Seattle Kraken TV Broadcasts Moving To Over-The-Air And Prime Video

With an eye toward reaching more fans, the Seattle Kraken are adopting a hybrid approach to their team’s regional broadcasts.

Starting in 2024-25, the 70-plus Kraken games that are not broadcast by national rightsholders ESPN and TNT will be available both over-the-air and streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video. For the Kraken’s first three NHL seasons, regional games were broadcast on Root Sports.

“Root has been a terrific partner for us; we have appreciated their support as we determined our broadcast plans moving forward,” said Kraken owner Sam Holloway. “Today’s announcement is a game-changer for our fans. Our goal is to increase the ways they can watch our games – whether they’re cheering us on at home or on the go. I can’t wait for more fans to fall in love with Kraken hockey.”

Working out the multi-year deal was a collaborative effort involving all stakeholders, according to Kraken team president Victor de Bonis.

“The landscape in the regional cable business is changing so much that we tried to work on this together and come to the right solution,” he said. “We’re excited to to have the chance to do something different to get the games to our fans.”

The Kraken’s broadcast region covers Washington state, Oregon and Alaska.

In the Seattle area, all regional games will be carried by KONG, which is owned by media company Tegna. It’s available as part of most cable packages, or via an inexpensive antenna. Select games will also be simulcast on Tegna’s KING-5, an NBC affiliate which becomes the official television partner of the Kraken.

“Their track record speaks for itself in this market,” de Bonis said. “They’re going to be great supporters of ours and and we’ll definitely be part of their their strategy going forward. People watching KING-5 are going to know about the Kraken — that’s for sure.

Kraken games will also be broadcast on Tegna stations in two other markets: NBC affiliate KGW in Portland and CBS affiliate KREM in Spokane. Additional free, over-the-air broadcasts will be added in other markets in the region in the coming weeks.

Then, there’s the streaming component. Prime Video subscribers in Washington, Oregon and Alaska will be able to access all Kraken regional broadcasts with their existing memberships — no additional subscription fee will be required.

The Kraken are the first NHL team to partner directly with the streamer, which has partnered with the league on content including the 2021 docuseries ‘All or Nothing: Toronto Maple Leafs’ and the recently released documentary feature ‘Saving Sakic,’ which is airing on Prime Video in Canada.

“Live Kraken games add to our growing selection of premium live sports and deliver additional value for Prime members throughout the Kraken home footprint,” said Prime Video’s head of sports partnerships, Charlie Neiman.

Other Prime Video Sports properties in the U.S. include the NFL’s Thursday Night Football, NASCAR and the New York Yankees.

Amazon, of course, was founded in Seattle, remains headquartered there, and is the Kraken’s most important business partnership.

“It’s a special relationship, so it was pretty straightforward to have discussions with them about this opportunity,” de Bonis said. “This is the first time that they’ve partnered with a team to do broadcasts like this.”

With a highly regarded squad of talent including legendary play-by-play announcer John Forslund, former players J.T. Brown and U.S. hockey hall of famer Eddie Olczyk, his son Nick Olczyk and analytics expert Alison Lukan, the Kraken’s regional broadcasts were voted No. 1 by hockey fans in The Athletic’s 2023 broadcast rankings.

Under the new agreement, the Kraken will also bring the production of the broadcasts in-house, taking over from Root.

“It’s all really good, and it’s fans first,” summed up de Bonis. “We’re really thrilled with how it turned out. Now, we’ve just got to deliver.”