The last two teams to win the Stanley Cup have each departed Bally Sports, with agreements in place offering viewers of The E.W. Scripps Co.-owned broadcast TV stations in South Florida and in Southern Nevada free-to-air telecasts of the Florida Panthers and Las Vegas Golden Knights, respectively.
Now, another National Hockey League team has parted ways with Bally Sports, while an NHL team serving the Pacific Northwest has just bolstered its over-the-air coverage.
In an agreement announced Friday, the Seattle Kraken and TEGNA have agreed to a deal that places the team’s games produced by TEGNA-owned KING-5 and KONG-TV in Seattle on Gray Television‘s KAUU-5 in Anchorage and KYEX-LD 5 in Alaska’s state capital, Juneau.
Approximately 70 regular season games will air on the stations, in addition to TEGNA-owned KGW-8 in Portland, Ore., and KREM-2/KSKN-22 in Spokane.
Additional broadcast partners in Washington and Oregon are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
“Our partnership with the Kraken is all about their passionate fans and delivering more games to more people in more homes,” said TEGNA SVP/Media Operations Brad Ramsey. “We are thrilled with the early momentum we are seeing from advertisers and sponsors in Seattle, Portland, and Spokane, and grateful to our friends at Gray for helping us expand free over-the-air Kraken games beyond the continental United States.”
Gray COO Sandy Breland added, “Gray’s stations and the Kraken are both a key part of the culture in the Pacific Northwest, making this a great win for viewers and fans.”
The news comes as the Dallas Stars NHL club has entered into a seven-year agreement with A Parent Media Co. Inc. (APMC) to stream all regional games free of charge starting with the 2024-2025 season.
The games will be broadcast on newly formed VICTORY+, a free direct-to-consumer streaming service created by APMC with the Dallas Stars.
The Dallas Stars will be the service’s first client, as APMC prepares to welcome additional professional sports teams in the near future.
With the Stars’ deal, APMC has hired former FOX Sports Executive Producer and Dallas Stars Vice President of Broadcasting Jason Walsh to lead VICTORY+.
“Walsh’s experience in production puts VICTORY+ in a unique position to take on additional teams and to scale VICTORY+ into the preferred destination for fans of the future,” APMC says.
VICTORY+ will be available for download on smart TVs, tablets and smart phones in September 2024; access to Stars games is limited to its territory within Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas.
Stars games had been on Bally Sports Southwest; a July 3 motion by the RSN’s owner, Diamond Sports Group, in its bankruptcy court hearing was granted terminating the contract it had with the Stars.
