{"id":546051,"date":"2026-04-07T18:52:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T18:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/546051\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T18:52:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T18:52:15","slug":"nashville-predators-ink-local-tv-deal-with-scripps-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/546051\/","title":{"rendered":"Nashville Predators ink local TV deal with Scripps Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Predators are taking their local telecasts over the air beginning next season under a multiyear agreement with Scripps Sports. The company\u2019s ION station in the Nashville market, WNPX-TV, will carry all preseason, regular-season and first-round playoff games not designated as national TV exclusives — more than 70 per season. The Predators are the fifth NHL team to tap Scripps as their local broadcast partner, joining the Lightning<\/a>, Panthers<\/a>, Golden Knights<\/a> and Mammoth<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The move comes as Main Street Sports Group, which operates the FanDuel\u2013branded RSNs, prepares to shutter following the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs<\/a>. Predators games had been shown locally on FanDuel Sports Network South (which has operated under a variety of different names) since the team joined the league in 1998-99. The Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, Blues and Wild are now the four remaining Main Street teams in the NHL that have yet to announce their plans for next season.<\/p>\n

The Predators are a natural fit for Scripps\u2019 local broadcast model given the company\u2019s ownership of two full-power stations in Middle Tennessee. Its primary station, CBS-affiliated WTVF NewsChannel 5, will provide promotional support for Predators telecasts on its sister station. WNPX will be renamed The Spot — Nashville 28, mirroring the branding of the secondary Tampa station that carries Lightning games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the formula that we have focused on to this point, and I think that\u2019s where we feel like we can create the greatest value for the teams and create value for advertisers and partners,\u201d Scripps Sports President Brian Lawlor said. <\/p>\n

The Predators and Scripps will also partner 50-50 on a paid streaming service for local telecasts, details of which will be announced later. Lawlor said they have yet to pick a technology partner for the service, a role that ViewLift has filled in Scripps\u2019 arrangements with the Lightning<\/a>, Panthers<\/a> and Golden Knights<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Lightning, Panthers and Golden Knights — all three of which have won Stanley Cups this decade — have each reported significant viewership increases since moving from cable RSNs to over-the-air stations. In addition to their on-ice success, they have attributed those gains to greater household penetration in their primary markets and expanded geographic reach.<\/p>\n

Predators CEO Sean Henry expects to see a similar uptick locally and across the team\u2019s broadcast territory, which includes Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. Scripps will seek to partner with other broadcasters in those areas to distribute Predators games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to reach 90 to 95% of all the households in Nashville\u2019s DMA immediately — if we change nothing today, that\u2019s where we\u2019d be — as opposed to what, 25 to 35% under our old arrangement,\u201d Henry said.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cHistory shows they\u2019ve done working in the outer markets from their main cities that they partner with, and I have no reason to believe that we won\u2019t achieve the same thing. This way my daughter at Auburn can watch our games as easily as my son in Louisville can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry acknowledged the Predators will not receive as substantial a rights fee from Scripps as they did from Main Street. He believes, however, that the Scripps model is more sustainable and will pay off over time through expanded reach. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a financial standpoint, we\u2019re going to get almost back to where we were in a very short time span,\u201d Henry said. \u201cBut over time, we should get above that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Predators are taking their local telecasts over the air beginning next season under a multiyear agreement with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5119],"tags":[5,2409,231,5281,4,2410],"class_list":{"0":"post-546051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nashville-predators","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nashville","10":"tag-nashville-predators","11":"tag-nashvillepredators","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-predators"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116364938203184432","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}