The Blazers’ rocky transition to ROOT Sports Northwest continued Tuesday with a detailed report from Seattle Times staff reporter Geoff Baker. The same day that ROOT posted an optimistic press release about the scope of their regional coverage, Baker reported that DirecTV has not reached terms to broadcast the Blazers this season.
“We are still in discussions with DirecTV and hope they will add the Kraken and Trail Blazers to their platforms,” AT&T Sports Networks President Patrick Crumb said in an interview after Tuesday’s announcement.
This may be a tricky negotiation: AT&T is not only a majority stakeholder in DirecTV, they also own a minority stake in ROOT Sports Northwest.