E.W. Scripps, WNBA Ink Broadcast Deal

The E.W. Scripps Co. has sunk the first basket for its new sports division with a multi-year deal broadcast deal with the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) that will see Friday night games aired on its Ion stations. The deal begins with the WNBA’s upcoming season that runs May 26-Sept. 8.

WNBA Friday Night Spotlight on Ion will feature WNBA games during two windows that will be announced shortly. Some Fridays will feature doubleheaders, and some will be national games, while Ion will drop in regionalization for local games in markets when applicable.

“This is the first deal for Scripps Sports and the first dedicated national broadcast window for the WNBA or for any women’s sports, for that matter,” says Adam Symson, Scripps’ president and CEO. “It’s the first sports franchise night for us. A lot of firsts.”

The deal has been in the works for about three months, according to Symson. Scripps launched its sports division in December 2022 as regional sports networks, including Sinclair-owned Diamond Sports, began seriously teetering and the company saw an opportunity to claw back live sports rights.

A WBNA league spokesperson says the deal represents a new package of national games created from the expansion of the WNBA’s season and other games from its inventory. Some of the games were previously available on WNBA League Pass, and some had been available locally.

“The WNBA is thrilled to partner with Scripps to expand the league’s media horizon and reach basketball fans in greater numbers,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert in a statement. “Access to watch WNBA games is in high demand, and Scripps’ dedicated Friday night lineup of WNBA games on Ion will become much desired appointment viewing for WNBA fans.”

Symson adds: “This is the ubiquitous reach and the addressability with consistency that fans of the WBNA deserve, that the league deserves, that the teams deserve. This will bring the WBNA to the broadcast possible television platform — 79 million pay TV homes, 103 million connected TV homes and 34 million over-the-air homes.

“There isn’t another platform capable of that kind of reach. Cable networks don’t have the OTA and the CTV, and traditional broadcast networks don’t have the ability to put women’s sports in that consistent of a window,” he says.

According to Nielsen, Ion, the country’s No. 5 broadcast network, has a larger female audience for women 18-49 than all but two ad-supported cable networks (ESPN and Hallmark), including TNT and USA. Its multicultural audience No. 2, behind only BET among ad-supported cable networks.

Colie Edison, WNBA chief growth officer, says Ion’s reach was what cinched the deal. “For us, this is totally a reach play,” she says. “What this represents to us is the ability to create appointment viewership and we can direct our fans there every Friday night.”