Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network now available for free, over-the-air on local TV in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama

 

The New Orleans Pelicans have announced the team’s television and radio broadcast information for the 2024-25 season. In partnership with Gray Media, all non-exclusive nationally televised Pelicans games will be broadcast via free, over-the-air television on the newly launched Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network – the official television home for New Orleans Pelicans basketball. Additionally, Audacy’s WWL Radio – the official radio home of the New Orleans Pelicans – will air all Pelicans games on the station’s airwaves.

 

With the addition of two markets in the team’s coverage territory – Birmingham (Ala.) and Montgomery (Ala.) – the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment network is now available in 13 markets throughout the Gulf South region – joining the previously announced markets in Louisiana (Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Monroe, New Orleans, and Shreveport); Mississippi (Biloxi, Hattiesburg, Jackson, and Meridian); and Alabama (Mobile). The distribution agreement with Gray Media now makes Pelicans games available to nearly 9.7 million viewers throughout the Gulf South. Games will be accessible via an over-the-air antenna or a local cable or satellite provider that carries the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network.

 

The Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network will debut its first Pelicans telecast on Tuesday, Oct. 15 with the preseason finale against the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CT.

 

Beginning with the Pelicans’ regular season opener on Wednesday, Oct. 23 against the Chicago Bulls at the Smoothie King Center, Gray Media will broadcast 75 of the 82 regular season games on the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network. The seven regular season games not being televised by GCSEN are scheduled to air on TNT (Oct. 29 at Golden State, Feb. 27 at Phoenix, and Mar. 11 vs. LA Clippers) and ESPN (Nov. 13 at Oklahoma City, Feb. 5 at Denver, Mar. 19 at Minnesota, and Apr. 2 at LA Clippers).

 

The Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network will also provide extensive team coverage including Pelicans pregame, halftime and postgame shows, as well as ancillary programming that features game highlights and behind-the-scenes content. The network will also feature original sports and entertainment programming including HBCU football, historic SEC games, boxing, wrestling, poker, and more.

 

The Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network is going to provide unique and timely Pelicans content across the network. We look forward to collaborating with the staff at Gray Media to make sure that we are providing our fans with the content they want,” said Pelicans SVP Greg Bensel. “We have always had great content that highlight our players’ personalities both on and off the court and now we have the platform to share it with our fans. We are also looking to work with Gray Media on creating other programming for the network, whether that be Saints or youth sports, such as NFL Flag, Girls Flag and Junior NBA Leagues.”

 

“While the Pelicans will be the marquee of the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network, we will work to create and attract more local and regional sports content,” said WVUE VP & GM Mikel Schaefer. “The network will allow us to air more live sporting events with an eye toward collegiate, high school and community sports.”

 

Play-by-play announcer Joel Meyers and color analyst Antonio Daniels return to the Pelicans television booth for their thirteenth and sixth seasons with the team, respectively. Meyers, a three-time Emmy award-winning play-by-play announcer, brings more than 35 years of broadcast experience to the organization. Daniels, who played 14 seasons in the NBA including 61 games with the New Orleans Hornets in 2008-09, joined the broadcast team in 2019 after serving as a studio analyst for FOX Sports Oklahoma and FOX Sports Southwest during the previous four seasons.

 

Andrew Lopez will join the television broadcast team as sideline reporter. The New Orleans native spent the last five years covering the NBA for ESPN.com. For the first four seasons, he was based in New Orleans before spending last season in San Antonio. Previously, he spent seven seasons working full-time for The Times-Picayune covering a variety of sports including the Pelicans, LSU, Tulane and recruiting.

 

The Pelicans pregame, halftime, and postgame studio shows will feature host Erin Summers along with studio analyst Wesley Johnson. Summers returns for her fourth season with the Pelicans, her first as TV studio host. Johnson, who played nine seasons in the NBA including 26 games with the Pelicans in 2018-19, joins the organization for his first season as TV studio analyst. Plans are to include former Pelicans sideline reporter, Jennifer Hale, as a host and producer on programming content on the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network.

 

The Pelicans’ first three preseason contests (Oct. 7 vs. Orlando, Oct. 11 at Orlando, Oct. 13 at Miami) will be streamed live on Pelicans.com and via the Pelicans Mobile App. The Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network will carry the preseason finale at Houston on Oct. 15. Streaming is limited to viewers within a 75-mile radius of the Smoothie King Center, per NBA regional broadcast rules. Fans must allow access to their location when prompted from their viewing browser in order to access the stream.

 

Additionally, the Pelicans have partnered with Kiswe, a leading cloud-based video company, to stream live Pelicans games to direct-to-consumer (DTC) audiences. The team’s exclusive streaming platform, which will be Pelicans-branded, will offer fans the ability to watch every available Pelicans game alongside the over-the-air broadcast on a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or Smart TV, plus access to original team content and behind-the-scenes footage. The streaming service is limited to viewers inside the Pelicans coverage territory. Fans outside of the team’s coverage territory can access games via NBA League Pass. Additional details about the Pelicans streaming service, including pricing and how to subscribe to the streaming service, will be announced in the coming weeks.

 

The current list of regional markets within the team’s local broadcast territory that will have access to Pelicans games via over-the-air television and streaming include

 

Gray Media is a multimedia company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Gray is the nation’s largest owner of top-rated local television stations and digital assets serving 113 television markets that collectively reach approximately 36 percent of US television households. The portfolio includes 77 markets with the top-rated television station and 100 markets with the first and/or second highest rated television station, as well as the largest Telemundo Affiliate group with 43 markets totaling nearly 1.5 million Hispanic TV Households. Gray also owns Gray Digital Media, a full-service digital agency offering national and local clients digital marketing strategies with the most advanced digital products and services. Its additional media properties include video production companies Raycom Sports, Tupelo Media Group, and PowerNation Studios, and studio production facilities Assembly Atlanta and Third Rail Studios. Gray owns a majority interest in Swirl Films.

 

About the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network:

 

The Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network aims to be the Gulf Coast’s premier regional broadcast network featuring the area’s best sporting events past or present. The network combines the region’s rich sports history with today’s premier sporting events. The network is based out of WVUE-TV FOX 8 in New Orleans, La. Living up to the stations brand “Local First”, the area’s most watched news, FOX 8 News, delivers more original content, live breaking stories, and in-depth coverage on issues that matter most to viewers. All on the platform of your choice: on-air, online, social media and streaming TV devices