On Wednesday, Nov. 13, Diamond Sports — which owns and operates 16 regional sports networks and recently rebranded due to a partnership with the FanDuel Sports Network — reached a deal with Amazon Prime to allow the popular streaming service to start broadcasting their games as an add-on subscription offer for Prime customers.
This isn’t the first time a sports broadcasting network has turned to streaming in order to overcome decreasing viewership numbers. Various networks, including the New York Yankees‘ YES Network, which launched its own streaming service called Gotham Sports in October this year.
Amazon previously had invested a good chunk of change in Diamond Sports. In January, Amazon reached a deal with Diamond to gain access to some of their local content during the MLB season — particularly games for the Tampa Bay Rays, Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers, Miami Marlins and Milwaukee Brewers. At the time, Amazon did not have access to the entirety of Diamond Sports’ collection. After all, creditors had invested $450 million into Diamond Sports in order to ensure they could continue broadcasting NBA and NHL games through the end of the 2023-24 season.
Now though, it appears Amazon has come to collect on the rest of Diamond Sports’ ensemble. Here’s everything to know about Diamond Sports’ latest partnership:
Isn’t Diamond Sports going through bankruptcy?
Yes.
However, just because Diamond Sports is going through bankruptcy doesn’t mean it can’t broadcast regional sports. Diamond Sports are currently undergoing a reorganization plan that has drawn skepticism from Major League Baseball. Diamond Sports is allegedly seeking court approval to go through with its partnership with Amazon despite MLB’s doubts. More information should become available on Thursday.
How will games be available on Amazon?
Diamond Sports announced earlier this week that it would be offering games on Amazon and the FanDuel Sports Network app on an a la carte basis. Essentially, fans will have the opportunity to spend $6.99 to watch individual games for certain teams broadcasting with Diamond Sports. A subscription will not be required.
That’s pretty pricey though, and unfortunately, that might just be how it is for the time being. Networks have been careful when it comes to pricing their streaming options, not wanting to make it so low that it would disrupt the cable TV model and breach their contracts with distributors. Despite the rapidly declining cable TV model, much of Diamond Sports’ broadcasting is still done through cable TV avenues.
Is this agreement exclusive?
No.
Diamond Sports allegedly still has the ability to find streaming deals with other streaming services. The main benefactor of this is FanDuel Sports, which had earned the rights to broadcast Diamond Sports’ content on its platforms in October. Streaming options with the FanDuel Sports Network, particularly through the network’s app, will still be available despite much of the content coming to Amazon.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Amazon Prime to start streaming Diamond Sports regional networks