Comcast and Atlanta Braves woes continue amid Bally fallout

Bally Sports South and Southeast in Atlanta are among 15 regional sports networks nationwide that “had to pull out of Comcast when the contract expired on May 1.”Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

Cable company Comcast/Xfinity’s customers ‘still can’t watch Braves games’ as standoff with Bally RSN owner Diamond Sports continues with ‘end in sight,’ according to ATLANTA’s Chris Vivlamore JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. Jeff Genthner, Managing Director of Bally Sports South/South East, said: “This is unfortunately something that is all too common in our industry. » Vivlamore noted that Bally Sports South and Southeast in Atlanta are among 15 RSNs nationwide that “had to pull out of Comcast when the contract expired on May 1.” Comcast is “working on deals with regional sports networks to have their content placed on a tiered system.” Genthner said Diamond is “looking for longer-term agreements” because “part of the plan emerging from Chapter 11 is to enter into longer-term agreements with distributors.” Genthner: “There is long-term certainty – for distributors, for teams like the Braves and, more importantly, for fans in not having to do this every six, nine or 10 months. That’s really what we’re trying to do here. Vivlamore noted that Comcast “continues to work toward a tiered system” and “reiterated that it will refund customers impacted by the situation.” John Demming, Comcast’s senior vice president/corporate and financial communications, said, “Nearly 70% of our customers who received these networks did not watch them. We are moving forward with our plan to proactively credit millions of customers for associated costs — most will automatically receive $8 to $10 per month in credits” (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 5/10).

WHO IS WATCHING: Bally Sports North Managing Director Randy Stephens said: “It was never our intention or desire to suspend the broadcast of these matches. » Stephens: “We were negotiating what we thought was a solution. We were very optimistic… the situation also surprised us. We hadn’t warned anyone (fans) what might happen, because we were planning to reach an agreement and we had made it known that we were more than open to an extension. In Detroit, Tony Paul noted that Bally Sports networks have “long been available on Xfinity’s basic cable package,” but Comcast “says only about 30 percent of basic cable subscribers regularly watch Bally Sports networks.” Comcast also said that “most customers who watch Bally Sports are already higher-tier subscribers.” With the trend toward cord-cutting “significantly hurting the cable giants’ bottom lines,” they are “trying to reduce monthly bills as much as possible to retain their customers.” Comcast said charging uninterested customers $8 to $10 for Bally Sports networks “is not the ideal way to do it” (DETROIT NEWS, 5/10).