ATLANTA—The Orlando Magic NBA franchise and Gray Media have announced a deal that will see Gray stations in Gainesville, Panama City, and Tallahassee broadcast about 70 games during the 2026-27 season.

All regular season games, excluding national exclusives, will be broadcast over-the-air on WTGB 34.3 in Gainesville, WJHG 7.6 in Panama City, and WCTV 6.3 in Tallahassee.

Each channel is affiliated with the 365BLK network and is also available on local cable systems.

In addition, select games will air on Gray’s ABC, NBC, CBS, and MyNetwork stations in these markets. A complete station lineup and broadcast schedule will be announced at a later date.

“We are excited to partner with Gray Media to bring Magic basketball to Gainesville, Panama City, and Tallahassee,” said Magic president of business operations Charlie Freeman. “Adding Gray to our line-up will provide Magic fans a direct connection to the team all season long.”

“Gray knows that Orlando Magic fans in Gainesville, Panama City, and Tallahassee will love watching the full season of the Magic free, over-the-air,” said Sandy Breland, Chief Operating Officer of Gray. “This relationship with the Magic builds on Gray’s other successful NBA partnerships and we look forward to continuing to build on this relationship with the Magic.”

Dante Marchitelli will serve as the full-time play-by-play voice of the Magic and will again be joined by former Magic forward Jeff Turner as analyst. Kendra Douglas enters her fourth season as the Magic team reporter.

The Magic said that they will also announce a direct-to-consumer streaming partner in the near future.

ATLANTA—Cox Media Group (CMG) has announced two multi-year NBA local broadcast rights agreements with the Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets that will see Cox stations and services airing live games from the NBA teams in their local markets.

Under these agreements CMG will air the Orlando Magic in Orlando and across Central Florida on WRDQ-TV 27 and WFTV Channel 9.

In Jacksonville and across Northeast Florida, games will primarily air on the newly created Action Sports Jax TV available on WJAX-TV 47.2, with games also airing on WJAX-TV 47 and WFOX-TV 30.

In Charlotte and across the Carolinas, CMG will air Charlotte Hornets’ regular-season games on WAXN-TV 64 and WSOC-TV. This is the first time in 27 years that Hornets’ games will be broadcast for free over-the-air.

“Local sports belong to the fans and they belong on broadcast television to best serve those fans and local communities,” said Dan York, President and CEO of Cox Media Group. “For decades, CMG has worked to earn trust by delivering essential local journalism, reliable weather, traffic, entertainment, and community-focused programming. Expanding our sports programming is another way we deepen our local connections, allow fans to follow their teams, and create value for local businesses. We are pleased to announce multi-year deals with the Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets to bring their games to their local fans over broadcast television.”

CMG expects to share additional schedules, coverage plans, and programming details as each market prepares for the upcoming NBA season and the launch of Action Sports Jax TV.

SUNNYVALE, CALIF.—Vitec and the Orlando Magic have teamed up to install Vitec’s IPTV Sports Venue Solution at the team’s home arena, the Amway Center. The system includes EZ TV IPTV middleware, HD Blade Encoders and Vitec’s IPTV set-top-boxes; they also installed Four Winds for digital signage. The installation was part of an upgrade to the arena’s video and signage systems that saw them change to a Cutting-Edge IPTV system and Digital Signage System.

EZ TV System

The EZ TV system helps deliver instant replays during games and events, as well as allowing fans in suites to playback on-demand content. The unit is capable of recording up to five streams of video on a centralized server with network storage. It also delivers content for the team’s 20 live channels and manages an additional 60 broadcast cable channels going to more than 300 Vitect set-top-boxes throughout the venue. Content also goes out to 700 Four Wind digital signage screens.

Features of Vitec’s EZ TV IPTV system include real-time network DVRs, Electronic Program Guide for TV and PC users, and the ability to extend the IPTV streams to desktops, laptops, tablets and phones.

Orlando Magic fans will be able to experience the Vitec system for the first time on Oct. 28.