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University of Hawaii sports will be viewed through a wider lens.
A renewed era begins with Hawaii News Now set to control the local television rights to UH sports for the next four years. KGMB, KHNL and KFVE (branded as K5) are under the Hawaii News Now umbrella. K5 will be the primary home for UH telecasts.
The HNN telecasts will retain many of the elements that predecessor Spectrum Sports used as the rights holder the past 15 years. Kanoa Leahey will remain as the lead play-by-play announcer. Da Crew — a production company of engineers, directors, producers and camera operators — will continue to handle game operations. HNN also has inked a deal with NEP for use of up to three production trucks, which are essentially mobile studios.
“Not only are we going to maintain the production quality that people enjoy right now, but we’re also going to innovate on top of that,” HNN general manager Katie Pickman said. “Times have been evolving quickly. We have some incredibly innovative engineers on staff. We’re looking at taking the quality we have now, and how do we bring that to a new level? Sports fans are sophisticated. They’re watching network (technology) that we believe Hawaii deserves.”
More significantly, HNN’s UH telecasts will now have a wider reach. Fans can watch UH games on K5 free over the air with an antenna or through any provider that carries K5, including cable, satellite and virtual-television services such as YouTube TV and FuboTV. K5 broadcasts also will be available nationally through the new Mountain West app, which will charge a nominal fee. There also will be simulcast opportunities on KHNL and KGMB. (The pay-per-view format for football telecasts was discontinued after the 2024 season.)
Pickman estimated fewer than 50% of Hawaii households had a subscription to watch UH games.
“We just opened that up by giving that whole half of the community access to watch (UH sports) the way they want to watch,” Pickman said.
Using students and HNN’s guidance, UH also will produce about 50 simulcasts. Those games also will be available on the Mountain West app. As of now, there are four dates on which the Rainbow Wahine volleyball and soccer teams play at the same time.
Here’s a look at the four-year deal between Hawaii News Now and UH:
What viewers receive
Hawaii News Now officials acknowledged the quality of Spectrum-produced telecasts and surrounding shows, leading to finalizing deals with Leahey, Da Crew and NEP.
“They definitely have raised the bar,” HNN sports programming director Aaron Brooks said.
KFVE held the sole rights and then shared rights before Spectrum (then known as Oceanic) took over the contract in 2011.
“I think that tradition from KFVE went to Spectrum,” Brooks said. “Spectrum put their own flavor on it, elevated it a little bit more. That’s where I tip my cap to them. It’s going to be my job to keep that bar where it is and try to innovate it even higher with some of the different technologies we might have in our hand in 2026 and moving forward.”
Brooks said he is in the process of “formulating a roster of commentators.” HNN is seeking a play-by-play announcer for events Leahey does not work, as well as color commentators.
HNN sportcasters Cienna Pilotin and Kyle Chinen will contribute sideline reports during football telecasts.
Each HNN-produced telecast will have pregame, halftime and postgame shows.
HNN also is planning a weekly 30-minute coaches show. The head coaches will rotate, with the in-studio show airing midweek on K5. It will be replayed on KHNL, KGMB and HNN’s social and digital platforms.
News anchor Mark Carpenter, who hosts the podcast “The Long Game with Mark Carpenter,” will be the “lead personality” of the coaches show.
HNN is seeking to hire a director of student-led productions to guide student broadcasters and help produce UH’s telecasts of sporting events. The director will help build the program for the first 18 months. The goal is to fill the position by mid-July.
What’s available
All the HNN-produced games will air on K5.
“We’re a broadcast station,” Pickman said. “Everybody who watches (television) with a traditional antenna, they can watch us for free.”
Pickman said K5 is available to “any one of the cable offerings in our marketplace,” such as Spectrum and Hawaiian Telcom. “Anyone who has one of those TV-everywhere apps, like YouTube (and) FuboTV, can also watch K5 anywhere. You can watch YouTube TV on your phone.’
In addition, all the HNN-produced telecasts are available on the Mountain West app.
The Warrior Channel is set to launch this fall. The channel will have features on players and coaches, as well as replays of games. The Warrior Channel will be available next to live news streams on the HNN site.
There also is a possibility of providing K5 telecasts across the continent. Gray Media, HNN’s owner, operates stations in 117 television markets.
