Spurs Sports & Entertainment has "finalized a new broadcast deal" with FS Southwest that will keep the team "on regional television for years to come," according to W. Scott Bailey of the SAN ANTONIO BUSINESS JOURNAL. The RSN's current deal with the Spurs expires after the '18-19 season, and talks about a new pact "heated up" in recent weeks. SS&E Exec VP/Corporate Partnerships, Broadcasting, Branding & Content Lawrence Payne said the new contract was signed "just after Thanksgiving." The Spurs "declined to reveal the terms of the new deal." But Payne said that it is a "multiyear contract." Payne added, “Fox really came to the table and pretty much gave us what we were looking for” (BIZJOURNALS.com, 12/18). In San Antonio, Tom Orsborn noted despite the absence of F Kawhi Leonard, who just made his first start of the season due to injury, Spurs’ TV ratings locally are "up substantially over where they stood at this point last season." FS Southwest Dir of Marketing Mary Hyink said that the Spurs averaged a 6.41 local rating through the first 21 games of the season. Hyink said the rating "puts us at a healthy clip above where we were last year at this point" -- about 37% higher. But Hyink was "quick to point out there was a substantial ratings decline" in the '16-17 season until it was "discovered late in the season that a technical glitch caused" ratings on the RSN to drop to about a 5.2. Payne said that the current ratings are "approximately the same as they were two years ago" (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 12/16).
