Arizona’s professional men’s and women’s basketball teams are bouncing out of the regional sports network arena.
The NBA’s Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury reached a deal with broadcast station owner Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) to air the entirety of their regular seasons on local broadcast networks available throughout Arizona.
The local networks are available for pay-TV subscribers as well as for those who opt to watch for free by using an antenna. The teams also signed a deal with Kiswe, a privately held video technology company, to start their own direct-to-consumer streaming service.
The deal marks a pivotal moment that will see a professional sports team exit the regional sports business and bring regular season games back to fans through their local TV stations.
“I am incredibly excited to let you know that we have finalized and signed a deal that is an absolute game changer for our organization, our fans and the future of how we grow the game,” Suns and Mercury owner Mat Ishbia said in an email to executives, “In addition to being the first modern deal to go to exclusively over the air statewide, we are also building our own DTC product in partnership with Kiswe.”
Regular season games for the Suns were previously available on Diamond Sports’ Bally Sports Arizona channel. Diamond filed for bankruptcy protection in March.
GTN shares jumped 19 cents, or 2.5%, to $7.77.