Back story
KHNL held the UH telecast rights from 1984 through 1994. The games then aired on KFVE, a sister station, from 1994 through 2011.
When UH decided it wanted to show its football games live through a pay-per-view format, KFVE partnered with Oceanic. KFVE produced the telecasts that would be available on an Oceanic pay-per-view channel. (Hawaiian Telcom customers also could subscribe to the PPV channel.) The agreement called for Oceanic/Spectrum to eventually become the sole rights holder, which it did in 2011.
In 2019, Gray Media purchased HNN (which owned NBC-affiliate KHNL, CBS-linked KGMB and KFVE). Each had its own transmitter. But FCC regulations did not permit a station group to have three full-powered transmitters. KFVE went to a digital transmission, moving to channel 6, while sharing KHNL’s transmitter.
In 2020, Gray Media lawyers discovered a loophole. A transmitter in Kona is considered separate from the group of Oahu transmitters. KFVE was allowed to have its own full-powered transmitter. For references, it re-branded to K5.
Two years ago, UH agreed to go from being a football-only affiliate to a nearly full member of the Mountain West. As part of the arrangement, the Mountain West wanted to synchronize the starting dates of the league’s national TV contracts with UH’s assignment of local rights. At a stalemate, the Spectrum contract ran out. UH put the rights out to bid, with Hawaii News Now named as the new holder.
“What made us want to go after it is the University of Hawaii is a gem in our community,” Pickman said. “We have no professional sports teams. University of Hawaii athletics is a really big deal here. … Bringing it here (to HNN), we felt, man, we could really amplify University of Hawaii athletics year round. And the storytelling we could do because of being a broadcast news entity.”
During a wide-ranging interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Pickman led the way to an HNN conference room with a UH-themed banner.
“There’s a lot of rich history in this building,” Pickman said. “There are a lot of people who had worked on it previously who also talked about how it would be such an incredible feat to be able to have this again. It’s been a conversation in the building.”
Also in the building are archives of videos of KFVE-produced games and news coverage from HNN.
“K5 has copyright ownership to all archives,” Pickman said. “We can share all that throwback stuff as we go into this new chapter. … As a news station, many of these events we’re already covering. We’re gathering our own footage and storytelling that is part or our archival ability to weave as we go into the future.”
Money, money, money
In 2002, an agreement was reached in which KFVE would produce live pay-per-view telecasts of UH football games. Oceanic would be the carrier. As part of the negotiated transition, Oceanic took over as the local TV rights holder of UH sports in 2011. The annual rights fee grew to $3.1 million through the 2024-25 academic year. The fee was reduced this past academic year when the pay-per-view format for football was dropped.
The Mountain West, of which the Rainbow Warriors were a football-only member, allowed UH to keep its rights fee from Spectrum in exchange for not taking a share of the league’s revenue from national TV deals. (UH could receive money if the Mountain West’s TV revenue exceeded a certain threshold.)
With 15 UH sports moving from the Big West to the Mountain West on Wednesday, the school is now considered a full member. UH will receive a full share of the Mountain West’s television rights.
The four-year deal between Hawaii News Now and UH has an announced value of $7.5 annually. That figure includes paying for the production and personnel for 110-plus games and the weekly coaches show; 52 weeks of promotion on KHNL platforms; creating specialized programming for UH; providing content and guidance for The Warrior Channel, and the use of air time and slots to put on UH telecasts.
“Financially, this is not a traditional rights fee agreement,” according to Pickman. “Instead, the partnership is structured around an estimated annual value of approximately $7.5 million per year through expanded statewide all-access distribution, significantly more televised events, year-round promotion and storytelling, high quality production, student-development opportunities, dedicated staff, NIL initiatives and shared revenue opportunities.”
Pickman said there are shared-revenue opportunities. For student-produced games, UH will receive half the ad revenue. UH and HNN also will share in revenue from The Warrior Channel. In addition, UH will get a cut from the Mountain West app.
“We didn’t go into this thinking this will be a huge ROI (return on investment) with cash coming into the station,” Pickman said. ‘What we saw was a much bigger-picture partnership. We saw the benefit of having University of Hawaii athletics on Hawaii News Now. There’s a huge benefit to that. Another reason to choose Hawaii News Now is it’s your main place to go for news, entertainment and sports. That has an intangible value to us. Through doing good work in the community, through continuing to deliver to the community in a meaningful way overall, helps our brand grow.”
