Multi-year partnerships with TEGNA and Prime Video allow the Kraken to provide games to a wider audience of Kraken fans going forward. Now, they’ll be getting even more behind-the-scenes access to their favorite team.
Wednesday, TEGNA’s NBC affiliate and the team’s official television partner KING 5 revealed the details of a forthcoming weekly Kraken show in addition to announcing the complete broadcast schedule for the regular season.
KONG will carry all non-nationally televised games this season– 72 in total– with 15 to be simulcast on KING 5. Prime Video will stream all 72 games for local fans without access to KING 5 and KONG. All remaining games are set to be nationally televised, and can be found on TNT, ABC, or ESPN depending on the night.
The shift to fan-friendly broadcasting is an effort to “super-size” access to games and “eliminate subscription costs” that drove eyeballs away in seasons past.
More information on exactly who can stream what broadcasts and from where can be found here.
Six preseason games gave fans a glimpse of what to expect from the team owned-and-operated Kraken Hockey Network unveiled last month, in charge of producing all non-nationally televised broadcasts. Play-by-play man John Forslund and color commentator Eddie Olczyk continue to call games, with color analysts JT Brown, Alison Lukan, and rinkside reporter Piper Shaw returning to provide insight into the plays on the ice and the personalities in the locker room.
Although the new broadcast does benefit from “13 operated cameras, five super slomo replay angles, a new advanced stats graphic system, and a custom graphics package,” per a team press release from September, not much difference is immediately noticeable. That’s unsurprising, given the team’s hiring of prior ROOT employees director Patrick Brown, vice president for broadcast Ryan Schaber, pregame and postgame producer Scott Malone, and editor Stu Vitue.
But KHN is not yet in its final form. Further embellishment in thirty-minute pregame and postgame shows hosted by Ian Furness and Linda Cohn are coming for the regular season.
Additionally, Kraken Home Ice, a “magazine show” bringing “team-focused feature stories, player and coach interviews, and more” to fans will air weekly starting Oct. 5. “New episodes will air Saturdays at 10:30 PM on KONG,” and “encore presentations will air Sundays at 11:35 PM on KING 5,” according to KING 5’s press release. Sports anchor Paul Silvi will host.
Fans can stream Kraken Home Ice from anywhere for free via the KING 5+ app, no matter how they plan to watch Kraken games this season. Episodes will be available live Saturdays and Sundays, as well as on-demand after they air.