Comcast Pulls Bally Sports, Customers Left Without Detroit Tigers Games

If you're a fan of the Detroit Tigers and a Comcast Xfinity customer, you'll be doing without your beloved team, at least for the time being. Why is Bally Sports Detroit Not Available?

Diamond Sports Group is the parent company that owns 18 Bally regional sports networks, including Bally Sports Detroit. Comcast is the parent company of cable and internet provider Xfinity.

The two failed to reach an agreement over carriage fees by Tuesday's (4/30) deadline, so Bally's networks were pulled from Xfinity cable systems. Carriage frees are the fees paid by cable networks to TV providers for the rights to carry their programming.

As a result, Xfinity customers throughout Michigan no longer have access to Bally Sports Detroit through their cable system. The Detroit News reports that there are hundreds of thousands of Xfinity customers throughout Michigan, all of whom no longer have the ability to watch Detroit Tigers games on TV.

A Statement From Bally Sports Network

In a statement on Bally's website, the organization writes:

"It’s disappointing that Comcast rejected a proposed extension that would have kept Bally Sports channels on the air and have pulled our signals. As a result, Bally Sports broadcasts are unavailable to Comcast subscribers. We encourage you to contact Comcast directly at 1-800-Xfinity."

 

A Statement from Comcast

On the other hand, Comcast claims that they have been providing extensions for the last two months.

"We have been very flexible with Diamond Sports Group for months as they work through their bankruptcy proceedings, providing them with an extension on the Bally Sports Regional Networks last fall and a unilateral right to extend the term for another year, which they opted to not exercise."

Comcast goes on to say that they will be crediting customers for fees already paid for Bally programming, with most customers getting a credit of $8 to $10 per month.