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For several years, we have covered the shift of live, televised sports from regional sports networks to broadcast television stations in local markets, accelerated by the bankruptcy and eventual collapse of FanDuel Sports Network and parent Main Street Sports (formerly Diamond Sports Group). We have reported on several broadcast-related agreements with the E. W. Scripps Company, Gray Media and others involving NBA games distributed on free, over-the-air TV channels.
The Detroit Pistons will move their locally televised games to free broadcast television under a new rights agreement with Scripps Sports that begins with the 2026-27 NBA season, The Desk has learned.
Under the deal, WMYD (Channel 20) in Detroit will become the official local broadcast home of the Pistons, carrying all locally available preseason and regular season games. The station is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, which also operates WXYZ (Channel 7), Detroit’s ABC affiliate.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but a source familiar with the arrangement said the deal was bankrolled in part by a production loan that exceeds $4 million. The valuation of the rights package is substantially more, according to the source, who requested anonymity in order to discuss sensitive business-related information.
The agreement will make Pistons games available for free over the air in Detroit, Metro Detroit and across Michigan, while also preserving access through participating cable and satellite providers. The move marks the team’s return to a primarily local broadcast television home for the first time since 2005, when Pistons games shifted away from free over-the-air television.
“This move is for our fans,” Pistons Owner Tom Gores said in a statement on Wednesday. “They have been huge all season and throughout this playoff run. Their energy and support have lifted our team and helped fuel our resurgence. It’s a new era of Pistons basketball and we want to make sure that more people in Detroit and throughout Michigan can be part of the journey.”
The partnership is part of a broader shift across professional sports, where teams are increasingly turning to broadcast television and hybrid distribution models to expand reach as the regional sports network business faces pressure from cord-cutting and declining pay television penetration.
Scripps Sports has pursued local and national sports rights as a way to strengthen its over-the-air station portfolio since the initiative launched in 2022. The company said it will pair WXYZ’s local news operation with WMYD’s broadcast platform to provide broader Pistons coverage in the Detroit market.
The Pistons and Scripps Sports said they will produce expanded game-day coverage around the broadcasts, including pregame, in-game and postgame programming. The agreement also calls for a weekly half-hour Pistons program and additional team-focused content across Scripps’ broadcast and digital platforms.
Arn Tellem, the Vice Chairman of the Pistons, said the agreement was designed to expand access to the team’s games while reflecting the role basketball plays in Detroit.
“Basketball has always been deeply woven into the fabric of our city, and we’re proud to expand access to our games,” Tellem said in a statement.
Scripps said it plans to work with its stations across Michigan in the coming months to build a broader statewide distribution network for Pistons coverage. The Pistons and Scripps Sports also said they plan to collaborate on a direct-to-consumer streaming application, with details to be announced later.
