Diamond Sports negotiating with Diamondbacks to keep team on regional channel

Diamond Sports Group and the Arizona Diamondbacks are in talks to keep the team on Bally Sports Arizona for the time being.

The two sides were supposed to appear at a federal bankruptcy hearing on Thursday but have postponed the meeting in order to work out a deal that lets Diamond Sports continue broadcasting Diamondbacks games. The next hearing will take place in Houston on July 17th.

A joint statement from the team and channel operator reads:

“Diamond Sports Group and the Arizona Diamondbacks have decided to postpone tomorrow’s hearing due to ongoing and positive discussions toward finding a solution. During this time, Bally Sports Arizona will continue to broadcast D-backs games and fans will have the same televised access they have been able to enjoy from the beginning of the season.”

DSG filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March, impacting the future of cable broadcasting rights for over 40 Major League Baseball, NBA and NHL teams across the country. Presiding judge Christopher Lopez ordered that DSG makes at least 50% of its payments to teams owed.

Last Thursday, DSG filed an emergency motion, requesting that Judge Lopez end the contract with the Diamondbacks. Diamond claimed that it loses money on airing D'Backs games and that its contract with the team - a 20-year, $1.5 billion deal that ends in 2035 - was "unnecessary and burdensome."

Prior to the recent legal actions, DSG has only paid one team since filing for bankruptcy, the Texas Rangers. It had missed payments with several teams, including the Diamondbacks. In April, Diamond skipped rights payments with the San Diego Padres, triggering a clause that reverted the local broadcasting rights back to the team and MLB. The league has since produced Padres game broadcasts, hosting them on various channels in the metropolitan area as well as for free on MLB.tv.

Perhaps both sides have been shamed into coming to some sort of a temporary truce. Few things would be more embarrassing than a situation where fans can't see a surprise team that's leading its division above two World Series contenders because they're nowhere to be found on local TV. At 48-33 coming into Thursday, the Diamondbacks are 2.5 games above the San Francisco Giants and three games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West lead.