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Brian Windhorst, ESPN Senior Writer
The Phoenix Suns are giving fans free television antennas to help them watch their games, which largely will be shown locally on over-the-air stations starting this season.
Last spring, new team owner Mat Ishbia decided to walk away from talks to extend the team’s television rights deal with Bally Sports and make the games available on local broadcast stations across Arizona owned by Gray Television. The team also is partnering with Kiswe to offer a streaming option for games.
The choice left tens of millions in guaranteed revenue on the table but, the team said, would more than triple the reach of its games to more than 2.8 million households. Ishbia said over the long term he felt it was a better business move to appeal to more fans.
To help fans make the switch, the team offered to send fans antennas to connect to their televisions if they filled out a request form on the team website. The offer was so popular, the Suns quickly sold out of an initial batch of antennas and had to order more, team CEO Josh Bartelstein told ESPN.
There are 70 Suns games plus five preseason games scheduled to be shown on the local broadcasts. In June, the Utah Jazz followed the Suns by leaving their regional sports network and decided to put games on local television with a similar streaming option.