Clippers and Bally Sports finalize new broadcast deal
The Clippers and Bally Sports finalized their new television contract Saturday, The Times has learned, in a deal that ends months of negotiations between the sides and keeps the majority of the team’s game broadcasts on a channel familiar to its fans.
The overall length of the deal was not disclosed, but the agreement is said to last multiple years, according to people familiar with the contract but not authorized to speak publicly on the matter because it has yet to be announced.
Bally Sports will televise 63 games during the 2022-23 season, and the broadcasters who have called Clippers games in recent seasons will all return. Brian Sieman will return for his fourth season as the television play-by-play voice. The analyst role will be handled again by a rotation of former NBA player Jim Jackson and coach Mike Fratello, while Jaime Maggio and Kristina Pink return as reporters.
The Clippers’ contract with the Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned regional sports network had lapsed during the summer, and while the sides were described for weeks as close to a renewal, it was completed with only three weeks to spare before opening night of the regular season.
Friday’s preseason-opening victory against Maccabi Ra’anana from Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena was carried by KTLA as part of a new agreement that will include the station carrying all four preseason games in addition to 11 regular-season games.
Most key players, including Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and John Wall, sat out the Clippers’ preseason-opening 121-81 win over Israel’s Macabbi Ra’anana.
The team sought a deal with the over-the-air station as a means to broaden its viewership in Los Angeles and complement its regional broadcasts. Sieman and Fratello broadcast Friday’s game with KTLA’s David Pingalore serving as the reporter.
Games not broadcast by Bally Sports or KTLA will be exclusive national broadcasts.
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