News: Disney-DirecTV, Diamond, PGA-LIV

Disney fires back at DirecTV in new press release. Plus: Court approves Diamond’s deals with NBA and NHL; PGA Tour and LIV Golf stars to faceoff in a made-for-TV match on TNT.

Disney releases new statement regarding DirecTV negotiations

Three of Disney’s top executives released a statement Wednesday sharply criticizing DirecTV as a carriage dispute between the two companies inches closer to the start of the NFL season . Disney Entertainment co-chairmen Dana Walden and Alan Bergman along with ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro filed a press release accusing DirecTV of misrepresenting the facts.

Disney later claimed that it is offering DirecTV packages that align with the distributor’s stated needs, including a sports-centric package. However, it’s unlikely that Disney is offering a deal that would allow those offerings to be included in a pared-down “skinny bundle” as DirecTV would like. The statement does mention that Disney is offering linear offerings bundled with the company’s direct-to-consumer offerings, similar to the agreement reached with Charter Communications last year. There was no indication about a timeline in which the carriage dispute could be resolved. (ESPN, 9.4 )

Court approves Diamond’s deals with NBA, NHL

The federal court overseeing Diamond Sports’ bankruptcy proceedings has approved deals the company reached with the NBA and NHL, per reports on Tuesday. The deals will see NBA and NHL franchises currently inked to agreements with Bally remain on the RSNs through the 2024-25 season, albeit at rights fees between 20-40% lower than the original deals.

No such deal has been reached with MLB, who continues to rail against Diamond in court. MLB representatives claim that the rate with which Diamond is burning through its cash reserves is unsustainable, and see the one-year deals with the NBA and NHL as a “band-aid.” Last month, Amazon opted to pull its $115m of funding it had pledged to Diamond back in January — backing that was seen as a coup for Diamond at the time. (Sportico, 9.3 )

PGA, LIV golfers to faceoff in match on TNT

Arguably the four highest-profile golfers from golf’s warring tours will compete in a made-for-TV primetime match this December on TNT. Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler will represent the PGA Tour, while Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka will represent LIV Golf. The match was first reported by Eamon Lynch of Golfweek .

Per reports, it’s unclear whether the event will be a continuation of TNT’s long-running golf series “The Match,” which has aired nine editions since launching in 2018. Either way, it will be a rare opportunity to watch golfers from the dueling tours compete outside of the four major championships. (Golfweek, 9.4 )

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