At long last, we now know where fans can watch the Portland Trail Blazers this upcoming season. The team announced a multi-year broadcast rights deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group on Sept. 23, meaning regular season games will be aired on the company’s affiliate stations in Oregon and Washington. You will only need a TV antenna to access the channels.
However, traditional broadcasting won’t be the only way to catch the action. Fans can also subscribe to a direct-to-consumer streaming service called BlazerVision to watch games from anywhere in the world on NBA.com for $120 per season or $19.99 per month. Subscribers will receive behind-the-scenes content and two tickets to a select home game. Season ticket holders will get BlazerVision for free.
It’s a significant shift from the team’s predecessor broadcast partner, Root Sports Northwest, which was only available through certain cable providers. Many cord-cutters in the Portland metro area struggled to find suitable viewing options and felt alienated from the team, leading to a 49% drop in viewership last season.
There is a massive catch for anyone looking to tune in from a Sinclair affiliate outside the Rose City, though, as games will be shown in lower-quality standard definition (480i). Streaming services like DirecTV and Hulu won’t carry any Blazers basketball in Portland until the start of the new year.
BlazerVision also has its limitations. Multiple sources have indicated that the service will not allow you to pause and rewind live games. Additionally, only one device can be logged onto an account simultaneously. It is unclear whether these restrictions are set by NBA.com or the Blazers themselves.
Overall, this is a move the Blazers simply had to make. No one was going to pay loads of money or go through complicated cable packages for the sole purpose of watching losing basketball, and the decline in fan engagement had become too stark to ignore. It will be interesting to see how creative the organization gets with its new direct-to-consumer product in the future. AI-generated translated commentary in foreign languages? Live fan polling on which player will hit the next three-pointer during close games? For now, it is easier to stay connected to the team than ever before, and the countdown to game one of 82 marches on.
