Facing a time crunch and with its survival increasingly in question, Diamond Sports Group is seeking legal assistance.
The bankrupt parent of Bally Sports asked a U.S. bankruptcy court in Texas late Tuesday for the immediate appointment of a judicial mediator to assist with “myriad issues they must confront on the path toward reorganization.”
Last week, that same court reset the deadline for DSG to submit a formal reorganization plan from the company’s intended Nov. 9 to Sept. 30. DSG will have to determine which of its 27 total NBA and NHL team media rights it will keep, a decision that requires meaningful progress on distribution renewal negotiations with Comcast, DirecTV, and Spectrum.
“The debtors have been hard at work on an updated business plan to right-size their business and balance sheet given the tectonic shifts impacting the entire cable industry to increased subscriber churn,” DSG said in its motion. “The debtors believe that the time for appointment of a mediator or mediators is now.”
It is common for bankrupt entities across a variety of industries to seek help from outside mediators to assist with parts of reorganization, particularly those relating to multi-party disputes. That is certainly the case with DSG, as its creditors, the involved teams, leagues, and the distributors all have different objectives.
As the DSG turmoil continues to build, a variety of other linear and streaming entities have shown interest in obtaining local team rights if available.
