Penguins announce new name for AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh

When news broke this week that Penguins owner Fenway Sports Group would buy AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh from Warner Bros. Discovery, a name change seemed like a given.

On Friday, the Penguins formally announced the deal and the new name of the channel: SportsNet Pittsburgh.

The Penguins will remain on the channel for all regionally televised games during the 2023-24 season. Essentially, nothing changes from the Penguins’ current cable TV presence. The renamed channel will maintain its current cable and satellite carriage. No word on whether the Penguins will also offer a direct-to-consumers streaming option. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The on-air rebranding will take effect Oct. 2, and SNP will have its daily operations managed by Fenway’s New England Sports Network (NESN) while SNP will continue to operate out of the current AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh studios on the North Shore.

“Our top priority is to continue to deliver Penguins hockey, creative content tailored to our fans and other exciting sports coverage of the region,” Penguins president of business operations Kevin Acklin said in a statement. “SportsNet Pittsburgh also allows us to deliver our own quality production in collaboration with the expertise of NESN.”

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Patrick Crumb, president of regional sports networks for Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, thanked AT&T SportsNet general manager Shawn McClintock “for his leadership, along with all of our colleagues who have worked passionately for years to showcase Penguins hockey. We wish the Penguins and Fenway Sports Group much success as they assume ownership of newly named SportsNet Pittsburgh.”

It remains to be seen what will become of televised Pirates games in 2024 as the Pirates must decide whether to align with SNP or give their TV rights back to the MLB, which would then make a deal to produce and televise the games and take 20% of the proceeds.

ACC on CW reminder

A reminder that with The CW’s move from Channel 19 to Channel 22 on Friday, the CW’s coverage of ACC football and basketball games also hops channels.

The CW’s first ACC football game will be televised live from Pittsburgh at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 9 as Pitt takes on Cincinnati on WPNT-TV, Channel 22. Tom Werne will be the lead play-by-play announcer with James Bates as lead analyst in the booth. Treavor Scales and Tabitha Turner will be the sideline reporters.

My Network TV relocates

When The CW replaces My Network TV in prime-time Friday on WPNT-TV, Channel 22, My Network TV will temporarily move to a 12-2 a.m. time slot on Channel 22.

MNT will eventually find a permanent home in prime-time as a digital subchannel on Channel 22.2, sharing the channel with current occupant Stadium Channel.