OKC Thunder Announce New Partnership that will Broadcast Select Games on Local TV
On Tuesday morning, the Oklahoma City Thunder announced a new partnership that will make specific Thunder games accessible to a much larger local audience than usual.
Starting on Friday, Jan. 26, each of OKC's remaining Friday contests will be broadcast on KSBI Channel 52 in the Modern Frontier, Channel 6.3 in Tulsa and other stations in the region using a TV antenna.
In these eight matchups, the Thunder will take on the New Orleans Pelicans, Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards, Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, Phoenix Suns, Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks.
According to a social media post by the team, Cox, DirecTV and DISH customers will all have access to these broadcasts.
One of the NBA's biggest problems in growing the game's audience is its accessibility for fans.
For other leagues, like the NFL, every game is nationally televised and draws a decent crowd. Even if you don't have cable and only get basic TV stations, NFL games are easy to watch every Sunday.
If you don't have cable and are hoping to watch an NBA game, you're more than likely out of luck. To make matters even more complicated, a subscription to NBA League Pass won't work for your hometown team if you still live in their viewing market, meaning that games for the squad you want to watch the most will likely be blacked out.
If you live in OKC, the only way to watch a Thunder game at home is through Bally Sports, which can be too expensive for some fans to pay monthly throughout the year.
To combat some of these inaccessibility issues, however, Oklahoma City has announced a creative new way to broadcast some of its games locally.
Additionally, the eight contests that will be broadcast on local channels have a few marquee matchups, including meetings with the No. 2, No. 5 and No. 6 teams in the Eastern Conference as well as a rematch between Thunder legend Kevin Durant and his former team.
While this broadcasting partnership may not seem like a big deal to some fans, people who live in the OKC metro now have a reliable, inexpensive way to view their favorite team from the comfort of their own homes.
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