The television broadcast of Utah Jazz basketball games has a new home. Jazz majority owner Ryan Smith, who also leads Smith Entertainment Group (SEG), has announced plans to launch SEG Media to “produce and broadcast” Utah’s games in 2023-24.
At a recent press conference, Smith said the new endeavor includes the return of Jazz games to KJZZ on Channel 14, which will now broadcast all non-nationally televised Jazz games for the foreseeable future as “The Home of the Utah Jazz.”
“This is a dream for{mprestriction ids="1,3"} us,” Smith said. “As an organization, this has been one of the top three things since I got here. There’s a lot more that we can do, and now we are going to be able to do some really cool things.”
A 12-year broadcasting agreement the Jazz had with AT&T SportsNet expired in 2021, but a negotiating window kept the games on the network through this past season.
Smith estimated that around 39 percent of Utah households had access to Jazz games through the AT&T agreement when he took over — a number he wanted to dramatically improve. While his hands were initially tied, he jumped on the opportunity as soon as it became available at the end of the just-concluded season. Although the new arrangement will cost the Jazz organization millions in annual broadcast revenue, Smith said he feels it’s more important to have wider distribution of Jazz games.
Although details are still to be released, Jazz games will also be available outside the Utah market on a paid streaming service to be launched by SEG Media. Details are expected this summer before the 2023-2024 season begins.
“The exciting part is going outside of our state where we have fans and having a chance to grow the brand more,” Smith said.
“This new approach is one of the most important investments we have made since purchasing the team because it allows us to deliver Utah Jazz games to all 3.3 million-plus Utahns,” Smith said.
The television broadcast team of Craig Bolerjack, Thurl Bailey and Holly Rowe will remain intact, with Michael Smith and Alema Harrington hosting the Jazz pre- and post-game TV shows. KJZZ is available for free over the air on channel 14.1. KJZZ has already begun airing Jazz content, beginning with NBA draft coverage in June.
The Jazz have granted Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns and operates KJZZ, the rights to air all available Jazz games on the station and fans should expect significant coverage of the team from Sinclair’s CBS affiliate in the market, KUTV Channel 2. The Jazz will also collaborate with the KJZZ and KUTV teams to distribute additional Jazz-related ancillary programming, produced by SEG Media, throughout the year, a Jazz release said.
“I want every single Jazz fan, no matter where they are in the state and beyond, to be able to watch our games in any format that they want to,” Smith said. “I want it to be easy.”
Smith said he views the partnership with KJZZ as mutually beneficial with the chance for expansion.
“This is a big shift in the model of how consumption of media has been done,” Smith said. “It’s not a super long-term deal. With KJZZ, if we’re good partners, we’ll keep going. If we’re not good partners with each other, we won’t. That’s how it truly should be.”
While Smith understands the old deal had been a source of frustration, he said it wasn’t anybody’s fault.
“It was no one’s fault. It was a business that was in place for 15 years, and when you change business models, it’s hard,’ he said. “It seems like we went forward from a revenue standpoint but went backward from an experience standpoint. Now the No. 1 thing is just ubiquitous access to this experience. We want everyone to be able to see it.”
“It’s pretty simple: We don’t need to talk about access to games anymore. It’s there,” Smith continued. “If you can’t access the games, I think at this point, it is probably on you. I know there’s a better experience out there, so to have this underway is pretty big. I think it’s exciting.”{/mprestriction}
