The Sacramento Kings are breaking up with their long-time broadcast radio partner and will become the first team in the National Basketball Association (NBA) to deliver live audio of their games over the Internet on a full-time basis.
On Thursday, the Kings said their new streaming platform, called Kings Plus (stylized as Kings+), will become the new home of regular-season and post-season radio broadcasts from the team.
The Kings will also offer audio simulcasts of their radio broadcasts through the Kings website and via the Sacramento Kings play-by-play channel on SiriusXM.
The move comes after the Kings were unable to reach a new agreement to keep their games on Bonneville-owned KHTK (1140 AM), known locally as Sactown Sports. The radio station has served as the in-market radio broadcast partner of the Kings since the mid-1990s.
Fans will continue to hear calls and analysis from Gary Gerould, Henry Turner and Jason Ross during the games, with pre-game and post-game shows produced by the Kings themselves, starting October 5.
“Kings Radio is an investment in our fans, giving us greater ability to innovate, expand access and bring Kings basketball to a larger audience,” John Rinehart, the President of Business Operations at the Kings, said in a statement.
In addition to the usual game broadcasts in English, the Kings are introducing a new Spanish-language broadcast that will stream through the Kings app and websites as well. That broadcast will be helmed by Armando Botello, the current Spanish-language play caller for the Sacramento Republic FC soccer team.
“As the way fans consume sports continues to evolve, we’re making it easier to listen across more platforms, introducing a Spanish-language broadcast and continuing to feature the legendary voices that have been a treasured part of Kings basketball for generations,” Rinehart noted.
On television, NBC Sports will continue to provide live coverage of games that are not nationally-televised, with those broadcasts aired on NBC Sports California. A streaming version of the channel is available to purchase through Comcast-owned Peacock.
Fans beyond the Sacramento market will have access to televised games through NBA League Pass, which is sold by Amazon.
KHTK will continue to offer play-by-play from other sports franchises, including the San Francisco 49ers.