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A renewed era begins with Hawaii News Now set to control the local television rights to UH sports for the next four years. KGMB, KHNL and KFVE (branded as K5) are under the Hawaii News Now umbrella. K5 will be the primary home for UH telecasts.
The HNN telecasts will retain many of the elements that predecessor Spectrum Sports used as the rights holder the past 15 years. Kanoa Leahey will remain as the lead play-by-play announcer. Da Crew — a production company of engineers, directors, producers and camera operators — will continue to handle game operations. HNN also has inked a deal with NEP for use of up to three production trucks, which are essentially mobile studios.
“Not only are we going to maintain the production quality that people enjoy right now, but we’re also going to innovate on top of that,” HNN general manager Katie Pickman said. “Times have been evolving quickly. We have some incredibly innovative engineers on staff. We’re looking at taking the quality we have now, and how do we bring that to a new level? Sports fans are sophisticated. They’re watching network (technology) that we believe Hawaii deserves.”
More significantly, HNN’s UH telecasts will now have a wider reach. Fans can watch UH games on K5 free over the air with an antenna or through any provider that carries K5, including cable, satellite and virtual-television services such as YouTube TV and FuboTV. K5 broadcasts also will be available nationally through the new Mountain West app, which will charge a nominal fee. There also will be simulcast opportunities on KHNL and KGMB. (The pay-per-view format for football telecasts was discontinued after the 2024 season.)
Pickman estimated fewer than 50% of Hawaii households had a subscription to watch UH games.
“We just opened that up by giving that whole half of the community access to watch (UH sports) the way they want to watch,” Pickman said.
Using students and HNN’s guidance, UH also will produce about 50 simulcasts. Those games also will be available on the Mountain West app. As of now, there are four dates on which the Rainbow Wahine volleyball and soccer teams play at the same time.
Here’s a look at the four-year deal between Hawaii News Now and UH:
What viewers receive
Hawaii News Now officials acknowledged the quality of Spectrum-produced telecasts and surrounding shows, leading to finalizing deals with Leahey, Da Crew and NEP.
“They definitely have raised the bar,” HNN sports programming director Aaron Brooks said.
KFVE held the sole rights and then shared rights before Spectrum (then known as Oceanic) took over the contract in 2011.
“I think that tradition from KFVE went to Spectrum,” Brooks said. “Spectrum put their own flavor on it, elevated it a little bit more. That’s where I tip my cap to them. It’s going to be my job to keep that bar where it is and try to innovate it even higher with some of the different technologies we might have in our hand in 2026 and moving forward.”
Brooks said he is in the process of “formulating a roster of commentators.” HNN is seeking a play-by-play announcer for events Leahey does not work, as well as color commentators.
HNN sportcasters Cienna Pilotin and Kyle Chinen will contribute sideline reports during football telecasts.
Each HNN-produced telecast will have pregame, halftime and postgame shows.
HNN also is planning a weekly 30-minute coaches show. The head coaches will rotate, with the in-studio show airing midweek on K5. It will be replayed on KHNL, KGMB and HNN’s social and digital platforms.
News anchor Mark Carpenter, who hosts the podcast “The Long Game with Mark Carpenter,” will be the “lead personality” of the coaches show.
HNN is seeking to hire a director of student-led productions to guide student broadcasters and help produce UH’s telecasts of sporting events. The director will help build the program for the first 18 months. The goal is to fill the position by mid-July.
What’s available
All the HNN-produced games will air on K5.
“We’re a broadcast station,” Pickman said. “Everybody who watches (television) with a traditional antenna, they can watch us for free.”
Pickman said K5 is available to “any one of the cable offerings in our marketplace,” such as Spectrum and Hawaiian Telcom. “Anyone who has one of those TV-everywhere apps, like YouTube (and) FuboTV, can also watch K5 anywhere. You can watch YouTube TV on your phone.’
In addition, all the HNN-produced telecasts are available on the Mountain West app.
The Warrior Channel is set to launch this fall. The channel will have features on players and coaches, as well as replays of games. The Warrior Channel will be available next to live news streams on the HNN site.
There also is a possibility of providing K5 telecasts across the continent. Gray Media, HNN’s owner, operates stations in 117 television markets.
Back story
KHNL held the UH telecast rights from 1984 through 1994. The games then aired on KFVE, a sister station, from 1994 through 2011.
