AP Report Says Amazon Will Invest In Diamond Sports

AP Report Says Amazon Will Invest In Diamond Sports

The AP released a report today that should make Columbus Blue Jacket fans extremely happy. According to the report, "Amazon will partner with Diamond Sports as part of a restructuring agreement as the largest owner of regional sports networks looks to emerge from bankruptcy."

The report also states that Amazon will take over production and distribution for not only the NHL teams that currently use Diamond but also the NBA and MLB that do as well. So this means, that not only will Ohio sports fans be able to watch the Columbus Blue Jackets on Amazon Prime Video, but also the Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Cincinnati Reds. 

The AP piece also states "Customers will be able to access their local team’s content on Prime Video channels where Diamond has rights. Pricing and availability will be announced at a later date. Regional sports content will also remain available on cable and satellite providers."

This is all pending approval by the bankruptcy court of course, but this is Amazon we're talking about. There is also no mention of when this would happen, but we can assume it'll start next season, as the NHL and NBA have agreements with Diamond to keep local rights through the end of this season. 

Columbus Blue Jackets fans, as well as fans from around the country, should be rejoicing at this news. Many fans have suffered through major outages with the Bally Sports streams this season. From complete outages to log-in issues, to very bad streams and everything in between, they've been through it all, and all they want to do is watch their teams play.

It's estimated that 167.2 million people have Amazon Prime in the United States, and I'm willing to bet that most sports fans would pay a few extra bucks a month to watch their favorite local sports teams, and not have to worry about streaming issues. I personally use Prime Video a lot, including watching the Thursday Night NFL games on Prime, and have never had major issues. When Amazon first started the Thursday night NFL games, the streams were a bit laggy, but I can almost guarantee you it was because there were millions of people all trying to watch at the same time. It won't be like that for the regional sports in terms of sheer numbers trying to log in and watch. 

This should be exciting for CBJ fans, and all Ohio sports fans alike. 

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Next Up: The Blue Jackets welcome the New Jersey Devils into Nationwide Arena on Friday.

Join Jason Newland's Columbus Blue Jacket page on Bunches, a new app that connects sports fans. Also, you can watch a new YouTube game show about the Blue Jackets, Around the Fifth Line.