Great news for Spectrum cable customers! A Spectrum spokesman says the sprawling Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky cable system will carry the Reds' Opening Day game Thursday and the rest of the 2026 season.
“We have an agreement with MLB to carry the Reds, and our customers can watch the games on channels 304 and 1304,” a Spectrum spokesman tells me.
An official announcement from the team is expected before 3 p.m. Thursday when the Reds Pregame show premieres on the team’s new Reds TV network produced and distributed by Major League Baseball.
The Reds also have not announced deals with DirecTV or Dish for this season.
Nine teams, including the Reds, switched on Feb. 2 to MLB from the financially troubled FanDuel Sports Network, operated by Main Street Sports, formerly the Diamond Sports Group.
Here’s my guide to Reds TV this season, the first with Major League Baseball producing and distributing the games.
OPENING DAY: The Reds open the season at 4:10 p.m. Thursday, March 26, by hosting the Boston Red Sox. It will be carried live on WXIX-TV (Channel 19) and sister Gray Media stations in the Tristate, on regional Altafiber and Spectrum cable systems, and on the Reds.TV streaming service.
WLW-AM (700) again will broadcast all 162 games this season.
ANNOUNCERS: John Sadak, Barry Larkin, Jeff Brantley, Chris Welsh and Jim Day — the same guys who did Reds games for Bally Sports Ohio and FanDuel — return to the Reds' booth for the 2026 season produced by MLB. Brian Giesenschlag and former Reds pitcher Sam LeCure will do the pregame show.
RADIO: Tommy Thrall, Brantley and Welsh will describe the action on the Reds Radio Network.
CABLE SYSTEMS: Altafiber customers on Wednesday discovered that Channel 24 (which had been vacant for years) was labeled as “Reds TV.” There was no programming for Wednesday, but for Thursday it listed Reds Pregame at 3 p.m.; the Reds-Red Sox at 4 p.m.; Reds Postgame at 7 p.m.; and a repeat of the game 7:30-10:30 p.m.
Altafiber's Channel 24 is adjacent to a sports block featuring FS1 (channel 25), Golf Channel (channel 26), FanDuel Sports Network (channel 27), ESPN (channel 28), ESPN2 (channel 29) and ESPNEWS (channel 30).
Spectrum will carry Reds TV on Channels 304 and 1304.
REDS.TV: “All locally distributed Reds games” can be seen without blackouts via streaming by buying a -time 2026 Season Pass for $99.99 at reds.com/Watch. (The “locally distributed” games means that games on ESPN, NBC, Peacock or other carriers will not be available.) The Reds also announced a $19.99 monthly rate this week.
JOEY VOTTO: Former Reds MVP Joey Votto won’t be part of NBC’s Opening Day coverage. On Feb. 9, NBC Sports announced that Votto and retired players Clayton Kershaw and Anthony Rizzo “will serve as NBC Sports’ pregame analysts for its exclusive MLB Postseason coverage of all Wild Card games on NBC and Peacock.” My friend at NBC Sports says that Votto will appear “later on in the season. I don’t have more specifics at this point.”
Whenever he makes his NBC premiere, the Reds announcers who welcomed Votto into their TV and radio booths when he was injured in 2023 told me Votto “will do a great job” and be a hit on national TV.
NBC & PEACOCK: On Opening Day, NBC and Peacock will air two games, starting with the Pittsburgh Pirates at New York Mets at 1 p.m. Matt Vasgersian will do play-by-play with analysts Al Leiter and Neil Walker. Ahmed Fareed will host pregame coverage with analyst Adam Ottavino.
At 8 p.m. NBC and Peacock have the only prime-time Opening Day telecast when the Los Angeles Dodgers host the Arizona Diamondbacks. Jason Benetti does play-by-play with analysts Luis Gonzalez and Orel Hershiser. Kershaw makes his NBC debut with Bob Costas on the pregame show from Dodger Stadium.
Peacock will also launch its “Game of the Day” on Opening Day with the Los Angeles Angels at Houston Astros at 4:10 p.m.
GAME OF THE DAY: Peacock will stream a “Game of the Day” nationally “nearly every day of the season” including the Pirates at Reds at 6:40 p.m. Tuesday March 31.
“Game of the Day” will allow viewers to watch either the home or visiting team presentation, NBC Sports says. (Peacock’s “Game of the Day” will not be available in the competing team markets, where it will be presented by the local rights holder, so we won’t got a Peacock game on March 31.)
Here’s the schedule for the first week:
- Thursday, March 26, 4:10 p.m.: Los Angeles Angels at Houston Astros.
- Friday, March 27, 7:15 p.m.: Kansas City Royals at Atlanta Braves.
- Saturday, March 28, 2:15 p.m.: Tampa Bay Rays at St. Louis Cardinals
- Sunday, March 29, 1:35 p.m.: Texas Rangers at Philadelphia Phillies
- Tuesday, March 31, 6:40 p.m.: Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati Reds
- Wednesday April 1 7:40 p.m.: Minnesota Twins at Kansas City Royals.
GRAY MEDIA: Starting April 20, with the Reds at Tampa Bay, WXIX-TV and sister Gray Media TV stations in seven states will broadcast nine night Reds games on free, over-the-air television.
Reds games also will be telecast in Dayton, Columbus and Toledo, Ohio; Lexington, Louisville and Bowling Green, Ky.; Evansville, Ft. Wayne and South Bend, Ind.; Charleston-Huntington, W. Va.; Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis, Tenn.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.
Here's a link to my March 9 story listing the nine Monday night games.
FOX and FS1: Fox Sports games start Saturday March 28 with the Twins at Orioles at 4 p.m. on FS1, and either the Yankees-Giants or Royals-Braves at 1 p.m. on Fox Broadcasting. The Reds-Pirates game at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 30, will air on FS1, followed by the Giants at Padres at 9:30 p.m. Here's the full Fox and FS1 MLB schedule.
NATIONAL TELECASTS: Here’s the link to the full season of national telecasts on NBC, MLB Network, ESPN, Fox, FS1 and TBS. It does not include games streaming on Netflix or Peacock. Save that link!
WEATHER DEAL: There’s a change in the weather for the Reds. WLWT-TV is the Reds new official weather provider this year, after the retirement of Channel 19 chief meteorologist Steve Hortstmeyer last August.
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