Florida’s regional sports networks are getting new names. And they appear likely to emerge from a period of uncertainty still holding television rights to two of the three major South Florida teams that they’ve carried for years.
On Friday, Diamond Sports -- which owns 16 Bally regional networks, including Bally Sports Florida and Bally Sports Sun -- announced a commercial sponsorship deal with FanDuel, considered the nation’s No. 1 sportsbook operator, as measured by U.S. market share.
Beginning on Monday, Bally Sports Florida will be called FanDuel Sports Network Florida, and Bally Sports Sun will be FanDuel Sports Network Sun. Their channel numbers will remain the same on Comcast, DirecTV and other cable and satellite providers. All 16 Bally networks nationally will take the FanDuel name.
Also Friday, MLB outside counsel James Bromley mentioned in a court hearing that Diamond plans to keep rights to the Marlins in the wake of several MLB teams ending their association with Bally and moving their games elsewhere. A Diamond attorney also indicated that the Marlins will remain with Diamond/Bally/FanDuel.
The Marlins declined to confirm that, and it wasn’t immediately clear if the Marlins’ annual rights fee will drop from the $50 million or so that it received from Diamond Sports last year.
With Diamond filing for bankruptcy, it was uncertain at the start of the year whether the Bally networks in Florida would retain rights to the Heat, Marlins and Panthers.
The Panthers ended up moving their games to WSFL-Channel 39, but the Heat opted to stay with Diamond Sports, as part of a global NBA/Bally agreement involving a dozen teams. Heat games will continue to air on Bally Sports Sun (soon to be FanDuel Sports Network Sun).
And the Marlins now plan to stay with Bally.
Diamond recently confirmed that Amazon is no longer a potential investor but remains in conversations about a deal that would allow Amazon Prime Video to stream games of teams that air on the Bally networks, including the Heat and Marlins.
If a deal is struck, Amazon would stream the Bally/FanDuel coverage of Heat and Marlins games at a price likely to be similar to the Bally app, which will be renamed the FanDuel Sports Network app on Monday.
Regardless of whether a deal is reached with Amazon, Heat and Marlins games will be available on the FanDuel networks, which are carried by most major cable operators (YouTube among the exceptions), or through the Bally/FanDuel app.
Bally Sports app users who have automatic updates enabled will see the app transition automatically; if not, they will be prompted to update their app. Login credentials remain the same, and subscriptions purchased through Bally Sports will remain active.
Fans may continue to authenticate through their pay TV provider or subscribe directly to FanDuel Sports Network. Monthly, Annual and Season Pass subscriptions are still available at the same price point as currently offered.
Twelve MLB teams had games broadcast by Diamond/Bally networks last season. To this point, Diamond has announced plans to continue carrying games of the Marlins and Atlanta Braves and potentially others.
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