DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Mavericks have reached a multiyear deal for local broadcast rights that the team said will last…

DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Mavericks have reached a multiyear deal for local broadcast rights that the team says will triple the number of people who can watch most of the NBA’s Western Conference champions’ televised games live for free.

The agreement with TEGNA, which will go into effect for the upcoming season, will provide approximately 10 million people in more than 3.1 million Texas homes with access to non-nationally televised games. At least 70 games will be available in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, as well as on stations in Waco, Tyler, Midland-Odessa, Abilene and San Angelo.

The announcement came after the Mavericks and financially troubled Diamond Sports Group mutually agreed last month to terminate their existing rights agreement for games on Bally Sports Southwest. The NHL’s Dallas Stars had already terminated their agreement with Diamondand the MLB’s Texas Rangers’ current deal to broadcast games on the regional sports network is only good through the end of this season.

“Our new agreement with TEGNA helps us achieve that goal by bringing more games to more local homes than ever before in franchise history,” said Patrick Dumont, the Mavericks’ new governor following an ownership change earlier this year. “Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for as many Mavs fans to watch Mavs games.”

Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall told the Dallas Morning News that the next step for the franchise’s television broadcasts would be to develop and implement a streaming service. She said there was no timetable, but did not rule out that it could happen in the upcoming season.

Bally Sports Southwest was not available on many popular streaming platforms, and there were times when Mavericks, Stars, and Rangers fans had issues when trying to watch games on an app.

The NHL Stars announced in July that they would broadcast their local games for free directly to consumers, after years of problems for fans watching the team’s games on Bally Sports Southwest.

A seven-year agreement with A Parent Media Co. Inc. will see all regional Stars games streamed for free on a new VICTORY+ streaming service.

Diamond Sports Group, which distributes the networks under the Bally name, has been in bankruptcy proceedings in Texas since last March.

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