The regional sports network saga has been simmering for more than a year now.
In 2023, as the Major League Baseball season was winding down its regular season, the San Diego Padres had to unload their star, Juan Soto, to the New York Yankees. 
The Padres were broke, busted. The Yankees were flush with cash.
The difference? The Padres’ were no longer on the receiving end of their television revenue.
The Yankees, on the other hand, have YES as their television broadcast.
The Diamond Sports Group, DSG, has been bankrupt, and is in a federal Houston Court looking for a way out of bankruptcy.
Bally Sports+ is owned by DSG, and broadcasts live games for 38 franchises in the NBA, MLB, and NHL; games are broadcast through regional sports networks.
There is not enough money to go around, and parties on both end of the equation want to see the green.
It is more than simply bad management, over extension, and short-sighted planning. The landscape has changed quickly and dramatically. There aren’t the eyeballs on the television. any longer.
Last Monday, MLB’s Miami Marlins announced they would pay for fans to watch Bally Sports+ broadcasts of their games for two months. The Marlins are 25 games out of first place, the season is over. Who is going to watch the Marlins, free or otherwise?
As July opened, and the holiday week and weekend loomed, DSG was informed that the Optimum cable service was dropping the Bally Sports+ regional sports networks. (RSN). Neither side could reach an agreement leading to the cessation of broadcasting.
“Despite our best efforts and continued flexibility to reach a fair and reasonable agreement, Diamond Sports Group continues to seek unsustainable demands that would raise our customers’ TV bills and, as a result, Bally Sports Networks has been 
Bally Sports+ Diamond take another hit removed from Optimum TV lineups,” Optimum said in a statement on 1 July. “We do not believe it is fair for Diamond Sports Group to ask customers to pay high rates for their channels when they are still negotiating content rights with various sports leagues and do not yet know what content will be available to their viewers.”
Optimum had carried the following RSNs.
Bally Sports Arizona, Bally Sports Extra, Bally Sports Great Lakes, Bally Sports Kansas City, Bally Sports Midwest, Bally Sports New Orleans, Bally Sports Ohio, Bally Sports Oklahoma, Bally Sports South, Bally Sports Southeast, Bally Sports Southwest, and Bally Sports West.
The bankruptcy court proceedings in Houston are not expected to produce any positive, or negative, news until the end of July when the judge hearing the case has a statement.
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