CLEVELAND, August 30th - The Cleveland Cavaliers have reached new television rights agreements with current broadcast partners FSN Ohio and WUAB TV43. The announcement was made today by Cavaliers and Quicken Loans Arena President Len Komoroski. Under terms of the multi-year agreement with FSN Ohio, 70 Cavaliers regular season games per season will be carried by FSN Ohio, beginning with the upcoming 2006-07 campaign. The new agreement with WUAB TV43 calls for five of those 70 games to be simulcast on WUAB and also for the continuance of the Cavaliers strong promotional partnership with the station. The remaining 12 regular season games will be shown via the NBA's national broadcast partners with ABC broadcasting five games and TNT carrying seven games exclusively.
"We're fortunate to have two great partners in FSN Ohio and WUAB TV43. We're looking forward to continuing our strong promotional relationship with WUAB, and also excited to greatly expand our relationship with FSN Ohio," said Komoroski. "At the same time, even though a very high percentage of the market now has cable or satellite, it was important to us to have a meaningful number of games still available via an over the air format, including playoff games."
In total, the schedule provides for 10 regular season games to be shown via over the air outlets, plus an additional number of playoff games to be simulcast on FSN Ohio and over the air on WUAB. Additional playoff games will also be broadcast nationally over the air on ABC TV exclusively.
“The foundation of our partnership with the Cavaliers has always been centered around a strong promotional relationship and we are very happy to continue with that. At the same time, we have a mutual desire to continue presenting Cavaliers basketball games on free, over-the-air broadcast television. We're excited to continue our 24 year long relationship with the team and develop new, creative ways for fans to experience the excitement that Cavaliers basketball and WUAB can deliver together," said WUAB Vice President and General Manager Bill Applegate.
“FSN Ohio is proud to be the local television home of the Cavaliers for the 2006-07 season and well beyond,” said FSN Ohio vice president and general manager Steve Liverani. “Dan Gilbert and his ownership group are clearly committed to bringing an NBA championship to the city of Cleveland, and we are happy to continue our long term relationship with the club. FSN Ohio is the home of local sports fans throughout the Ohio region. We will continue to provide fans the most access, information and in-depth coverage of Cleveland Cavaliers basketball.”
Returning next season on FSN Ohio is CAVALIERS COUNTDOWN, providing fans with commentary, features and in-depth pregame coverage of the Cleveland Cavaliers, 30 minutes prior to every game telecast. Wrapping up the action on FSN Ohio is CAVALIERS IN THE POST, a postgame show featuring highlights, interviews and analysis immediately following each game telecast. Rounding out FSN Ohio’s Cavaliers coverage is CAVALIERS FAST BREAK, a Cavaliers-produced show featuring all the behind-the-scenes information a true fan needs.