Gray Television Inc. continues to expand its local sports portfolio, signing simulcast deals with MLB's Atlanta Braves and the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets.
Under a multiyear deal, Gray will simulcast 15 Braves games throughout the 2025 season. The games airing on Gray stations will also be carried on Diamond Sports Group LLC's FanDuel Sports Network. Gray will carry the games across 24 markets in six southeastern states within the Braves' home TV territory, including the Atlanta market via The CW (US) affiliate WPCH. The pact will serve to increase the reach of the selected games to more than 15 million households.
Gray will also exclusively produce and distribute 10 of the team's spring training contests.
With the Braves' deal, Gray has become the first TV broadcaster to add game coverage from what had been Diamond Sports' roster of local MLB rights during the 2024 season.
Erik Schrader, vice president and general manager of Gray's WANF and WPCH, said Gray is working on several programming ideas with the Braves, some of which will be announced early in 2025.
Gray will maximize both sponsor package and individual spot opportunities with its Braves coverage, Schrader said.
On the ice, Gray will work with Sinclair Inc. in simulcasting Fan Duel Sports Network's coverage of five Blue Jackets games, beginning with the NHL club's Jan. 2 contest versus the Detroit Red Wings. Games will air on the Sinclair and Gray stations in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Dayton, Ohio; Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky; and Charleston, West Virginia/Huntington, West Virginia/Portsmouth, Ohio
Judge Christopher Lopez approved Diamond's plan of reorganization at a Nov. 14 hearing in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. A spokesperson said the nation's largest operator of regional sports networks was still hammering out some final arrangements at press time.
Diamond, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in March 2023 amid declining affiliate fees and more than $8.5 billion in debt, will operate as a stand-alone entity, having already completed its operational separation from parent, Sinclair. The restructured company will be much smaller than it was five years ago when parent Sinclair bought 21 RSNs from Walt Disney Co. At that point, the networks had local programming rights to 42 professional sports teams from three major leagues: 16 NBA, 14 MLB and 12 NHL teams.
Upon its bankruptcy emergence, Diamond will hold rights to 28 teams: 13 NBA, eight NHL and seven MLB. The newly independent regional sports operator will control 16 networks that reach subscribers in 31 states. Following an expansive marketing pact with FanDuel Inc., the Diamond networks operate under the FanDuel Sports Network banner.
As Diamond's team roster has shrunk, broadcasters have sought to nab local rights to live sports. Under Diamond Sports deals with the NBA and NHL for the 2023–24 season, the teams that Diamond held local rights were able to carve out packages for broadcasters. To that end, a number of stations operators — including TEGNA Inc., Morgan Murphy Media and Weigel Broadcasting — aired five- and 10-game packages in the latter stages of the season.
Gray was particularly active in securing local sports rights, running 10 games apiece of the NBA Atlanta Hawks, the Pelicans, Milwaukee Bucks, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Mavericks, as well as five Cleveland Cavaliers contests. Gray is also the primary local broadcast rights holder to the NBA Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans, as well as the WNBA Phoenix Mercury, Atlanta Dream and Las Vegas Aces. Further, it is airing NBA Dallas Mavericks games in four Texas markets this season, and its two Alaska stations are part of the Kraken Hockey Network that airs the NHL Seattle Kraken contests.
This year, the NBA and NHL teams can work with station operators to simulcast up to five FanDuel Sports Networks telecasts.
In addition to Gray and Sinclair airing Blue Jackets games, the NBA Hornets are working toward such an agreement. "This year, [NBA] teams are allowed to simulcast up to five of the FanDuel/Diamond broadcasts on a local OTA station," a Hornets spokesperson said. "We are in the process of working through that now and are hopeful to announce something after the first of the year."
Relative to MLB, it is unclear if Diamond's right deals with the seven clubs contain simulcast provisions or whether Gray initiated the simulcast gambit. The Braves did not respond to queries, while Gray declined to discuss the matter. Diamond also declined comment.
Diamond's MLB teams — the Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Angels and Detroit Tigers — all recently renegotiated their previous rights deals, which all also now include local market streaming.
Rather than ink revised contracts at reduced rights fees with Diamond, the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers left the Diamond roster and instead joined MLB Local. Those clubs' games will be available in their TV territories through deals with local distribution partners and streaming via MLB.tv. MLB Local's lineup also included the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres, whose contracts were dropped by Diamond during the 2023 season, and the Colorado Rockies, whose games ran on Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.'s AT&T Rocky Mountain before the media conglomerate exited the RSN business at the close of 2023.
The Texas Rangers, whose games aired on Diamond's Bally Sports Southwest in 2024, are still pursuing a local coverage deal for 2025.