Milwaukee Bucks score over-the-air TV deal with Rincon Broadcasting Group
NBA Team to have all games over-the-air
After FanDuel Sports Wisconsin and the rest of its related regional sports sister networks went belly up, thirteen NBA teams were suddenly homeless. Now the first deal has been made which makes the games accessible to over-the-air viewers.
The Milwaukee Bucks struck a deal with Rincon Broadcasting Group to televise all non-nationally televised games for next season. Bucks games will air on WVTV Ch. 24.1, or “My 24”, the branding of the former WCGV-TV. The games will air on Milwaukee-area cable and satellite providers and YouTubeTV with pregame and postgame shows with a network of affiliates throughout the state of Wisconsin. Previously, ten over-the-air games were broadcast over Weigel independent station WMLW with a statewide network, produced by the now-defunct regional sports network Fan Duel Sports Wisconsin, who carried the team. Good Karma Brands, which owns ESPN 94.5 FM in Milwaukee and ESPN 1000 in Chicago, will handle marketing and advertising sales.
“This season marks an exciting return to our roots as we bring Bucks basketball back to full-season over-the-air television for the first time in more than three decades,” said Bucks and Fiserv Forum President Josh Glessing. “We’re grateful to our partners at Rincon Broadcasting Group for helping us make Bucks games more accessible to our fans throughout Wisconsin.”
“We’re excited to bring the Bucks back to MY24,” Rincon Broadcasting Group CEO Kern Dant said. “This is more than a television partnership. It’s the return of a Milwaukee tradition. Welcome home, Bucks fans.”
The Bucks also plan a direct-to-consumer streaming option, with details available at a later date. The move is similar to what other NBA teams have made in recent years, including the Phoenix Suns among others, with games being made for free over-the-air and a paid streaming service.
The original WCGV was the home to the Bucks (mostly road games) between 1988 to 1994. Signing on in 1980, WCGV was initially a part-time pay-TV subscription station (similar to Chicago’s ON-TV) before becoming a full-time independent and was Fox’s founding affiliate when the network signed on in 1987, and carried The Late Show With David Letterman in its first year on the air. Months after losing the rights to Bucks games, they also lost the Fox affiliation to ex-CBS affiliate WITI in the New World deal. The station signed with UPN shortly thereafter and shifted to MyNetworkTV in 2006 when UPN and The WB merged to become The CW, thus the “My 24” branding (many My Network TV stations have since ditched the “My” branding, including Fox-owned WPWR Chicago, which shifted from “My 50” to Fox Chicago Plus in September 2024.)
In 2018, the original WCGV signed off after then-owner Sinclair Broadcasting surrendered its license to the FCC in the spectrum auction and became a virtually-mapped subchannel of sister station WVTV, which it and WCGV had been run together since 1995.
Last year, Rincon Broadcasting acquired WVTV and four other stations from Sinclair, with three in downstate Illinois.
Like their rivals down I-94 the Chicago Bulls, the Bucks are now undergoing a rebuild as the team traded thirteen-year veteran Giannis A to the Miami Heat, who led then to their 2021 NBA title, their first in 50 years. The Bucks finished 32-50 last season, and is not expected to become a factor in the NBA playoff race this upcoming season. The first game in the new package started today, with the Bucks playing a Summer League game against the San Antonio Spurs, with upcoming games in Phoenix and Charlotte later this week.