Main Street Sports spent the last few months shutting down its portfolio of regional sports networks. Now it's suing Comcast and Charter for underpaid licensing fees. That's like burning down your house and then filing a warranty claim on the smoke detector.
The company waited until after the NHL and NBA seasons ended to start winding down. Strategic timing. Really maximized the value there. Nothing says "we have leverage in this negotiation" quite like actively dismantling your entire business model while the lawyers draft the complaint.
Comcast and Charter allegedly underpaid for content that Main Street no longer produces. The legal theory here is fascinating. Sue for past underpayment on a product you've discontinued. It's the corporate equivalent of your ex demanding back rent after she already moved out and set the apartment on fire.
Regional sports networks have been collapsing faster than a retail trader's portfolio during earnings season. Cord-cutting killed the model. Streaming fragmented the audience. And now Main Street wants to squeeze a few more dollars out of the corpse before the bankruptcy attorneys show up.
The lawsuit probably costs more to litigate than whatever underpayment they're claiming. But when you're already in the process of winding down, why not throw good money after bad? It's not like they need to save capital for future operations. They don't have future operations.
Comcast and Charter will settle for pennies or drag this out until Main Street runs out of cash to pay outside counsel. Either way, the only winners are the lawyers billing $800 an hour to argue about whether regional sports networks were worth anything in the first place.
They weren't.
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