The NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning is the latest pro sports team to forsake the floundering regional sports networks ecosystem in favor of a hybrid model featuring local broadcast TV and DTC subscription streaming.
Starting in October, when the 2025-26 National Hockey League season faces off, the “Bolts,” as they’re known locally, will have all of their non-nationally televised games featured on a new E.W. Scripps Company local TV broadcast station serving the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, WXPX-TV.
Simultaneously, the team’s games will be live-streamed on a new direct-to-consumer subscription app being set up by AOL entrepreneur Ted Leonsis’ ViewLift.
“A world-class fan experience starts with access — and fans have made it clear they want it to be easier to find and watch our games. This partnership delivers on that,” said Steve Griggs, CEO of Vinik Sports Group, the ownership firm that currently controls the Lightning.
As the pay TV user base has steadily shrunk, access to Bolts games has become more and more limited.
In becoming the latest pro sports team to leave the FanDuel Sports RSN platform (rebranded from the bankrupt Bally Sports), the Lightning are also the most recent pro club to trade a more currently more lucrative local sports position in the pay TV ecosystem for one that, while not delivering as much immediate revenue, offers far more in the way of audience reach and team control.
FanDuel Sports now has just seven remaining NHL teams committed to its channels for next season. At the start of the 2022-23 season, before parent company Diamond Sports entered a marathon Chapter 11 restructuring, the erstwhile Bally Sports featured 11 NHL clubs.
Scripps launched a division at the end of 2022, Scripps Sports, to seize on this trend away from pay TV distribution. It now has four NHL teams in its fold, with the Lightning joining the Florida Panthers, the Vegas Golden Knights and the Utah Mammoth.
Meanwhile, in addition to Leonsis’ own NHL franchise, the Washington Capitals, streaming tech shop ViewLift also services the Panthers, the Golden Knights and the Colorado Avalanche. As ViewLifted noted in an email sent to us Wednesday, its teams have won six out of the last seven Stanley Cup championships.
ViewLift said variables like the name of the Lightning’s new app, as well as its pricing structure, will be announced closer to launch ahead of the next NHL season.
“We will make it easy for Bolts fans to stream games through their existing Lightning mobile apps and new apps on far more devices, helping the Lightning bring on-ice action and behind-the-scenes information and experiences to fans of all ages, at home or on the move,” said ViewLift CEO Rick Allen in a statement.