Indiana Pacers and Bally Sports Indiana agree local rights extension

Bally Sports Indiana has extended its local broadcast agreement with Pacers Sports & Entertainment (PSE), the owner of the Indiana Fever of the WNBA and the Indiana Pacers of the NBA. 

Bally Sports Indiana will continue to air every Pacers game throughout the regular season as well as two pre-season contests and, should the team advance, the first round of the playoffs. 

Through the continuation of the 27-year-old partnership, the Sinclair-owned regional sports network (RSN) will also broadcast up to ten Indiana Fever games. 

The new agreement will also guarantee that, when Bally Sports+ direct-to-consumer (DTC) service starts nationally later this month, the Pacers and Fever games will be accessible on the DTC service as well.

Commenting on the deal, Rick Fuson, PSE Chief Executive said:

“The partnership renewal with Bally Sports Indiana allows Pacers and Fever fans to access the basketball content they love however they choose to consume it.

“The upcoming launch of Bally Sports+ complements the traditional content distribution model by delivering our games and other programming directly to the consumer. This ensures a direct connection to anyone in the region, a major priority for us as we finalised this deal.”

Jack Donovan, Bally Sports Indiana Senior Vice President and General Manager, added: 

“Pacers Sports & Entertainment is one of the most-respected organisations in sports, and the Pacers consistently generate some of the highest local-market TV ratings in the NBA. 

“We look forward to continuing to deliver high-quality productions of Pacers basketball to as many fans as possible, on cable, satellite, streaming TV and now via a new way to watch: Bally Sports+, our direct-to-consumer streaming service.”