Major League Baseball (MLB) took over the Arizona Diamondbacks’ game broadcasts after a bankruptcy judge granted a motion for Diamond Sports to reject its rights agreement, the Associated Press reported. MLB took over production of the broadcasts beginning Tuesday night at Atlanta in a game the Diamondbacks won 16-13. There were some early glitches, which included closed captioning being locked on during the first hour. MLB took over the broadcasts of San Diego Padres games May 31 after Diamond Sports missed a rights fees payment and let the grace period expire. The league set up a local media department during the offseason to prepare for a bankruptcy filing by Diamond Sports, which took place in March. Diamond Sports, which owns 19 regional sports networks under the Bally Sports banner, determined that its contract with the Diamondbacks was not profitable. It had a large rights payment due on July 1, but both sides tried to negotiate an amended agreement. Bally Sports Arizona paid the Diamondbacks on a per-game basis for any games played after July 1. Diamond Sports has been in chapter 11 proceedings in Texas since March. The company said in a financial filing last fall that it had debt of $8.67 billion. The Diamondbacks signed a 20-year, $1.5 billion contract with Fox Sports Networks in 2015. Diamond Sports Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group bought the regional sports networks from The Walt Disney Co. for nearly $10 billion in 2019. Disney was required by the Department of Justice to sell the networks for its acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s film and television assets to be approved.
