Utah Jazz has confirmed its over-the-air and streaming plans for next season, and they don’t include a regional sports network.
Over the past weeks and months, the future of watching local sports in many major cities in the United States has been up in the air. A lot of this has been due to Diamond Sports Group and its ongoing financial issues. While the Utah Jazz plans don’t include any of the Bally Sports-branded networks, they do include a Sinclair-owned channel.
Starting with the 2023-24 NBA season, all non-nationally televised Utah Jazz games will be available to watch locally on KJZZ. According to the announcement, “The Home of the Utah Jazz” will be accessible over the air on channel 14, or through a live TV streaming service that offers access to KJZZ to local residents as part of their channel lineup.
According to the arrangement with Sinclair, those living within the local market that’s served by to KUTV (channel 2) can also expect to get access to “significant coverage of the team.”
In addition to the over-the-air stations, it is also now confirmed that a new direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming option will become available in time for the start of the new season.
While firm details on what potential subscribers can expect, including the price, have not been provided yet, it was confirmed that a Utah Jazz-branded, subscription-based streaming platform will launch in October 2023, and offer access to every non-nationally available Jazz game.
The streaming platform will also offer subscribers “unprecedented access to the team, front office, and corporate management via exclusive behind-the-scenes footage.” Once live, it will be possible to sign up to the team-branded subscription service directly through the Utah Jazz website or app.
Helping to fuel these changes is the creation of a new SEG Media entity. This is the new sports media division of Smith Entertainment Group, the parent group of Utah Jazz, and the arm that will now be responsible for producing Utah Jazz games and other behind-the-scenes team content.
