Vegas Golden Knights right wing Michael Amadio (22) celebrates with center William Karlsson (71) after scoring against the Edmonton Oilers during the first period of Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series at T-Mobile Arena Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Las Vegas.
Thursday, May 4, 2023 | 3:10 p.m.
The Golden Knights will have a new TV broadcast home starting next season.
Scripps Sports, owned by the E.W Scripps Co., will be the home for Golden Knights games under a multiyear agreement.
The company recently reached an agreement with the WNBA to air games on Friday nights.
Scripps Sports will carry Golden Knights preseason, regular season — not nationally exclusive — and first-round playoff games.
Scripps will air Golden Knights games on KMCC-TV, now ION Television, the company’s national entertainment network. The channel will be relaunched as an independent station before next season.
ION TV will be switched to a different frequency at a later date.
The sports channel “will be focused on the market here in Las Vegas, with the Golden Knights as the anchor tenant programming for the television station,” Scripps CEO Adam Symson said.
Games will also be free to everyone in market in Idaho (Boise, Idaho Falls, Twin Falls), Montana (Billings, Butte-Bozeman, Glendive, Great Falls, Helena, Missoula), Utah (Salt Lake City), Wyoming (Casper-Riverton, Cheyenne-Scottsbluff) and Northern Nevada (Reno).
Golden Knights President Kerry Bubolz said the company is working to have the channel available on cord-cutting platforms YouTube TV and Hulu prior to next season.
“It brings a lot of excitement because of that availability that just wasn’t there for our previous partnership in our first six years,” Bubolz said.
Scripps launched Scripps Sports in December as a potential fallback option amidst a shakeup involving regional sports networks.
Warner Bros. Discovery, the company that had carried Golden Knights games on AT&T SportsNet since 2017, announced in February that it would leave the regionals sports network business in the wake of Diamond Sports Group filing for bankruptcy.
Diamond Sports Group — a subsidiary of the Sinclair Broadcast Group — owned 19 regional sports networks operating under the Bally Sports banner. It opted out of paying a $140 million interest payment it missed.
Eight teams, including the Golden Knights, were impacted by the departure of Warner Bros. Bubolz said discussions with Scripps Sports started two months ago.
There will be no changes to the broadcast team.
Dave Goucher and Shane Hnidy will remain the in-game commentators, with Ashali Vise staying as the rinkside reporter.
Daren Millard and Gary Lawless will be at the desk for the pregame and intermission reports.
Bubolz said there were no concerns from the NHL’s perspective as the league continues to figure out its broadcast plan for next season.
Conversations with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman implied that this agreement could be a key element for other teams going forward, Bubolz said.
“It’s been a terrific six years,” Bubolz said. “From Day 1, we tried to build this on a long-term basis, and this is the next step for our franchise.”
