The Minnesota Twins television troubles continue.
Comcast and Bally Sport's North parent company, Diamond Sports Group, failed to reach a contract extension regarding broadcast rights. That meant Comcast/Xfinity cable customers hoping to tune-in the Twins game against the White Sox on Tuesday evening were left in the dark.
A statement posted to Xfinity television screens early Tuesday morning read, "The owner of Bally Sports is in bankruptcy proceedings, ad we have offered them multiple options to continue carrying their networks. They have declined each one, and we no longer have the rights to continue carrying their content. As result, we'll be issuing proactive monthly credits to customers for the loss of this network."
"It's obviously unfortunate and we learned about it for the first time last night," Twins president Dave St. Peter told WCCO Radio's Vineeta Sawkar on Wednesday morning. "There's been an ongoing discussion between Diamond Sports Group and Xfinity. We see these carry out in different markets and ultimately they're resolved. It's frustrating and disappointing. From the Twins perspective, we're trying to do what we can behind the scenes to influence our partners like Bally Sports North to make our games more accessible."
St. Peter said despite this setback, he's seen how Diamond Sports has been actively working to emerge from bankruptcy.
"From our perspective Diamond has been actively working to emerge from bankruptcy, they have a long term business plan, and they have a partnership with Amazon. They're also the home in this market to the Wild and the Timberwolves. Diamond and their future remains in question. This news probably isn't helpful to that, but they have struck long-term distribution deals with other major providers."
During the offseason, the Twins reached a one-year extension on their broadcast rights for the 2024 season with Diamond Sports Group. Diamond Sports Group announced in January it had reached an agreement with a group of creditors to emerge out of bankruptcy, and that it would get funding from Amazon as part of a streaming deal.
As for watching the Minnesota Twins on television, Diamond Sports Group offered ways fans in Comcast regions can access their networks including subscriptions to Fubo, DirecTV or DirecTV STREAM or through Bally Sports+, although Twins programming is not accessible through Bally Sports+.
Minnesota Twins games can be heard live on WCCO Radio, 102.9 The Wolf, or by downloading the Audacy App.