(Bloomberg) -- Diamond Sports Group canceled a court hearing that would have allowed the company to exit bankruptcy because it needs more time to reach deals with Comcast Corp., professional hockey and basketball leagues, a lawyer said in court Wednesday.
In the next few days, the local sports broadcaster will pick a new date to seek final approval of a reorganization plan and will wrap up talks with Comcast, company lawyer Brian S. Hermann told the judge overseeing Diamond’s Chapter 11 case. The company needs to put a tentative Comcast deal into legal documents, Hermann said.
The firm, which was scheduled to be in court next week for the final major hearing on its reorganization effort, also needs to negotiate a new deal with some of its senior lenders.
Diamond has made some progress, striking deals with 10 of its top 12 distributors, Hermann told US Bankruptcy Judge Christopher M. Lopez. Should current negotiations fail, Diamond could be forced to drop plans to reorganize, Hermann said.
To keep its revival hopes alive, the Sinclair Inc.-backed company needs new agreements before basketball and hockey seasons start this fall, Hermann said. One of its goals is to convince lenders to accept a new payout plan, he said.
“The facts on the ground today are materially different” from what had previously been negotiated, lawyer Daniel M. Eggermann, who represents first-lien lenders, said in court. “The treatment afforded to the first liens is no longer acceptable.”
Last month, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League Lopez that they were skeptical about Diamond’s chances of surviving bankruptcy.
Falling television ratings have pressured Diamond and other US regional sports networks as audiences move to streaming and cancel cable-television service. Diamond, which shows games in the home markets of dozens of teams, has struggled to extend traditional television broadcast deals with all three leagues while it builds a streaming product.
The company filed for bankruptcy in 2023 just four years after it was sold by Walt Disney Co. for $9.6 billion.
The case is Diamond Sports Group, 23-90116, US Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Texas (Houston).
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