When UH decided it wanted to show its football games live through a pay-per-view format, KFVE partnered with Oceanic. KFVE produced the telecasts that would be available on an Oceanic pay-per-view channel. (Hawaiian Telcom customers also could subscribe to the PPV channel.) The agreement called for Oceanic/Spectrum to eventually become the sole rights holder, which it did in 2011.
In 2019, Gray Media purchased HNN (which owned NBC-affiliate KHNL, CBS-linked KGMB and KFVE). Each had its own transmitter. But FCC regulations did not permit a station group to have three full-powered transmitters. KFVE went to a digital transmission, moving to channel 6, while sharing KHNL’s transmitter.
In 2020, Gray Media lawyers discovered a loophole. A transmitter in Kona is considered separate from the group of Oahu transmitters. KFVE was allowed to have its own full-powered transmitter. For references, it re-branded to K5.
Two years ago, UH agreed to go from being a football-only affiliate to a nearly full member of the Mountain West. As part of the arrangement, the Mountain West wanted to synchronize the starting dates of the league’s national TV contracts with UH’s assignment of local rights. At a stalemate, the Spectrum contract ran out. UH put the rights out to bid, with Hawaii News Now named as the new holder.
“What made us want to go after it is the University of Hawaii is a gem in our community,” Pickman said. “We have no professional sports teams. University of Hawaii athletics is a really big deal here. … Bringing it here (to HNN), we felt, man, we could really amplify University of Hawaii athletics year round. And the storytelling we could do because of being a broadcast news entity.”
During a wide-ranging interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Pickman led the way to an HNN conference room with a UH-themed banner.
“There’s a lot of rich history in this building,” Pickman said. “There are a lot of people who had worked on it previously who also talked about how it would be such an incredible feat to be able to have this again. It’s been a conversation in the building.”
Also in the building are archives of videos of KFVE-produced games and news coverage from HNN.
“K5 has copyright ownership to all archives,” Pickman said. “We can share all that throwback stuff as we go into this new chapter. … As a news station, many of these events we’re already covering. We’re gathering our own footage and storytelling that is part or our archival ability to weave as we go into the future.”
Money, money, money
In 2002, an agreement was reached in which KFVE would produce live pay-per-view telecasts of UH football games. Oceanic would be the carrier. As part of the negotiated transition, Oceanic took over as the local TV rights holder of UH sports in 2011. The annual rights fee grew to $3.1 million through the 2024-25 academic year. The fee was reduced this past academic year when the pay-per-view format for football was dropped.
The Mountain West, of which the Rainbow Warriors were a football-only member, allowed UH to keep its rights fee from Spectrum in exchange for not taking a share of the league’s revenue from national TV deals. (UH could receive money if the Mountain West’s TV revenue exceeded a certain threshold.)
With 15 UH sports moving from the Big West to the Mountain West on Wednesday, the school is now considered a full member. UH will receive a full share of the Mountain West’s television rights.
The four-year deal between Hawaii News Now and UH has an announced value of $7.5 annually. That figure includes paying for the production and personnel for 110-plus games and the weekly coaches show; 52 weeks of promotion on KHNL platforms; creating specialized programming for UH; providing content and guidance for The Warrior Channel, and the use of air time and slots to put on UH telecasts.
“Financially, this is not a traditional rights fee agreement,” according to Pickman. “Instead, the partnership is structured around an estimated annual value of approximately $7.5 million per year through expanded statewide all-access distribution, significantly more televised events, year-round promotion and storytelling, high quality production, student-development opportunities, dedicated staff, NIL initiatives and shared revenue opportunities.”
Pickman said there are shared-revenue opportunities. For student-produced games, UH will receive half the ad revenue. UH and HNN also will share in revenue from The Warrior Channel. In addition, UH will get a cut from the Mountain West app.
“We didn’t go into this thinking this will be a huge ROI (return on investment) with cash coming into the station,” Pickman said. ‘What we saw was a much bigger-picture partnership. We saw the benefit of having University of Hawaii athletics on Hawaii News Now. There’s a huge benefit to that. Another reason to choose Hawaii News Now is it’s your main place to go for news, entertainment and sports. That has an intangible value to us. Through doing good work in the community, through continuing to deliver to the community in a meaningful way overall, helps our brand grow.”
Continue reading...
