Fans of the Nashville Predators were left disappointed when their Bally Sports South feed of Tuesday’s Game 5 of the NHL playoffs series against the Vancouver Canucks was suddenly cut off at 11 p.m. CT. The reason behind this blackout can be attributed to Comcast, as Diamond Sports Group, the network’s owner, and Comcast were unable to extend their rights deal by the deadline.
Despite offering terms similar to those agreed upon with larger distributors, Comcast failed to engage in substantive discussions with Diamond Sports Group, leaving them unable to reach an agreement. As a result, fans who missed out on the game had no other option but to turn to TBS for coverage or access services like Fubo, DirectTV streaming, and Bally Sports+.
The situation left fans frustrated as they were unable to watch their favorite local teams, including the Predators. According to Paul Skrbina, a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC and local sports for The Tennessean, fans can follow his work on X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina and reach him via email at pskrbina@tennessean.com From Barry Trotz’s impact on the Predators’ playoff success to Pete Weber’s journey to the broadcast booth, Skrbina covers a wide range of sports topics in Nashville.
In January 2021 Amazon announced plans to acquire a minority stake in Diamond Sports Group as part of a restructuring agreement aimed at helping the regional sports network emerge from bankruptcy. However this development did not prevent the blackout of Tuesday night’s game leaving fans frustrated as they were unable
