Florida Panthers video games are transferring from cable to native broadcast stations

The Florida Panthers are skating to a brand new TV house.

The Nationwide Hockey League Stanley Cup champions have inked a deal to air common season video games on native broadcast networks in Florida and depart behind the cable TV regional sports activities community that has lengthy been their house.

The Panthers, which have appeared within the Stanley Cup finals two years in a row, signed a multiyear take care of E.W. Scripps that permits the printed station proprietor to televise all regionally produced Panthers preseason and common season video games in addition to spherical one of many playoffs.

The Panthers are additionally working with Scripps Sports activities to launch a streaming service, with additional particulars anticipated previous to the beginning of the 2024 season.

Phrases of the deal, which begins this coming season, weren’t disclosed.

Skilled sports activities groups have been more and more choosing offers with native broadcast station house owners because the regional sports activities community enterprise is dragged down by customers leaving the pay TV bundle in favor of streaming.

Specifically, Diamond Sports activities Group — the proprietor of the Panthers’ prior TV house, Bally Sports activities Florida — has been underneath chapter safety since March 2023.

“After cautious overview and dialogue, Diamond reached a mutual settlement with the Florida Panthers to finish our current telecast rights contract,” a Diamond spokesperson mentioned in a press release. “We drastically worth the relationships we’ve got constructed with the Panthers and their followers, and we want them one of the best. We stay in productive discussions with the NHL round go-forward preparations with our remaining workforce companions underneath contract and are targeted on reorganizing as a sustainable and worthwhile entity.”

Since its chapter submitting, Diamond Sports activities has terminated quite a few contracts with skilled sports activities groups, which have in flip discovered new houses on broadcast TV networks.

It has developed into a big second of change for the trade. The regional sports activities community enterprise mannequin has lengthy been profitable for the leagues and groups since networks pay massive charges for the rights to video games that aren’t nationally aired.

These offers with broadcast station house owners promise a big enhance in attain and viewers. Video games at the moment are on broadcast networks obtainable to all pay TV subscribers, in addition to without cost to individuals utilizing an antenna.

Nevertheless, whereas phrases of those offers are undisclosed, they’re unlikely to garner the identical dimension contracts as these with regional sports activities networks. The Panthers had reportedly renewed their take care of Bally Sports activities Florida in 2022, doubling the worth of the workforce’s earlier 10-year deal, which was about $6 million a yr.

Final yr Scripps signed an identical take care of the 2023 Stanley Cup champions, the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

In the meantime, the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz are additionally aired on native broadcast stations. Varied broadcast station house owners have shown interest in changing into the houses {of professional} sports activities as the normal RSN enterprise is underneath appreciable stress.

There could also be extra alternatives, too, as Diamond Sports activities remains to be working to exit chapter safety.

Final month the leagues expressed concern over Diamond Sports activities’ future, and whether or not it will be capable to put collectively a viable marketing strategy forward of the upcoming seasons. Diamond returns to chapter court docket later this month to hunt approval for its reorganization plan.