Streaming news roundup: the Magic and Hornets choose broadcast TV, and the NBA's local scramble splits in two

Cox Media Group signed the Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets to local broadcast deals, sending their games to over-the-air stations rather than a streaming service, and sharpening the split between the NBA's two post-RSN paths. Plus: the league's full national TV schedule is set, and MLB revealed how its Wild Card round will be televised, including its first-ever streaming-only playoff games.

The gist: The messy sorting-out of NBA local TV took a clear turn this week. Two more teams, the Magic and Hornets, signed deals to put their games on broadcast stations, a different path than the streaming route others have chosen. Together the moves sharpen a divide that will shape how you watch your team. Elsewhere, the NBA's full national schedule landed and MLB detailed its Wild Card TV plan. Here's what changed.

The Magic and Hornets pick broadcast TV

Cox Media Group signed multi-year local broadcast deals with the Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets, both starting with the 2026-27 season. In Central Florida, Magic games will air on WRDQ (Channel 27) with select games on WFTV (Channel 9), and in the Jacksonville area on a newly created Action Sports Jax channel (WJAX 47.2). Hornets games move to WSOC and WAXN across the Carolinas, the first time in 27 years the team's games will air on broadcast television there. The deals cover the regular-season games that aren't picked up for national TV.

Because these are broadcast stations, the games are available over the air with an antenna and through the live-TV streamers that carry those local channels (YouTube TV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, DirecTV), so watching no longer requires the old regional sports network subscription.

The bigger story is the pattern. Since the FanDuel/Bally regional sports networks collapsed, NBA teams have been sorting into two camps. One is the broadcast route that Cox just locked in with the Magic and Hornets. The other is the streaming route, led by DAZN's deals with the Timberwolves and the MSG and YES Networks teams. Notably, the Magic and Hornets had both been floated earlier this summer as possible DAZN streaming teams, and chose broadcast instead. Most of these arrangements are short-term, because the league is building its own centralized local streaming platform, targeted for 2027-28, so this season is very much a bridge.

The NBA's national TV schedule is set

The league also released its full 2026-27 national schedule. Nationally, games run across ESPN/ABC, NBC and Peacock, and Amazon Prime Video, the second season of that deal and the second without TNT. One detail worth noting for anyone without cable: 90 national games will air on broadcast TV this season, up from 79 a year ago. And Prime Video will carry the Eastern Conference finals in 2027, its first time with a conference final; Prime and NBC will alternate the East and West finals over their deals. We covered the season's Opening Night and Christmas Day slates on Wednesday.

Quick hit: MLB's Wild Card round gets a new TV home

With the postseason dates set (the Wild Card round runs September 29 to October 1), a report from Sports Media Watch detailed how the round will be televised now that NBCUniversal owns all four Wild Card Series under its new deal, the first MLB postseason on NBC since 2000. The plan: NBC's broadcast network airs two games per day, with the remaining games on Peacock and the revived NBCSN. Those Peacock games are, in effect, the first MLB postseason games ever exclusive to streaming. The Division Series and beyond stay with FOX and TBS, and the World Series remains on FOX.

Not sure which of this week's games you can already watch? StreamCaddy maps the cheapest correct way to watch all of your teams and events for your exact location and subscriptions.

Sources

1. Sports Video Group — "Cox Media Group Announces Local Broadcast Deals with Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets" (multi-year local broadcast rights beginning 2026-27; Magic on WRDQ-TV 27 and WFTV Channel 9 in Central Florida and Action Sports Jax WJAX-TV 47.2 in Jacksonville; Hornets on WAXN-TV 64 and WSOC-TV in the Carolinas, the first over-the-air broadcasts there in 27 years), August 13, 2026 — https://www.sportsvideo.org/2026/08/13/cox-media-group-announces-local-broadcast-deals-with-orlando-magic-and-charlotte-hornets/
2. Awful Announcing — "Orlando Magic strike new local market TV deal" (Magic take an over-the-air-first approach for 2026-27; SBJ reports a deal with Cox affiliates in Orlando and Jacksonville for all non-nationally-televised games; the NBA hired Matt Volk in June to build a centralized local streaming platform), August 12, 2026 — https://awfulannouncing.com/nba/orlando-magic-strike-new-local-market-tv-deal.html
3. Sportcal — "Cox sweeps up local rights for NBA's Hornets, Magic as DAZN looms" (Cox to carry free over-the-air linear coverage of non-national Hornets and Magic games; Magic package reportedly around an $8 million rights fee; follows the collapse of Main Street Sports Group's FanDuel Sports Network RSNs), August 13, 2026 — https://www.sportcal.com/media/cox-sweeps-up-local-rights-for-nbas-hornets-magic-as-dazn-looms/
4. Awful Announcing — "NBA announces 2026 national TV schedule on ESPN/ABC, NBC, Prime" (90 national games on over-the-air television in 2026, up from 79 last year), August 13, 2026 — https://awfulannouncing.com/nba/2026-national-tv-schedule-abc-espn-nbc-prime.html
5. Awful Announcing — "Prime Video tapped for NBA's Eastern Conference finals in first year broadcasting the round" (Prime Video and NBC will rotate the Eastern and Western Conference finals across their 11-year deals), August 13, 2026 — https://awfulannouncing.com/nba/prime-video-eastern-conference-finals-2027.html
6. Awful Announcing — "MLB's Wild Card Series reportedly getting more broadcast TV exposure and streaming exclusives" (per Sports Media Watch, the NBC broadcast network airs two Wild Card games per day, with NBCSN and Peacock exclusively airing the rest; the two non-broadcast games would be the first MLB postseason games exclusive to streaming; NBC's first postseason baseball since 2000), August 13, 2026 — https://awfulannouncing.com/nbc/mlb-wild-card-series-more-broadcast-tv-streaming-exclusives.html