Diamond's Reorganization Could Bode Well for ESPN: Analyst

It would be "delicious irony" if Disney's ESPN acquired streaming rights for a variety of MLB teams through Diamond Sports' Chapter 11 bankruptcy, since Disney divested many of Diamond's regional sports networks due to antitrust concerns during Disney's 2019 purchase of Fox assets, Macquarie's Tim Nollen noted Tuesday. Nollen said MLB supports Diamond's plan to drop carriage of eight more MLB teams in December, atop the three contracts it already let expire, as MLB prefers to carry games on alternative streaming services including the MLB app. Nollen said Diamond's move could work well for ESPN's streaming service launching in fall 2025. Pointing to the 2019 RSN divestitures, he said "the TV landscape has changed with the growth of streaming, now rendering such linear market share concerns moot."