Utah Jazz fans looking to watch games next season will once again turn to AT&T SportsNet.
The team announced Wednesday that games will remain on AT&T SportsNet for the 2022-23 season. The channel is available through two traditional cable and satellite services in Utah — Xfinity and DirecTV — and on two streaming services — FuboTV and DirecTV Stream.
Change from the traditional regional sports model could be on the way, though, as the Jazz can now negotiate with other partners besides AT&T SportsNet for the first time since 2009, when the deal first went into effect.
The new deal would begin in the 2023-24 season, according to the team.
Team sources indicated that the Jazz have started negotiations with broadcast partners for a new deal.
The Jazz’s goal in a new TV deal is to provide a multitude of options to watch the team — through cable and satellite (e.g. DirecTV, Xfinity), streaming TV packages (e.g. FuboTV, YouTube TV) and a pay-per-view option — for one game, a package of games or a whole season.
A pay-per-view option could help curb illegal streaming, which is especially popular among younger people. Team sources indicated that the Jazz held a focus group of 50 people, and every person said that they had watched Jazz games through illegal streams.
The Jazz have heard that their fans have wanted more streaming options for years, but haven’t had a chance, until now, to negotiate with partners outside of AT&T SportsNet, according to team sources.
Jazz games have exclusively been broadcast on AT&T SportsNet since 2009, when it was then Fox Sports Network Utah. It then was rebranded as ROOT Sports before being rebranded again to AT&T SportsNet in 2017.