Utah Jazz Embrace ‘Rabbit Ears’ With New TV Deal
Starting next season, the Utah Jazz will air games on over-the-air channel KJZZ, the team announced Tuesday.
A newly formed media arm, SEG Media, will produce the games and also sell subscriptions for a soon-to-launch streaming platform offering access to every non-national TV game, plus additional content. Financial terms of the broadcast deal and pricing for the streaming service have not been announced.
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“Our top priority has always been providing the best fan experience possible,” Jazz owner Ryan Smith said in a statement. “When we first took over stewardship of the team, 39% of Utah households had the ability to watch Jazz games, so as soon as the window opened last fall for us to rethink our approach to broadcasting, we began exploring all options to provide fans the most reliable access to Jazz games. This new approach is one of the most important investments we have made since purchasing the team because it allows us to deliver Utah Jazz games to all 3.3 million plus Utahans.”
Broadcasters Craig Bolerjack, Thurl Bailey and Holly Rowe will continue to call games for the team. KJZZ is owned and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which has also offered “significant coverage of the team” on the company’s in-market CBS affiliate, KUTV.
The Jazz were previously broadcast on the local AT&T SportsNet station, reportedly as a series of one-year agreements while the team kept an eye on potential alternatives. Warner Bros. Discovery announced it would be leaving the regional sports network business earlier this year.
The deal will extend the Jazz’s reach to nearly 1,150,000 TV households in the team’s market, which includes all of Utah, as well as parts of Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada. The team reached fewer than 500,000 households with its previous setup.
“If you’ve got bunny ears on your TV,” Smith told The Athletic in an interview, “you can get Jazz games.”
The Jazz are the latest pro sports team to jump back to over-the-air TV, following the Phoenix Suns and Las Vegas Golden Knights. Endeavor/WME Sports advised the Jazz on the transition.
“SEG Media will help Jazz fans experience our organization in a way that has never been possible before, on more channels than ever before,” Smith said in his statement.
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