As Comcast/Diamond Sports impasse drags on, Marlins will pay for fans to stream games

The Marlins are now offering to pay to enable fans to watch their games.

Not in person, but on tablets and various devices.

With no end in sight to the contract impasse that has left thousands of South Floridians unable to watch Marlins games on television, the team will now pay for fans to receive two months of games on Bally Sports Plus. That would typically cost viewers at least $40.

For more details on the offer or to sign up, go to Marlins.com/BallySports.

Bally Sports Plus is a direct-to-consumer streaming service within the Bally Sports app. The app is available to download on most iOS devices, Android devices, Windows PC and tablets. It’s also available on living-room/connected-device platforms. So if viewers wants to watch on television, they can use a Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, or directly through a Samsung Smart TV.

Click here for a list of all the devices where the app is available.

On May 1, Comcast, the dominant cable provider in South Florida, yanked Bally Sports networks from the homes of all of its subscribers nationally after months of negotiations between Comcast and Diamond Sports Group (which owns the Bally sports regionals) failed to produce a new carriage agreement.

In Florida and 12 MLB markets overall, that contract impasse has left many fans unable to watch their team’s games on television.

In the meantime, Bally Sports Florida has encouraged fans to watch games on its app.

In March, Bally launched Season Pass as a streaming service on its app. It costs $67.99 for all Bally Sports Florida programming through Sept. 29 or $29.99 a month for all Bally Sports Sun and Bally Sports Florida programming.

At some point in the future (likely in 2025), Amazon Prime is expected to begin streaming games of the Marlins and four other MLB teams in their broadcast territories.

That will supplement Bally Sports Florida’s television coverage of the Marlins, which is expected to continue in 2025.

At the root of the disagreement between Comcast and Diamond is Comcast’s desire to place Bally sports networks on a tier.

Comcast purports to have research indicating that 70 percent of its consumers don’t want the Bally sports networks. Comcast prefers that those who would like to get the channels pay for them on a tier – an idea that Diamond opposes.

Diamond filed for bankruptcy protection in March. As early as late July, a bankruptcy judge could decide whether Diamond - which owns 19 regional sports networks - will shut down. If Diamond emerges from bankruptcy, it would be expected to honor its longterm contract with the Marlins and other teams.

Even after the bankruptcy filing, the expectation has been that Bally Sports Florida and Bally Sports Sun will continue to operate.

But with the Comcast/Diamond stalemate dragging on, the Heat and Panthers also must now decide what to do with their games next season.

“Diamond, in our view, doesn’t appear to have a viable business plan come this fall,” NBA attorney Vincent Indelicato said in bankruptcy court on June 4, via ESPN. “And that’s very concerning as we approach the beginning of our season in a few months.”

Bally Sports Sun carries all Heat games that aren’t on ABC or (in most cases) TNT. Bally Sports Florida carries most Panthers games.