Top News

Following the collapse of Main Street Sport Group, which owns FanDuel Sports Network, several NBA teams are looking for new regional/local TV broadcast partners for the 2026/27 season.

One of those impacted teams was the Hornetswho announced on Thursday that they’ve agreed to a one-year deal with Cox Media Group to be their over-the-air broadcast partner in the Charlotte region, per Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer. The games will be aired for free on WSOC-TV Channel 9 and TV64.

The team is still working through some details on the new agreement, including bringing back longtime commentators Eric Collins and Dell Curry, Boone writes. It’s unclear as of now what channels the non-nationally televised games will be broadcast on outside of Charlotte.

The Hornets also plan to have a direct-to-consumer streaming option at some point, but those plans have not yet been finalized.

The Magic have also chosen Cox Media Group to be their new over-the-air partner for all of their regular season contests, aside from the select nationally televised games, the team announced (Twitter link). Orlando’s games will primarily air on WRDQ TV 27, with certain games airing on WFTV Channel 9.

Similar to Charlotte, the Magic are still finalizing the details on which TV stations will carry their games outside of Orlando. The team has a direct-to-consumer option lined up, but will announce those plans at a later date.

According to Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal the Hornets are expected to receive a rights fee of around $7-8MM annually from Cox, while the Magic’s rights fee will likely come in at about $8MM. Friend hears both teams are expected to partner with DAZN for their streaming plans, with rights fees of approximately $1-2MM per year.