TAMPA – Subscribers to the Bally Sports broadcast service were unable to watch much of the Bally Sports Sun broadcast of the Lightning’s 4-2 loss to the Blue Jackets on Thursday night in Columbus due to a problem with the network’s programming, according to the latest news from the team. TV rights holder.
There were no issues with cable (Spectrum), satellite (DirecTV) or other broadcast services (Fubo) with the Bally Sports network.
The program outage also affected subscribers to Bally Sports’ direct-to-consumer marketing service in other markets, including Detroit, Dallas/Fort Worth, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Milwaukee, disrupting their ability to watch local NHL and NBA games.
Bally Sports Sun subscribers reported experiencing a similar problem with the app on Monday when trying to watch the Lightning vs. Kraken game.
Subscribers were unable to log in to Thursday’s 7pm game before the Lightning, instead being hit with a pop-up window saying, “Outbound: We’re having trouble loading your website.” Multiple attempts yield the same results. At 7:32, Bally said they have been made aware of the issue and are working to resolve it. At 10:44, after the game ended, Bally announced that the problem had been fixed.
There was a major issue with a popular third-party service, Okta, that caused login issues with some of its customers, the Detroit Free Press reported.
On Friday, Bally Sports continued to deal with issues that caused temporary disruptions to its app and website.
Bally Sports will issue a credit to affected customers. Those affected can reach the network’s customer support team at help.ballsports.com.
When Sinclair Sports bought the former regional network Fox Sports four years ago and rebranded them under the Bally Sports umbrella, it promised to change the way sports are broadcast with a high-quality program that will include statistics and insider programming. sports betting side.
That did not happen. Diamond Sports, the company that operates 19 Bally Sports networks that broadcast games for about 70 NHL, Major League Baseball and NBA teams, has $8.6 billion in debt and in March filed for Chapter 11 reorganization to consolidate its debts and stay afloat. active.
Shortly after, when Bally’s rights to the Lightning were about to expire, the network made a deal with the group to renew its contract. The length and details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Bally Sports Sun lightning viewing in 2022-2023 increased by 60% over last year. Rays viewership is up 27% this season compared to 2022, according to Nielsen data.
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Over the years, disputes over the fees that cable companies pay to networks to carry them – known as fees – have made the Bally Sports network less accessible to viewers, as cable providers (Frontier) and streaming services (YouTube TV, Hulu. ) have dropped Bally’s network. Sports from their subscription packages.
Bally Sports then focused its efforts on direct-to-consumer subscriptions, which cost $19.99 a month and $189.99 a year. This year the company introduced cheaper season plans for viewers who want to watch a particular season of sports.
Contact Eduardo A. Encina at [email protected]. Follow @EddieintheYard.
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