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Daniel Camerena #72 of the San Diego Padres hits a grand slam home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against Washington Nationals at PETCO Park on July 8, 2021 in San Diego, California.
Denis Poroy | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
The San Diego Padres have a new home base on TV.
Major League Baseball will broadcast and produce the team’s local games beginning on Wednesday, after the owner of Bally Sports San Diego, its regional sports network for local in-market games, dropped the team.
Diamond Sports, which filed for bankruptcy in March, said its Bally Sports San Diego would air its last Padres game on Tuesday after it opted not to make further rights payments to the team. The move comes as Diamond Sports pushes for the direct-to-consumer streaming rights for all MLB teams that air on its regional sports networks.
“MLB has forced our hand by its continued refusal to negotiate direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming rights for all teams in our portfolio despite our proposal to pay every team in full in exchange for those rights,” a Diamond spokesperson said in a statement. The company has noted that it has significant liquidity and is still able to make rights payments and air other MLB teams in its portfolio.
MLB announced it would take over beginning with the Padres game against the Miami Marlins on Wednesday. Fans in the Padres’ market will be able to watch games on cable TV or through the league’s MLB.TV streaming app for $19.99 a month or $74.99 for the rest of the season.
“As Commissioner Manfred previously stated, Major League Baseball is ready to produce and distribute Padres games to fans throughout Padres territory,” said Noah Garden, MLB chief revenue officer, in a release. “While we’re disappointed that Diamond Sports Group failed to live up to their contractual agreement with the Club, we are taking this opportunity to reimagine the distribution model, remove blackouts on local games, improve the telecast, and expand the reach of Padres games by more than 2 million homes.”
The MLB takeover means that local Padres games will no longer be subject to a blackout on MLB.TV, as is the case for other local teams. MLB added it would make games free through June 4 with a MLB login at MLB.com, Padres.com or in MLB apps.
On cable TV, Padres games will be available through four providers — Charter Communications‘ Spectrum, Cox Communications, DirecTV and AT&T U-verse. MLB said it would increase the reach of local Padres games from about 1.13…
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