FOX Sports New Orleans to broadcast 75 regular season Hornets games
NEW ORLEANS - The New Orleans Hornets and FOX Sports New Orleans have announced the 2012-13 broadcast schedule that will feature a franchise-high 75 live regular season home and away Hornets games. FOX Sports New Orleans is available statewide on cable, satellite and telco providers.
The schedule, which includes 38 home and 37 road games, begins with the Wednesday, October 31st home opener against Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs and concludes with the final game of the regular season in Dallas on Wednesday, April 17th against Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks.
"We are proud of our relationship with Fox Sports and excited to be part of the launch of a new network that will bring Hornets basketball not only to New Orleans but to all our fans throughout the Gulf South with a franchise-record 75 broadcasts," Hornets president Dennis Lauscha said.
Highlights of the schedule include both games against Chris Bosh, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the World Champion Miami HEAT on Dec. 8 in Miami and Mar. 29 in New Orleans, all four games against Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Western Conference Champion Oklahoma City Thunder (Nov. 16, Dec. 1, Dec. 12, Feb. 27), all four games against Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and the Los Angeles Lakers (Dec. 5, Jan. 29, Mar. 6, Apr. 9) and all four series matchups against division-rivals Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.
""We're anxious to get the season started and to begin our new partnership with the New Orleans Hornets," said FOX Sports New Orleans Senior Vice President/General Manager Jon Heidtke. "We look forward to what promises to be an exciting season."
Joel Meyers and David Wesley begin their first season as play-by-play and color analyst for New Orleans, with Jennifer Hale starting her inaugural season with the team as the sideline reporter. Meyers, a two-time play-by-play announcer Emmy Winner, brings more than 20 years of broadcast experience to the organization with recent stints for the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs. Wesley, who played seven seasons for the Hornets, joins the broadcast team after serving as an assistant coach for the NBDL's Texas Legends for the past two seasons. Hale has spent the last three years at WVUE FOX 8 New Orleans and also is a sideline reporter for the NFL on FOX.
Hornets' coverage on FOX Sports New Orleans will include HORNETS LIVE pregame and postgame show and additional Hornets programming.
FOX Sports New Orleans will become the 21st regional sports network in the FOX Sports Networks family. The network will offer a robust lineup of local sports programming, including SEC football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, Olympic sports and coaches' shows. Other regional programming on FOX Sports New Orleans will feature Big 12 and Conference USA collegiate events, Texas Rangers baseball and Dallas Stars hockey. FOX Sports New Orleans will be available to over 1.6 million cable and satellite TV homes throughout the Hornets territory.
FOX Sports is the nation's leader in offering hometown NBA coverage through FSN, the largest owned-and-operated regional sports network group in the country. FSN serves as the local television home to more than half of all NBA teams, producing more than 1,000 live NBA telecasts per season.
