Atlanta Hawks to Broadcast 10 Games on Over-the-Air Peachtree TV in Back Half of 2023-24 Season
Atlanta Hawks to Broadcast 10 Games on Over-the-Air Peachtree TV in Back Half of 2023-24 Season
The Hawks are the second NBA team this week to officially announce they’ll play 10 games on free broadcast channels this season.
Get ready, Georgia NBA fans, because the Atlanta Hawks could be coming to a free over-the-air (OTA) channel near you! The team has announced that it will play 10 games on a local OTA network between now and the end of the 2023 NBA season, which will be free for fans to watch. The bulk of the team’s games will air on Bally Sports Southeast and will stream on Bally Sports+.
- Every Friday night Hawks game between now and the end of the 2023-24 season, with one exception, will be shown for free in the Atlanta market.
- Games will air on Peachtree TV (WPCH).
- Free broadcasts start Friday, Jan. 12 when the Hawks take on the Indiana Pacers.
| DIRECTV | Fubo | Hulu | Philo | Sling TV | YouTube TV | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Free Trial | Free 3-Day Trial | Free Trial | Save with Sling | Free Trial | |||||
| $20.99 | $9.99 | $28.99 | $25 | $19.99 | $29.99 | $45.99 | $45.99 | $64.99 | ||
| Bally Sports Southeast | + $44 | + $59 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
Which Atlanta Hawks Games Will be On Peachtree TV?
Starting Friday, Jan. 12, every Friday night Atlanta Hawks game for the rest of the NBA regular season — with the exception of one — will be available to watch on Peachtree TV (WPCH) in Atlanta. The exception will be the Hawks’ game against the Memphis Grizzlies on March 8; instead, the team’s March 10 matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans will be offered on Peachtree TV that week. The Hawks don’t play every Friday throughout the duration of the season, so check out the schedule below for the broadcast dates.
Other highlights of the 10-game slate include contests against the Miami Heat (Jan. 19), Dallas Mavericks (Jan. 26), Phoenix Suns (Feb. 2), and Philadelphia 76ers (Feb. 9), all of which were playoff teams in 2022. Hawks games were available on WPCH from 1972 to 1994, though the channel’s callsigns were WTCG/WTBS during that period.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to give Hawks fans a new, free way to watch our games this season,” Hawks EVP Andrew Saltzman said. “We are thankful to Peachtree TV and Gray TV for making this a reality and look forward to returning the Hawks to our historic local partner for our Friday games.”
What Atlanta Hawks Games Will Air on Peachtree TV?
| Date | Time (ET) | Opponent |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, Jan. 12 | 7:30 p.m. | Indiana Pacers |
| Friday, Jan. 19 | 8 p.m. | Miami Heat |
| Friday, Jan. 26 | 7 p.m. | Dallas Mavericks |
| Friday, Feb. 2 | 7:30 p.m. | Phoenix Suns |
| Friday, Feb. 9 | 7 p.m. | Philadelphia 76ers |
| Friday, Feb. 23 | 7:30 p.m. | Toronto Raptors |
| Sunday, March 10 | 6 p.m. | New Orleans Pelicans |
| Friday, March 15 | 9:30 p.m. | Utah Jazz |
| Friday, April 5 | 8:30 p.m. | Dallas Mavericks |
| Friday, April 12 | 8 p.m. | Minnesota Timberwolves |
What Other NBA Teams Have Moved to Broadcast Channels in 2023?
The press release announcing the Hawks’ intention to play 10 games on Peachtree TV this season indicates that the arrangement is allowed under the terms of the NBA's new contract with Diamond Sports Group. That deal, signed in early November, allows the league to recoup broadcast rights from all 15 teams whose local games appear on a Bally Sports channel after the conclusion of this season. The Hawks play on Bally Sports Southeast, and their games also stream in-market on Bally Sports+.
That means that other teams could be unveiling similar 10-game schedules on broadcast TV in the near future. The New Orleans Pelicans got the trend started earlier this week, when they announced they would depart Bally Sports New Orleans for a 10-game stretch this season as well. The league could look at these 10-game samples for guidance as it tries to find new local broadcasting partners for teams who are now on Bally Sports channels.
The Phoenix Suns were on the now-defunct Bally Sports Arizona until 2023 when they departed in favor of local broadcast channels. The Utah Jazz also left a regional sports network (RSN) behind this season, though under different circumstances. That team’s games were formerly shown on AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, but after Warner Bros. Discovery exited the RSN business the team moved its local broadcasts to KJZZ.
The basketball broadcast landscape is shifting, as 2025 and the end of the NBA’s national broadcasting deals looms. The league has lots of options on the table and lots of questions to answer before then, but it seems as if it’s doing the necessary work to gather the necessary information now. It will be watching ratings closely as teams begin playing on local OTA channels, as the Atlanta Hawks have announced they’ll do for 10 games this year.
Bally Sports+
Bally Sports+ was a direct-to-consumer streaming service that provided live, in-market games without requiring a cable or satellite subscription. It allowed fans to watch their local Bally Sports regional sports network (RSN) without a traditional TV package.