A soon-to-be-announced television deal with Fox Sports’ regional networks will erase a decade-long issue that kept Hornets games off some area cable television systems, annoyingly stunting fans’ access to telecasts of the team’s games.
Multiple sources confirmed Tuesday that Hornets telecasts will switch to the Fox cable system beginning next season, enabling the team to saturate its ticket-selling market, especially the north shore.
Cox Sports Television, the network created in part because of a 10-year agreement that began in 2002 to televise Hornets games, declined to be part of an NBA-negotiated bidding process that resulted in Fox scooping up the telecast rights, according to a report by Sports Business Journal.
Rod Mickler, vice president of Cox Sports Television, could not be reached for comment Tuesday, nor could anyone with the NBA office. The league, which technically still owns the Hornets (prospective owner Tom Benson is awaiting official approval from the Board of Governors), handled negotiations for the team’s new TV agreement, according to a league source.
— Reported by Jimmy Smith of the New Orleans Times-Picayune
