The Jazz want to return to local broadcast TV

[CAwasinNJ]

www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/jazz-open-negotiations-for-new-broadcast-partner


I shook my head way back in 2009 when the local coverage went exclusively to what was then FSN. I thought then (and still do) that it was crazy that the team didn't have at least some presence on the *co-owned* station. Apparently the lure of the money was just too much. I can't think of any other explanation. Here's the discussion from back then:

talkingutahradio.proboards.com/thread/507/kjzz-utah-jazz-games


Things have changed in the last 13 years. KJZZ was sold in 2016. The Jazz were sold a few years later. FSN became Root Sports and then AT&T Sportsnet. Streaming TV has become a major thing. Now that the 2009 and its extensions are coming to an end, maybe the Jazz will be able to broaden their fan base with free OTA broadcasts again. The devil is really in the details. How many games would the broadcast partner get? If it's only something like 5 or 6 out of 82 then this is a tempest in a teapot.

The other question I have is how much will this affect ESPN 700? For fans who don't have access to AT&TSN the alternative is the radio. Presumably most of them would have access to a TV.

[kenglish]

I remember when KSL "built" the Jazz. They came here from New Orleans and had very little following. We used the old KSL truck, with three hard cameras (TK-44) and a TK-76 minicam, all running multicore cable hung on hooks in the rafters of the Salt Palace. A medium sized analog switcher, and a locally built audio board, and we figured it out as we went.

[amanuensis]

In the early 90s, someone in my singles ward had a connection with someone who was able to get us a tour of the nonpublic areas of the Tabernacle. As it happened, there was a Jazz game that night -- a Jazz game that was on FSN instead of broadcast tv. I was very amused to see a number of Church employees gathered together in the booth in the Tabernacle where they used to do the video mixing. The Tabernacle had (maybe still does) a direct cable connection to the KSL studios, as did the Delta Center (maybe it still does too). So the Church employees could patch via the Triad Center into the in-arena tv cameras and audio. They could have gotten play by play from the radio if they had wanted to. This is back when Hot Rod was simulcast on radio and tv. In other words, the Church employees were streaming what the jumbotron was showing.

[tardiscaptain]

I had forgotten that I had started that thread many moons ago. That was still a bad contract. With how often things change, I don't know if we will see a contract of that same length again.

[CAwasinNJ]

You may be right, Captain. There had to be a lot of money thrown at the Jazz even back then. With the diversification today, I'd think limiting the options for that long would cost even more but might still be possible for a company with deep pockets.

Something else to consider when looking at the logic of the 2009 contract. That all went down only 8 months after the passing of LHM. I have to wonder what the state of the organization was in the wake of that.