CW Network and the ACC announced Thursday that The CW has secured exclusive broadcast rights to ACC football and basketball games through the 2026-27 season.
The network will begin airing football games Sept. 9 (Cincinnati at Pittsburgh) and then every Saturday throughout the season. The network also will broadcast 28 men’s basketball games and nine women’s basketball games starting in December and running through February. Raycom Sports will produce the broadcasts.
WUPA-TV Channel 69, Atlanta’s CBS-owned affiliate for The CW for 17 years, announced in May it is dropping its CW affiliation. Tom Canedo, president of CBS Stations, said the affiliation will end Aug. 31. It remains unclear who in Atlanta will pick up The CW affiliation before then. Nexstar Media Group purchased a majority stake in The CW in 2022.
“We have had multiple expressions of interest in CW affiliations across the country, and we are confident that there will be a CW affiliate in Atlanta by the time that the college football season gets underway,” The CW said in a statement to the AJC.
The CW acquired the rights to live ACC football and basketball games from Raycom Sports who sublicenses the rights from ESPN.
Georgia Tech currently has television designations for only its games against Louisville (Sept. 1, ESPN), South Carolina State (Sept. 9, ESPN+) and Ole Miss (Sept. 16, SEC Network) with the remaining nine games expected to be announced at a later date.
“We are thrilled to be adding The CW to our weekly television lineup for ACC football and basketball games,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement. “The CW’s national distribution will directly benefit our student-athletes, teams, alumni and fans. We appreciate ESPN and Raycom working together and look forward to the partnership with The CW.”
-Staff writer Rodney Ho contributed to this article.
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