Tampa Bay – The Tampa Bay Lightning has concluded a media rights defense agreement with Sports Today scripps, which will facilitate fans of the Tampa Bay region to watch the Lightning hockey matches from this fall with the start of the NHL 2025-26 season.
“We are delighted to announce Sports Scripps as a new media partner of the Tampa Bay Lightning,” said Steve Griggs, CEO of Vinik Sports Group. “A world class fans experience begins with access – and the fans have clearly indicated that they wanted it to be easier to find and watch our games. This partnership is approaching there.
“We are impatient to work with Brian Lawlor and the Sports Scripps team to extend our scope and bring the excitation of Hockey Lightning in more houses through Tampa Bay. We are also incredibly grateful to Steve Tello and the Fanduel sports team for their partnership and the many unforgettable moments that we have shared. ”
This new agreement made of the EW Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP) The official Lightning television house, giving them production rights and distributing all pre-season, regular season and first-round playoffs which are not allocated exclusively to national emissions.
Scripps, which owns ABC Action News, the local TV subsidiary ABC in the service of the Tampa television market, plans to launch a second full power station in the service of the Tampa-St. Petersburg Area, WXPX-TV, which will be the house broadcast of lightning. This station will be marked “The Spot – Tampa Bay 66” and will be launched locally on July 1, with a program of news and entertainment in addition to all the lightning games produced locally. Scripps is currently in discussion with cable and satellite distributors to ensure that lightning games will be available on the cable, satellite and live television. Further information on television programming and channels for locations outside the Tampa Bay market will be available before the start of the 2025-2010 season. For the latest information, fans can connect to www.tampabaylightning.com/watch.
In addition to television programs, The Lightning and Scripps Sports will present a new innovative experience where bolts fans can live live games via the Lightning application, presented by Spectrum, throughout the Bols diffusion territory, fueled by Viewlift. More details on the direct streaming experience for consumers will be available before the start of the 2025-26 season.
Under this new agreement, Sports Scripps will produce all game shows, including programs before and after the match. Lightning fans will continue to see the familiar distribution team of Dave Randorf on Play-By-Play, Brian Engbrom serving as a color analyst and Gabby Shirley signaling Rinkside. Scripps Sports and The Lightning will also be co -produced by air, the original content that will give fans unique visibility in the team and the players on and out of the ice.
“Tampa Bay’s Lightning are one of the best NHL teams and Bols fans deserve easy access to all their cable, satellite, free and streaming games,” said Brian Lawlor, president of Scripps Sports. “The television and streaming complement broadcast guarantees that fans can follow the games of their living room or wherever they are in their busy lives. We are looking forward to sharing many winning moments with one of the most loyal fans of the League.”
“We are honored to propel streaming experience for lightning and expand our support for the NHL and now seven of its teams,” said Viewlift CEO Rick Allen. “We are going to facilitate fans of bols to broadcast games through their Lightning mobile applications and their new existing applications on many more devices, helping the Lightning to provide ice action and information and experiences behind the scenes to fans of all ages, at home or in motion.”
In the NHL, Sports Scripps also has similar agreements on media rights with the Vegas Golden Knights, Florida Panthers and Utah Mammoth. Locally, Scripps is also the owner and operator of WFTS ABC Action News in Tampa Bay.
About the sports group Lightning and Vinik
Vinik Sports Group (VSG) is an entity established by Jeff Vinik to manage the triple champion of the Stanley Cup, Tampa Bay Lightning (2004, 2020, 2021) of the National Hockey League and will maintain the rights rights in Amalie Arena, the downtown house of 19,092 seats in which the team plays its games. The place opened its doors in 1996 and became Amalia Arena in September 2014 when the Amalie Oil Company family company, based in Tampa Bay, has teamed up with Vinik and the Lightning. Since 2010, Vinik has directed a complete brand and a commercial transformation of lightning and arena, with a mainly deprived renovation of the public installation. Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz joined the extended ownership group of Vinik Sports Group in 2024, alongside Arctos, which was initially joined in 2021. In addition to having the Lightning and Manage Amalie Arena, Vinik Sports Group, through TBSE, manages the Yuengling Center from the south.
About Sports Scripps
Sports scripps serves professional and university sports leagues, conferences and teams with the depth of the local market and the national scam of dissemination. Scripps Sports currently has partnerships with the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), the Stanley Cup of the National League (NHL) 2024, Florida Panthers, the 2023 Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights, the New Utah Hockey Club Vegas Aces of the WNBA and the NCAA NCAA Club. Scripps Sports is a division of the EW Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP), an American media company Fortune 1000.
About Viewlift
Viewlift is a technological company providing digital solutions to content owners, with specific expertise in live video distribution and on demand. With proprietary -based owner -based owner, Viewlift feeds digital platforms for sports, media and entertainment brands worldwide. Its services include content management, multi-platform distribution, real-time analysis, viewer’s engagement tools and flexible monetization models (AVOD, SVOD, TVOD and Hybrid models). Viewlift allows content owners to maximize commitment and public revenues thanks to a seamless and scalable streaming experience. Viewlift sports customers include the National Hockey League, 14 best American professional sports teams; Golf liv; Five regional sports networks; the professional league of combatants; and the World Racing Group. Customers of the company’s media include NBC; Tegna; and Kroenke Sports & Entertainment’s Motv.
For more information on Viewlift, visit ** www.viewlift.com **.