As you've already read on SLCDunk, the Utah Jazz will no longer be carried by the station that bares its name, KJZZ. The team announced that they have signed an agreement with FSN Utah to carry all of the Jazz regular season games, save national games, through the 2020-2021 season.
I understand that the team was in final negotiations with FSN when I posted that story. However, the email I received from Jeremy Castro in response to that post stated the following (sic'd),
Due to the fact that you did receive some in accurate information I would ask you to please publish the following update.
The information may have been incomplete, but it was not inaccurate. Also, in the update that followed, there was the following statement,
Rest assured that it is our top priority to service the fans and allow them access to our broadcasts.
I don't have the numbers but I would venture that there are quite a few Jazz fans that only watch Jazz games over the air. Is it more than those that live outside the intermountain west that now pick up more games on FSN as a result of this move?
I worry now though that we lose some of the die-hard fanbase with this move. The numbers that I found suggest that around 80% of homes in the US have cable or satellite. I couldn't find anything for Utah. I would think that Utah and the surrounding areas would be a little bit lower than that given the rural layout.
Like I stated in my original post, I don't have anything against the team bringing in additional revenue given the current financial situation. And hopefully down the road it will help keep players here and improve facilities, etc. Most importantly, if it helps with the stability of the team and keeping them in Utah, I'm all for it.
What becomes of KJZZ? Right now it's just a syndication dumping ground that offers little original content. Could it go away completely? They could not have predicted it at the time, but the fight with DirecTV last year seems pretty fruitless now.
More updates as they come in.