Twins Video
Q: Why the hell can’t I watch the Twins on cable, suddenly?
A: Bally Sports, the network that owns the Twins’ 2024 TV rights, no longer has a contract with Comcast, the cable provider for most of the Twin Cities. They haven’t been able to agree on a new one for all of Bally Sports’ 15 regional networks, including locally-based Bally Sports North, so now they’re pointing fingers at each other.
Q: So, how the hell do I watch the Twins on TV?
A: Switch to a cable provider or satellite network provider that Bally Sports North is still on. These include Direct TV or Fubo.
Q: I thought all this garbage was solved in the offseason?
A: There was a different dispute in the offseason. In the offseason, the Twins didn’t have a deal with anyone for their TV rights. They came to an agreement with Diamond Sports Group, who owns the Bally channels. This is different. Now Diamond Sports (Bally) can’t come to an agreement with Comcast to have their television channel on Comcast’s cable package.
Q: Can’t the Twins do anything about this?
A: They have been quick to point out that they can’t, but that conveniently ignores that they voluntarily slapped some big golden handcuffs on themselves. They were in a position to influence this just a couple of months ago, but instead, they took a big wad of money from Bally for their TV rights, giving up control of how it would be brought to consumers. (Then, by the way, they pocketed that money and still decreased the team’s payroll by $30+ million, anyway.)
Q: That’s it! I’m cutting the cord! How can I stream the games?
A: You can’t, or at least not if you’re in the Twins’ market. Part of the Twins’ current TV rights deal with Bally includes a provision such that they can’t give streaming rights to be sold in-market. In fact, that provision is one of the reasons they were able to get the deal done with Bally.
If you’re not in the Twins’ market or can trick MLB into thinking you’re not with a VPN (virtual private network) or similar tech wizardry, you can subscribe to MLB TV to watch all the games.
Q: So, I’m just screwed?
A: Either you switch providers, or you hope that two large companies resolve this pretty massive face-off. For what it’s worth, both companies should be feeling a fair amount of pain, too.
It sounds like Bally was getting paid $8-10 per month per subscriber previously from Comcast, so they’re likely losing millions per month in revenue just from the Twin Cities market, and they’re still on the hook for paying the Twins for the TV rights. Meanwhile, Comcast, amidst a challenging environment where more and more people are cutting the cord, just dropped the one reason a big chunk of their market still has cable. Those are subscribers who may never come back.
You can also multiply the pain in those companies by roughly 15. This dispute affects all of Bally’s Sports’ 15 regional sports networks, not just Bally Sports North.
Q: Any other ideas?
A: No, but maybe someone will offer up good ones in the comments. We’re navigating this, just like you.
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