Starting next season, the Detroit Pistons are returning to over-the-air TV.
The Pistons have reached a multi-year agreement with Scripps Sports for WYMD-TV (Channel 20 in Detroit) to become the official lead broadcast home of the team starting with the 2026-27 preseason and continuing through the regular season. The games will be broadcast for free over the air, marking the first time since 2005 the team will shift to a primarily local production and broadcast. There also will be a streaming solution, to be announced at a later date.
“This move is for our fans,” team owner Tom Gores said in a release. “They have been huge all season and throughout this playoff run. Their energy and support have lifted our team and helped fuel our resurgence. It’s a new era of Pistons basketball and we want to make sure that more people in Detroit and throughout Michigan can be part of the journey.”
How can fans watch Pistons, Tigers, Red Wings on TV?
For fans, it means the Pistons will be the lone local team to broadcast games over the air. Following the dissolution of FanDuel Sports Detroit, the Tigers are broadcasting on Detroit SportsNet, a new regional network owned by Ilitch Sports + Entertainment. The Red Wings will join them this fall. Detroit SportsNet subscriptions are priced at $19.99 per month or $189.99 per year for streaming, with games also airing on cable and satellite TV. Tigers games are currently produced by MLB’s TV production arm.
What other channels will air Pistons games?
Pistons fans looking to watch all 82 of the team’s regular-season games won’t be able to rely solely on their antennas (or a streaming service that carries WMYD). In addition to locally airing games, the NBA has broadcast agreements with ESPN (which also airs games on ABC), NBC (WDIV-TV, Channel 4 in Detroit) and Amazon. The latter two feature multiple games broadcast via streaming services alone, with NBC putting games weekly through out the season on its Peacock service (and on NBC Sports Network, carried on YouTube TV and Xfinity), and Amazon showing all its games via Prime Video, its streaming arm. The NBA also airs games on its own network, NBA TV, though those are usually simulcasts of local broadcasts.
What will local coverage of Pistons have?
According to the team, the Pistons and Scripps Sports will also produce comprehensive gameday coverage, including pregame, in-game and postgame. They also will produce a a weekly half-hour Pistons show, along with other digital content.
Will George Blaha and Greg Kelser return in 2026-27?
Longtime play-by-play announcer George Blaha and analyst Greg Kelser are expected to make the transition to the new broadcast partner. Blaha completed his 50th season with the Pistons this year and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September.
It continues a partnership between the Pistons and Scripps Sports that began three season seasons ago, when they reached an agreement to air five of the Pistons’ final nine regular season games on WMYD in March 2024. The Pistons also broadcast five games on WMYD in 2024-25 and 2025-26.
Where did Pistons games used to air?
The Pistons, Tigers and Red Wings all had previously aired on FanDuel Sports Detroit, whose parent company, Main Street Sports Group, is winding down operations after navigating financial difficulties. The Pistons initially moved from local TV to what was then known as Fox Sports Detroit alongside the Tigers and Red Wings beginning in 2008.
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on X and/or Bluesky.
Next up: Game 5
Matchup: 1-seed Pistons (2-2) vs. 4-seed Cleveland (2-2); NBA playoffs Eastern Conference semifinals Game 5.
Tipoff: 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 13; Little Caesars Arena, Detroit.
TV/radio: ESPN; WWJ-AM (950).
At stake: The winner of this best-of-seven series advances to the East finals to face the 3-seed New York Knicks for a spot in the NBA Finals.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons strike deal to broadcast 2026-27 games over the air
Reporting by Omari Sankofa II, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
