Diamond Sports Group has relinquished rights to the San Diego Padres, whose games will be distributed by MLB starting Wednesday. Plus: NBC’s Big Ten schedule includes some low-profile games; ESPN and Sage Steele are said to be in private mediation.
Diamond Sports Group relinquishes Padres rights
Diamond Sports Group — operator of the Bally Sports RSNs — has relinquished rights to San Diego Padres games after failing to pay the team its scheduled rights fee and allowing its grace period to expire, per multiple reports Tuesday. As a result, Padres rights have reverted back to Major League Baseball, which starting Wednesday will distribute the team’s games without blackout restriction through the official team and league websites and the MLB app. Additional distribution partners could include Fubo, DirecTV, Cox and Charter, per Sports Business Journal.
MLB will provide the games free of charge through the weekend and then begin charging subscription pricing thereafter, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.
As the Padres announcers are employed by the team rather than the RSN, there will be no change on that front.
The Padres are the first team to exit Bally Sports since Diamond filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. As noted by SBJ, Bally Sports San Diego is not part of Diamond’s bankruptcy because the Padres owned a stake in the team. (SDUT 5.30, SBJ 5.30)
NBC’s primetime Big Ten schedule includes low-wattage games
Per Brett McMurphy of the Action Network, NBC’s primetime Big Ten schedule includes Charlotte-Maryland in week two and Syracuse-Purdue in week three. Last season, those matchups aired in the afternoon on Stadium and ESPN2, respectively. Neither game selection has been officially announced.
NBC has announced some higher-profile matchups, including its West Virginia-Penn State season opener and a Penn State-Michigan State game from Ford Field in primetime on Black Friday. It will also air Ohio State-Notre Dame in primetime this year, though that is part of its Notre Dame rights deal.
In other college football scheduling news, CBS announced its final SEC schedule on Tuesday. The network’s addition of Big Ten rights this season has not impacted its SEC slate, which consists of the usual weekly 3:30 PM ET windows, two Noon ET games, and one game each in primetime and on Black Friday. (McMurphy/Twitter 5.30, network PR)
ESPN, Steele, reportedly in private mediation
ESPN and parent company Disney are in the midst of a 90-day private mediation window with SportsCenter anchor Sage Steele and her lawyer Bryan Freedman as Steele’s lawsuit against the company continues, Variety reported Tuesday. Steele last year filed suit against the ESPN and Disney alleging breach of contract and violation of a Connecticut law prohibiting private companies from retaliating against employees for exercising their free speech rights. The suit came months after Steele was taken off air and removed from some assignments over comments she made on a podcast. (Variety 5.30)
