(AP) – Diamond Sports Groupthe largest owner of regional sports networks, may emerge from bankruptcy after its reorganization plan was approved Thursday.

Judge Christopher Lopez gave the approval during a 90-minute hearing in US Bankruptcy Court in Houston.

“This case was not a layup, not for anyone. A lot of work went into this,” Lopez said during the hearing.

Diamond Sports has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the Southern District of Texas since it filed for protection in March 2023. The company said in a financial filing last year that it has $8.67 billion in debt of dollars.

Diamond will emerge from bankruptcy with far less debt, but also with fewer teams and networks.

When Diamond went bankrupt, it owned 19 networks under the Bally Sports banner and had rights to 42 professional teams (14 baseball, 16 NBA and 12 NHL).

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The reorganized company now operates under FanDuel Sports Network banner after agreeing to a naming rights deal last month. It has 16 networks and offers games for 27 franchises (six baseball, 13 NBA and eight NHL).

The 16 networks cover fans in 31 states.

Last month, as part of the reorganization plan, Diamond canceled the contracts of the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays while trying to restore the deals of the five franchises that had partial ownership of their regional sports networks.

Diamond revised deals with the Tigers and Rays, as well as inking deals with the St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Angels and Miami Marlins, which includes streaming rights. Discussions continue with Kansas City Royals.

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The Cincinnati Reds and Diamond have ended their joint venture, but a lawyer for Diamond said during Thursday’s hearing that they would be willing to resume talks.

Cincinnati had a 20% stake in their affiliate RSN. Diamond bought back the Reds’ stake for $1.

Atlanta was the only franchise whose contract would have remained unchanged, but the Braves agreed to a modified deal that includes streaming rights.

Steam is an important avenue for Diamond as it looks to find new audiences. The company announced on Wednesday that it has reached a multi-year deal with Prime Video to make its channels available as an add-on subscription.

Prime Video announced earlier this year that it would buy a minority stake in Diamond Sports.

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Diamond will also offer single-game pricing on its direct-to-consumer app for NBA and NHL games starting Dec. 5.

Viewers will have the option of individual games for $6.99, as well as the chance to sign up for monthly or season passes.

Diamond Sports Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group bought regional sports networks from The Walt Disney Co. for nearly $10 billion in 2019. The Department of Justice required Disney to sell the networks for the acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s film and television assets to be approved.

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