Starting in 2026-27, hockey fans in Knoxville, Louisville and Huntsville, Alabama, will be able to watch the Nashville Predators for free over the air.
On Sept. 8, the Predators
announced further market distribution through their broadcast deal with Scripps Sports that includes several markets across the South. These markets will carry all non-nationally televised games, which for 2026-27 are 81 regular-season games plus four preseason games.Fans in Nashville can watch on The Spot-Channel 28 (WNPX), which can be accessed either over the air (using an HD antennae) or on cable and satellite providers such as Comcast Xfinity or DirecTV. The other markets added to the distribution are:
- Memphis - Ch. 5.3 (WMC)
- Knoxville - Ch. 8.2 (WWLT)
- Chattanooga - Ch. 49.2 (WTVL)
- Jackson, TN - Ch. 75. (WBBJ)
- Lexington, KY - Ch. 36.2 (WTVQ)
- Louisville - Ch. 41.2 (WDRB)
- Huntsville, AL - Ch. 48.3 (WAFF)
The three nationally televised games, which will be broadcast
on ESPN+, are Nov. 5 at Colorado, Nov. 10 at Los Angeles, and Jan. 5 vs. Edmonton. All other games will be distributed through Scripps.
This is another development in the Predators' new broadcast rights era. On April 7, the team announced a multi-year broadcast deal with Scripps Sports, which owns NewsChannel 5 in the Nashville area. Starting this season, all non-nationally televised Predators games will appear on WNPX (Channel 28) a channel called "The Spot." According to their website, the channel is also available on cable and satellite services like DirectTV and Xfinity.
On Aug. 26, the team announced their new streaming service through ViewLift. Prices and plans for that service have not been released.
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com, follow him on X at@alexdaugherty1 or check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Predators games to air in Knoxville, 6 other cities across south
