The Orlando Magic’s broadcast picture for next season is still cloudy, even as the NBA’s schedule is expected next week, according to Marc Stein.
That release should make the season feel a lot closer, with training camp still eight weeks away. It also gives a clearer roadmap for the year ahead - the rough stretches, the NBA Cup path, and that late-season push that has mattered so much in all three of the Magic’s playoff runs. But one big piece is still missing for Orlando: a new local TV home.
A lot of teams around the league are in the same boat after the collapse of FanDuel Sports Network and Main Street Sports Group, which shut down after last season. That left a wave of clubs scrambling to line up new local distribution. Around the league, those answers are starting to come into focus, with teams landing on a mix of over-the-air TV and streaming.
Orlando looks headed in that direction too.
The Magic already gave a hint of where this is going by simulcasting FanDuel broadcasts on WESH-2 and CW-18 for 10-plus games last season. That setup pointed toward a likely over-the-air route for next season’s games.
The team has not announced anything yet, though. In July, it told Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel it would reveal its broadcast plans at a later date.
Even during the FanDuel years, the Magic were known for waiting late to make those announcements.
There’s also a change behind the microphone. David Steele has retired, and Dante Marchitelli is now the team’s play-by-play voice.
The bigger question is where the games will actually live.
Around the league, teams that were tied to FanDuel have been carving out new homes in different ways. The Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans moved early, building their own broadcast groups and securing local access. The Suns and Utah Jazz even created direct-to-consumer streaming apps, while still keeping games on over-the-air TV.
The Miami Heat have already landed on WPLG Local 10, an independent station that used to be the area’s ABC affiliate, though they are still looking for a partner in Palm Beach County.
One of the most aggressive moves belongs to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who agreed to a five-year deal with a one-year opt-out with DAZN. Their games will stream exclusively on the app, though up to 15 games will still be on over-the-air TV. DAZN, best known for combat sports, has also bought FIBA’s streaming service, Courtside 1891.
The Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks are also shifting streaming rights to DAZN from Gotham Sports Network, while continuing to air on their team-owned networks - YES Network for the Nets and MSG for the Knicks.
The Sports Business Journal reported the Magic are likely to find their streaming home with DAZN, and that seems to fit the path Orlando has been laying out. The most likely setup appears to be a local over-the-air partner such as WESH-2 and CW-18, paired with a streaming deal.
A lot of these arrangements come with one-year opt-outs, since the NBA is looking at bundling local rights with a company like Amazon down the line. The league is trying to build a streaming hub for its broadcasts for the 2028 season, so some of these deals may only be stopgaps.
That uncertainty is not limited to Orlando. Florida’s teams were heavily tied to FanDuel, with two regional networks in the state - FanDuel Sports Florida and FanDuel Sun - built to cover them. Once the network folded, the dominoes started to fall.
The Tampa Bay Lightning landed with Scripps Sports locally in Tampa and were shown on WRBW Channel 65 in Orlando. They also streamed on their website for a fee.
Baseball took a different route. MLB centralized local broadcasts through MLB.TV, while the Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins also found local TV homes through cable and satellite setups with dedicated channels for their games. Spectrum customers in Orlando can watch the Rays and Marlins on channels 103 and 104.
That transition caused relatively little disruption beyond the usual hunt for the right channel. The Magic appear likely to follow a similar model, with over-the-air television locally and streaming as part of the package. The team even expanded its over-the-air footprint last season by adding MOR-TV in Tampa in the middle of the year.
Nothing is official yet, and the Magic are still sorting it out. But with the season getting closer, the expectation is clear: everyone is waiting on the announcement that finally tells fans where to watch Orlando basketball.
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