WMLW to televise 10 Milwaukee Bucks games for free and over the air starting in February. What does that mean for Bally Sports?

About that ancient TV antenna that you kept in your attic or basement all these years...

If you are a Milwaukee Bucks fan, you might want to find it and dust it off.

Weigel Broadcasting, parent company of area television stations WDJT CBS 58 and WMLW announced that WMLW will carry 10 Bucks games later this season, beginning Friday, Feb. 23.

It's the first time Bucks basketball will be available free and on over-the-air television since 2006-2007.

According to a news release Sunday, the 10 games are being moved from Bally Sports Wisconsin. The same Bally announcing team of Lisa Byington, Marques Johnson, Steve Novak and Melanie Ricks will be calling the games on WMLW.

Bucks games that will be on WMLW Milwaukee

"We are thrilled to expand our collaboration with the Bucks to bring these games to our local stations for viewers," said Anne Brown, Vice President and General Manager of WMLW and WDJT, in a news release Sunday.

“Broadcasting Bucks games on free over-the-air television is a tremendous opportunity to give even more of our fans easy access to their team,” said Peter Feigin, President of the Bucks and Fiserv Forum.

The latest 10-game deal struck with Weigel is great news for local Bucks fans, especially those who have cut the cable cord and have to purchase the Bally Sports streaming service to watch the Bucks.

"In a media ecosystem that’s only becoming more fragmented, Weigel's broadcast footprint provides unmatched reach for forward-thinking sports teams such as the Bucks,” said Evan Fieldman, Executive Vice President of Weigel in the release.

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What's going on with Bally Sports Wisconsin?

This isn't the first move involving a Bally Sports restructure this month.

Diamond Sports, the parent company that owns Bally and broadcasts Milwaukee Bucks and Milwaukee Brewers games, filed for bankruptcy in May and has also reportedly reached a collaboration merger with Amazon involving its regional sports networks.

Amazon reportedly invested $115 million for future opportunities to stream NBA, MLB and NHL games on Prime. They had been negotiating with Diamond Sports on a partnership.

It was also reported by USA Today on Jan. 17 that this would limit the flexibility of NBA teams with Bally Sports contracts to negotiate future deals. Here are excerpts from that report:

As more information becomes available, it has become increasingly clear that the NHL, NBA, and MLB were each caught by surprise by news of this deal and are currently weighing all of their options. With Diamond's contracts with the NHL and NBA set to expire after this current season, Amazon was expected to be a major bidder to purchase a package of NBA franchise broadcasting rights. The new agreement with Diamond Sports does not give the NBA as much liberty to shop packages around anymore.

Essentially, Diamond Sports had no bargaining power with any of the pro sports leagues that it was working with in 2024: the NBA, NHL, and MLB. Each of those leagues wanted their contracts with Diamond to expire by the end of 2024 so that they could shop the broadcasting rights to other competitors, of which Amazon was expected to be a major player and likely recipient.

Amazon's agreement with Diamond puts a damper on the leagues' plans. The entity that was likely to bid highest is now in partnership with the company they are currently working with. The NHL, NBA, and MLB have lost most of their leverage in broadcasting negotiations and will likely have to settle for a much smaller sum than they previously anticipated and will likely have to keep working with Diamond Sports beyond 2024."

The current NBA and NHL deals with Diamond Sports are set to expire at the end of the 2023-24 season.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: WMLW will broadcast 10 Milwaukee Bucks games beginning in February