The Charlotte Bobcats and Charlotte Sting have selected WJZY UPN46 as their over-the-air television broadcast outlet, it was announced by Ed Tapscott, Chief Operating Officer of the NBA Charlotte Bobcats, WNBA Charlotte Sting and C-SET (Carolinas Sports Entertainment Television). Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“We are very excited about our partnership with WJZY. We have said repeatedly that we will have a strong presence on free, over-the-air television and this ensures that every fan can watch Bobcats and Sting games on television,” said Tapscott. “Our colleagues at WJZY have shown great interest in promoting our teams and also share with us a strong commitment to the Charlotte region.”
WJZY UPN46 will carry up to 15 games during the 2004-05 Bobcats season and two games during the 2004 Sting season. In addition to the game telecasts, WJZY will broadcast an hour-long 2004 Bobcats Draft show in late June plus additional preseason and postseason programming, a weekly team report and weekly vignettes during the Bobcats season.
"With the ongoing migration of sporting events to cable and pay-per-view, we view this as a truly unique opportunity to provide basketball fans in our region with a slate of Charlotte Bobcats and Sting games on free over-the-air television," said WJZY UPN46 Vice President & General Manager Will Davis. "We are thrilled to be associated with the NBA and WNBA and first-class professional sports franchises like the Charlotte Bobcats and Sting."
The schedule of Bobcats games to be broadcast on WJZY UPN46 will be determined following the release of the NBA schedule later this summer. The Sting will be broadcast on WJZY UPN46 on both July 18 when they visit the New York Liberty and on July 31 when they play at the Sacramento Monarchs.
In addition to the 15 games to be broadcast over-the-air on WJZY UPN46, the Bobcats will telecast 60 games on the cable channel C-SET (Carolinas Sports Entertainment Television), the franchise's recently announced regional sports network. Beginning in 2005, the Sting will air up to 15 games on C-SET in one of the most comprehensive local television packages in the WNBA.