Atlanta Hawks strike Prime Video streaming deal, retain free over-the-air broadcasts

By NCS Staff • October 20, 2026

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The Atlanta Hawks have reached an agreement with Amazon’s Prime Video to become the team’s exclusive local streaming partner for the 2026-27 NBA season, adding a digital distribution option alongside the franchise’s recently announced broadcast television partnership with Gray Media.

The agreement, announced Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, will make 74 Hawks regular-season games available to eligible Amazon Prime members within the team’s regional television territory at no additional charge beyond their existing membership.

The Hawks said they are the first NBA franchise to make Prime Video the exclusive streaming home for their locally distributed games. The arrangement covers games not carried exclusively by national television partners.

The streaming territory includes portions of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and Mississippi. Availability will depend on a viewer’s location within the Hawks’ designated television market.

The deal complements a separate agreement announced in July 2026 that returned Hawks games to free over-the-air television through Gray Media’s WANF in Atlanta, Georgia, and Peachtree Sports Network.

Under that agreement, locally distributed games are available on WANF and through Gray Media stations across Georgia, giving viewers the option to watch without purchasing a streaming subscription.

The combination of free broadcast television and subscription-based streaming represents a significant change in the team’s local media distribution strategy, providing alternatives to the traditional regional sports network model.

“We are committed to putting our fans first and maximizing accessibility throughout the state of Georgia and the Southeast,” said Andrew Saltzman, president of business enterprise and chief commercial officer of the Hawks and State Farm Arena.

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The Hawks’ agreement adds to Amazon’s growing portfolio of professional sports rights, which includes national NBA games under the league’s 11-year media agreements with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon.

The 2026-27 season is Prime Video’s second as a national NBA media partner. Its national schedule includes 66 regular-season games, NBA Cup knockout rounds, the NBA play-in tournament and the Eastern Conference finals. The Hawks agreement is separate from those national rights and applies specifically to eligible viewers within the team’s local television territory.

Amazon has also expanded its involvement in local sports distribution. In September 2026, Prime Video announced an agreement to become the exclusive local streaming home for six NHL teams, reflecting a broader push into regional sports programming.

For Hawks fans, the new arrangement means locally distributed games will be available through the Prime Video app on compatible smart televisions, mobile devices, streaming players and web browsers. Viewers will not need to purchase a separate Hawks streaming package if they already have an eligible Prime membership.

The locally produced broadcasts will be handled by Raycom Sports, which is also involved in the team’s television coverage under the Gray Media agreement. Longtime Hawks announcers Bob Rathbun and Dominique Wilkins will return to the broadcast team.

The new distribution agreements follow the team’s move away from the traditional regional sports network model, with the Hawks opting for a combination of free broadcast television and a widely available subscription streaming platform.