chapter 11 petition. Diamond CEO David Preschlack said Tuesday that the Diamond "will continue broadcasting games and connecting fans across the country with the sports and teams they love" during its chapter 11 bankruptcy. Diamond said that it has $425 million in cash on hand, but it owes $9 billion to its lenders and is weighed down by long-term broadcast rights agreements that make less economic sense as customers move away from cable and towards online streaming options.
