Pirates extend TV deal with AT&T

October 4th, 2019

The Pirates have a new deal with their old broadcast partner.

AT&T Sports Networks and the Pirates on Friday announced a multi-year extension of their television rights deal, ensuring that the Bucs’ local telecasts will remain on AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh. The club’s previous deal with AT&T Sports Networks ran through the end of the 2019 season.

The length and financial terms of the extension were not disclosed by the Pirates nor AT&T Sports Networks.

“In this rapidly evolving media landscape, the Pirates are extremely pleased to continue our long-standing partnership with AT&T SportsNet,” Pirates president Frank Coonelly said in a statement. “It was critically important for us to continue to increase the reach and penetration of Pirates baseball throughout our region.

“It was equally essential that we enhance the coverage of Pirates baseball by now ensuring that all 162 games will be telecast either by AT&T SportsNet or one of our national television partners and that nearly all of our home Spring Training games will now be broadcast on AT&T SportsNet. Working closely with the outstanding team at AT&T SportsNet and utilizing state-of-art technologies, we are excited to ensure that our games are produced and distributed in the manner that our fans demand.”

AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh will air “at least” 150 games, pregame and postgame coverage and other team-related shows, according to a press release announcing the extension. AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh also broadcasts most of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ games, having agreed to a 20-year extension in 2011 that extends through the end of the 2028-29 NHL season. Now, the Pirates and Penguins are guaranteed to remain on the same network.

“We are very excited to further extend our long-standing partnership with the Pittsburgh Pirates, which dates back to 1986,” Patrick Crumb, president of AT&T Sports Networks, said in a statement. “AT&T SportsNet will continue to bring Pirates fans high quality productions and exclusive coverage of their favorite team for years to come.”