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Scripps Sports
LaunchedDecember 15, 2022; 23 months ago (2022-12-15)
Division ofE. W. Scripps Company
Country of originUnited States
Key peopleBrian Lawlor
(President)[1]
Major broadcasting contracts
Official websitescrippssports.com

Scripps Sports is the sports division of the E. W. Scripps Company; it is responsible for the broadcasting of sporting events across its broadcast television portfolio, including local stations and co-owned networks (such as Ion Television).

History

[edit]

Prior to the formation of Scripps Sports, in May 2022, The E.W. Scripps Company reached an agreement with the Big Sky Conference to air 14 conference football games and as many as eight women's or men's basketball games involving Montana State University and University of Montana on the Scripps owned Montana Television Network.[2]

The formation of Scripps Sports was announced in December 2022. Company president Adam P. Symson stated that the division planned to compete with regional sports networks to pursue local rights to professional sports teams for its stations, and pursue national broadcasting contracts for its Ion Media division (including Ion Television). He argued that the pay television RSN industry was an "old model" that is "not set up to move forward", and that "we are really well-situated to participate in future models with sports teams, leagues, and conferences."[3]

In April 2023, Scripps Sports announced its first broadcast contract, a regular season package of Friday-night WNBA basketball games for Ion.[4][5]

The following month, with AT&T SportsNet winding down, Scripps Sports reached an agreement for regional rights to the Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL. The games would be syndicated to stations within the team's designated market (with KMCC as flagship; the station moved Ion to a digital subchannel and became an independent station), and offered via the subscription-based over-the-top service KnightTime+.[6][7][8] In October 2023, it also reached an agreement with the Arizona Coyotes, after Bally Sports Arizona rejected its contract with the team[9] and subsequently shut down not long afterward.[10] After initially airing on the Antenna TV-affiliated KNXV-DT2,[9] KASW moved its The CW affiliation to that channel and similarly converted to an independent station to accommodate Coyotes games (Scripps would later relinquish its CW affiliation entirely, with majority owner Nexstar Media Group taking over KAZT-TV under a time brokerage agreement, and moving The CW to it in February 2024).[11][12][13]

On November 9, 2023, the National Women's Soccer League announced Scripps Sports as a rightsholder beginning in the 2024 season, with Ion to air Saturday night doubleheaders. Ion will also air the 2024 NWSL Draft.[14][15]

In April 2024, the NHL deactivated the Coyotes franchise and their players and personnel were transferred to a new Salt Lake City-based expansion team. Scripps' KUPX-TV in Salt Lake City, which had been televising Coyotes and Golden Knights games, will continue to carry the former's games, but now as the Utah Hockey Club's flagship station.[16] The team's telecasts are being produced in-house by team owner Smith Entertainment Group.[17][18]

In July 2024, the Florida Panthers announced a deal with Scripps Sports to move its games from Bally Sports Florida, with WSFL-TV in Miami as flagship station.[19]

On August 18, 2024, Ion aired the finals of the Manhattan Beach Open beach volleyball tournament as part of a one-off deal with the Association of Volleyball Professionals.[20]

Programs

[edit]

Current national broadcast rights

[edit]
  • NWSL[14][15]
    • Saturday Night Soccer; 25 weeks of regular season matches on Saturday nights per-season on Ion Television (2024–present)
    • 2024 NWSL Draft
  • WNBA[4][5]
    • Friday Night Spotlight; 15 weeks of regular season games per-season on Ion Television (2023–present)

Current regional broadcast rights

[edit]
Team League Flagship station Affiliates OTT subscription outlet
Montana and Montana State (2022–present)
(Football, Men's Basketball and Women's Basketball) 		Big Sky Conference Montana Television Network[2]
Florida Panthers (2024–present) NHL WSFL-TV/Miami, Florida
Utah Hockey Club (2024–present)[24] NHL KUPX-TV/Provo, Utah
  • SEG+ (in-market)[25]
Vegas Golden Knights (2023–present) NHL KMCC/Laughlin, Nevada[26]
  • KnightTime+ (in-market)[26]

