Texas Rangers Remaining on Bally Sports Southwest

Diamond Sports Group is expected to make its next rights fee payment on Thursday after catching up on its first payment.

© Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Diamond Sports Group is no longer behind on its rights fee payments to the Texas Rangers and will retain the team’s television rights, according to the Dallas Morning News.

DSG, which owns the Bally regional sports networks, including Bally Sports Southwest, had until Thursday to catch up on the payments. Per the report, DSG has made the payment that was expected on April 15, which put them behind, and will make its next payment on Thursday.

From the Rangers’ perspective, this ends the drama around their broadcast rights — for now. Since March, the Rangers have contended that any missed payment by DSG — which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy — would constitutive an opportunity for the Rangers to take back their television broadcast rights. That information became public in March in documentation DSG provided to its bankruptcy judge.

In May, the Rangers joined a lawsuit led by Major League Baseball, along with the Minnesota Twins and the Cleveland Guardians, who were also owed rights fee payments from DSG. The suit was filed to compel payment. A judge in Houston ruled in favor of Major League Baseball, did not reduce the money DSG owed those teams and ordered the parties to find a resolution.

DSG owned the broadcast rights to 14 MLB teams at the start of the season. It lost the rights to the San Diego Padres after missing two payments this year. MLB is now supporting Padres broadcasts.

Games will remain on Bally Sports Southwest. But this does not change the fact that much of the Dallas-Fort Worth area cannot watch games on BSSW because the network has not struck deals with cable and satellite companies like Dish, Hulu, Sling and YouTube TV. BSSW also doesn’t own the streaming rights to the Rangers.

Bally Sports Southwest also carries the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars.

The Rangers originally signed a 20-year, $3 billion deal in 2010 with Fox Sports Southwest, which was purchased by DSG and became Bally Sports Southwest in 2019. It is believed the Rangers are owed $111 million in 2023.

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