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Cavs back on channel 43

V

vjm

The Cavs and WUAB CW 43 announced a deal today where 5 Cavs games will be simulcast on channel 43 come March and April.

This brings the Cavs back to channel 43 (and over the air TV in general) after a 6 year span of being cable exclusive.

Channel 43 had aired Cavs games from 1980-88 and again from 1994-2018.

In 2018, 43 declined the long standing deal where they had simulcast 5 games per year with the then Fox Sports, now Bally Sports Ohio, and the Cavs had been cable exclusive ever since.

Personally, I think it was because when a certain #23 left in 2018, it made the Cavs a not so nice viewing experience, thus channel 43 said "no thank you".

Lo and behold, the Cavs are now good again, so channel 43 wants back on the gravy train.
 
@Sammi Brie can help back me up on this, as we've both been monitoring the saga of Diamond Sports, the parent of Bally Sports Ohio/Great Lakes that has been through a long, messy chapter 11 bankruptcy.

This is happening with NBA teams that have their local TV rights held by Diamond after their contracts were renegotiated in unison to all end after this season. Each team can "carve out" 5–10 games on their respective Bally RSN and award them to a local OTA broadcaster. The Hawks have a similar deal with Gray's Atlanta stations, the Bucks have a deal with the CBS affiliate in Milwaukee and their sister independent station, and the Mavs have games on Dallas's ABC affiliate. In all cases, it is not a simulcast with the Bally RSN, they will not have them on their respective schedules; the teams will produce the coverage for as much continuity as possible.

Gray has launched low-power all-sports TV stations in Phoenix and Atlanta, and will be launching one soon in New Orleans. There's a good chance they could do the same here in Cleveland as part of a possible long-term deal with the Cavs next year as again, the Cavs' current Bally Sports Ohio deal now winds down after this season.

This carve-out is a darn good deal for both the Cavs and for WUAB. It helps to test the waters for the viability of OTA sports and, yup, the Cavs really are red-hot.
 
Last edited:
Nathan Obral said:
@Sammi Brie can help back me up on this, as we've both been monitoring the saga of Diamond Sports, the parent of Bally Sports Ohio/Great Lakes that has been through a long, messy chapter 11 bankruptcy.

This is happening with NBA teams that have their local TV rights held by Diamond after their contracts were renegotiated in unison to all end after this season. Each team can "carve out" 5–10 games on their respective Bally RSN and award them to a local OTA broadcaster. The Hawks have a similar deal with Gray's Atlanta stations, the Bucks have a deal with the CBS affiliate in Milwaukee and their sister independent station, and the Mavs have games on Dallas's ABC affiliate. In all cases, it is not a simulcast with the Bally RSN, they will not have them on their respective schedules; the teams will produce the coverage for as much continuity as possible.

Gray has launched low-power all-sports TV stations in Phoenix and Atlanta, and will be launching one soon in New Orleans. There's a good chance they could do the same here in Cleveland as part of a possible long-term deal with the Cavs next year as again, the Cavs' current Bally Sports Ohio deal now winds down after this season.

This carve-out is a darn good deal for both the Cavs and for WUAB. It helps to test the waters for the viability of OTA sports and, yup, the Cavs really are red-hot.
Click to expand...
Well, I thought it was a simulcast, as that had been the long standing arrangement before.

I don't know if 43 would take on a full schedule of games, as that would cause a lot of preemptions for CW programming, and CW has been expanding their programming lineup, especially with sports coverage (LIV golf, ACC football and basketball, NASCAR's Xfinity Series beginning in 2025).

Isn't Amazon buying a chunk of Diamond Sports to help pay off some of their debt?

You'd think they'd use the influx of Bezos bucks to retain some PBP rights.

I also believe the Guardians announced that they'd have a full slate of games this season on Bally Great Lakes.

We shall see what we shall see
 
43 announced that their Cavs telecasts will be simulcast on sister stations WTCL/WOHZ channel 6 (Telemundo Cleveland), with the Spanish radio broadcast on WNZN used for the play by play.
 
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