Former regional broadcast rights

[edit]
Team League Flagship station Affiliates OTT subscription outlet
Arizona Coyotes (2023–2024) NHL KASW/Phoenix, Arizona
KNXV-TV/Phoenix, Arizona (former)
  • Coyotes Central (in-market)[29]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (August 1, 2024). "Friday and Saturday Night Lights: Ion Television Reaps the Rewards of Investing in Women's Sports". Variety. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Rodgers, Tyson (May 18, 2022). "Big Sky Conference Games to Air on Scripps Television Stations". Big Sky Conference. Retrieved January 31, 2024. Scripps stations in markets with Big Sky schools will broadcast football games and men's and women's basketball games ... The Big Sky Conference will retain rights to digitally distribute and stream programming via the ESPN+ app both within and outside the league's footprint, and these broadcasts on Scripps will not be subject to any blackout restrictions.
  3. ^ "E.W. Scripps Co. to bid for local sports rights". Sports Business Journal. 2022-12-15. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  4. ^ a b Steinberg, Brian (2023-04-20). "WNBA Gets Friday-Night Showcase on ION in New Pact With Scripps". Variety. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  5. ^ a b "Scripps makes first sports rights move with WNBA deal". SportBusiness. 2023-04-21. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  6. ^ "VGK and Scripps Partner on Multi-Year Agreement to Air NHL Team's Games". NHL.com. Archived from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  7. ^ Winslow, George (2023-05-05). "Scripps Inks Multiyear Deal to Air Vegas Golden Knights NHL Games". TVTechnology. Archived from the original on May 5, 2023. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  8. ^ "How to Watch the Vegas Golden Knights". NHL.com. Retrieved September 24, 2023.
  9. ^ a b Ortiz, Jenna (5 October 2023). "Arizona Coyotes land TV deal with Scripps Sports". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Financially troubled Bally Sports Arizona will no longer provide coverage of local teams". 12news.com. 2023-10-13. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  11. ^ Dachman, Jason (November 17, 2023). "Arizona Coyotes Move to New Scripps Sports OTA Station". Sports Video Group. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
  12. ^ "Arizona Coyotes Moving to New Home with Scripps Sports". Arizona Coyotes. November 15, 2023. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  13. ^ Alex (January 8, 2024). "Nexstar Media Enters Into Time Brokerage Agreement with KAZT-TV in Phoenix, Arizona". Nexstar Media Group. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
  14. ^ a b Lucia, Joe (2023-11-09). "NWSL announces new media rights deals, reportedly paying $60 million annually". Awful Announcing. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  15. ^ a b Tannenwald, Jonathan (2023-11-09). "The NWSL signs new broadcast deals with CBS, ESPN, Amazon, and ION worth $60 million a year". Inquirer.com. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  16. ^ "Utah NHL games to air free on Utah 16". Sportico. April 18, 2024. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  17. ^ "SEG Media Launches New DTC Streaming Service for Utah Hockey Club in Partnership With Kiswe". Sports Video Group. September 20, 2024. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  18. ^ KUTV, Megan Brugger (2024-09-20). "Smith Entertainment Group launches new UtahHC+, SEG+ streaming platforms". KUTV. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  19. ^ "Florida Panthers, Scripps Sports partner on multi-year agreement to air National Hockey League team's games". NHL.com. Retrieved July 2, 2024.
  20. ^ "Miss the Olympics already? Here's how to watch the beach volleyball stars' next high-stakes match". WPTV. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
  21. ^ "Florida Panthers and Scripps Sports Announce Programming for 2024-25 Season". Florida Panthers. August 29, 2024. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  22. ^ "Florida Panthers Partner with ViewLift to Launch DTC Streaming Service". Florida Panthers. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  23. ^ "Florida Panthers Launch 'Panthers Plus' In Conjunction With ViewLift And Scripps Sports On Sept. 27". TVNewsCheck. September 24, 2024. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
  24. ^ Tavss, Jeff (April 18, 2024). "Utah NHL games to air free on Utah 16". KSTU. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  25. ^ "SEG Media Launches New DTC Streaming Service for Utah Hockey Club in Partnership With Kiswe". Sports Video Group. September 20, 2024. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  26. ^ a b "How to Watch the Vegas Golden Knights". NHL.com. Retrieved September 24, 2023.
  27. ^ "Vegas Golden Knights, fresh off winning Stanley Cup, bring annual bus tour through Bozeman". MontanaSports.com (MTSPX). 2023-08-24. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
  28. ^ Urban, Andrea (August 27, 2023). "Stanley Cup champions stop in Ogden on 'road trip'". KSTU. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  29. ^ "Coyotes Launch Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Platform in Partnership with Kiswe and Scripps Sports". NHL.com. February 16, 2024.
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