On Friday, January 12, fans of the National Basketball Association franchise in New Orleans could relish the fact that they could tune in to watch the team’s game versus the Denver Nuggets without the need of a pay-TV regional sports network. The game marked the first Friday night broadcast of a New Orleans Pelicans game on Gray Television-owned WVUE “FOX8”, which was simulcast on WVUE-8.2, the local Bounce TV digital multicast network channel for New Orleans.
Now, the company now doing business as Gray Media has secured a deeper media rights deal that results in a forthcoming multistate sports and entertainment network anchored by WVUE-TV.
Atlanta-based Gray, in a pre-market announcement distributed Tuesday, shared the news that it has secured a fresh non-national Pelicans NBA game agreement with the team.
This will bring Pelicans play-by-play to 4.1 million households through the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network.
To be clear, there is no cable television channel coming to fruition here. And, there will be no cost associated with getting programming of any sort.
The new network will broadcast free as an over-the-air offering and will be made available on a variety of pay TV platforms through Gray-owned television stations in the Louisiana markets of WAFB-9 in Baton Rouge, KSLA-12 in Shreveport-Bossier City, KPLC-7 in Lake Charles, KNOE-8 in Monroe, and KALB-5 in Alexandria; Gray’s WLOX-TV in Biloxi, WLBT-3 in Jackson, WDAM-7 in Hattiesburg, and WTOK-11 in Meridian, Miss.; and Gray’s WALA “FOX10” in Mobile.
In New Orleans, WVUE will air at least eight Pelicans regular season games and all available post-season games, with the remaining regular season games airing on the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network (presumably WVUE-DT2, which served as an on-air home for Pelicans games across the end of the 2023-2024 NBA season).
The first New Orleans Pelicans game will air live on WVUE and simulcast on GCSEN Wednesday, October 23, at 7pm Central, as the Pelicans take on the Chicago Bulls.
By moving the Pelicans games to Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network, the team will be available to increase its reach by 16 times over the team’s reach through its previous distribution arrangement with Bally Sports, Gray says.
“Gray Media is thrilled to be able to leverage our resources to connect our loyal viewers with the growing number of Pelicans fans across the Gulf South,” Gray Media COO Sandy Breland said. “The Pelicans are putting their fans first as now all fans will have the ability to watch the games free over-the-air or through any basic cable, satellite service, or streaming provider that carries the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network.”
For WVUE VP/GM Mike Schaefer, “Fans in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast are ready for Pelicans basketball to be available to them subscription free. We saw how much fans wanted this last season when the ten Pelicans games we broadcast had the highest ratings ever for the team.”
Pelicans Governor Gayle Benson added, “This partnership with Gray Media represents our commitment to our fans, community, and partners across Louisiana and the Gulf South. Our focus has been to make Pelicans games accessible to as many fans as possible, and this deal means that Pelicans games will now be available to millions of more fans with this free, over-the-air broadcast product.”
