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For more than 30 years, John Kiesewetter has been the source for information about all things in local media — comings and goings, local people appearing on the big or small screen, special programs, and much more. Contact John at johnkiese@yahoo.com.

Bally Sports Ohio's Opening Day coverage begins 10 a.m. March 30

First pitch for the Pirates-Reds Opening Day game is at 4:10 p.m. March 30.
John Kiesewetter
First pitch for the Pirates-Reds Opening Day game is at 4:10 p.m. March 30. This shot is from 2016.

WKRC-TV again will simulcast the Reds Opening Day game at 4 p.m. versus the Pirates.

Play ball! Bally Sports Ohio's coverage of Reds baseball resumes as usual Thursday, March 30 — except for the addition of former WCPO-TV anchor Kathrine Nero to the TV team.

Bally Sports — whose parent Diamond Sports Group LLC filed for bankruptcy protection 10 days ago — announced Thursday that "all games of the Reds 162-game schedule not airing exclusively on a national platform will air on Bally Sports Ohio and the Bally Sports app."

Opening Day coverage starts at 10 a.m., two hours before the annual Findlay Market Opening Day Parade begins at noon. (Local TV stations will begin coverage before dawn in their morning newscasts.)

A 90-minute Reds Live pregame show will air 2:30-4 p.m., followed by the Reds-Pirates game (again simulcast on WKRC-TV) and the Reds Live postgame show.

All members of Bally's broadcast team return this year, along with an assist from Nero. In addition to co-hosting BSO's Opening Day parade for a third year, she will co-host "Reds Live on a handful of games throughout the season," according to Kate Zelasko, Bally Sports Ohio communications director.

Courtesy

Rotating Reds Live host Annie Sabo, daughter of Reds Hall of Famer Chris Sabo, announced on Twitter this weekthat she'll be back for limited duty for her second season because she's pregnant. She says she'll be "doing a lot of games in April and August pre/post having a child."

Nero has "been asked to fill in on a couple of dates in June and July (on Reds Live). This definitely is a full circle moment for me, after moving here to cover sports in 1998" for Channel 9, says Nero, media director for Game Day Communications.

Play-by-play announcer John Sadak returns for a third season along with analysts Barry Larkin and/or Chris Welsh, who was named Ohio Sportscaster of the Yearin January. Jim Day again will report from around the ballpark. Sam LeCure and Brian Giesenschlag returned to host Reds Live spring games from Arizona.

Looming over this season for Reds fans is the financial health of Diamond Sports Group, Bally Sports Ohio's parent.

When Diamond Sports Group announced the bankruptcy filing March 14, CEO David Preschlack promised that Bally Sports "will continue broadcasting games and connecting fans across the country with the sports and teams they love." Diamond said it had $425 million of cash on hand to fund its business and restructuring, and that it "expects that its Bally Sports regional sports networks will continue to operate in the ordinary course during the Chapter 11 process."

However, the New York Post reported that Bally "is expected to use the bankruptcy proceedings to reject the contracts of at least four teams to which it pays more in rights fees than it collects back through cable contacts and ads." The four teams are the Reds, Cleveland Guardians, San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks, the paper says, citing a confidential source.

Sinclair Broadcast Group — which owns almost 200 TV stations including WKRC-TV and Dayton's WKEF-TV (Channel 22) and WRGT-TV (Channel 45) — formed the Diamond Sports Group subsidiary after buying the old Fox Sports Ohio and 20 other Fox regional sports networks from Disney in August 2019 for $9.6 billion. Disney, which owns ESPN, was required to sell off the Fox sports regionals when it purchased 21st Century Fox's TV and film assets.

Diamond pays about $1.8 billion in annual rights feesto the 14 MLB clubs including the Reds, 16 National Basketball Association teams including the Cleveland Cavaliers, and 12 National Hockey League teams including the Columbus Blue Jackets, according to Forbes. Bally pays the Reds about $50 million in rights fees, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier.

Diamond filed for bankruptcy protection a month after failing to make a $140-million cash interest payment on its $8 billion of debt on Feb. 15. Diamond's revenues have been hurt by declining cable TV subscriptions, as viewers cut the cord in favor of streaming services.

Immediately after the bankruptcy announcement last month, Major League Baseball promised fans they'll see games on TV this season.

"Despite Diamond's economic situation, there is every expectation that they will continue televising all games they are committed to during the bankruptcy process," MLB said. "Major League Baseball is ready to produce and distribute gamesto fans in their local markets in the event that Diamond or any other regional sports network is unable to do so as required by their agreement with our clubs."

John Kiesewetter, who has covered television and media for more than 35 years, has been working for Cincinnati Public Radio and WVXU-FM since 2015.