Lions preseason games get a new local TV home

Last month, the Detroit Lions and WXYZ "mutually" decided to opt out of their local television deal. This meant that Lions preseason games would no longer be broadcast by Channel 7 in Detroit, and this meant that the Lions had to search for a new local TV partner.

Nothing has been officially announced just yet, but WJBK is set to be that new local TV partner, according to The Detroit News. That's FOX 2 in Detroit, and it is set to be the new home of Lions preseason games, among other things. Here are more details from the Detroit Free Press:

The Lions have agreed to a new multi-year contract with local Fox affiliate WJBK to broadcast preseason games, a weekly regular season pregame show and other Lions-related content, a person familiar with the deal but not authorized to speak about it publicly said.

Before moving to WXYZ (ABC 7) a few years ago, Lions preseason games were broadcast by WWJ (CBS Detroit). And before that, WKBD (UPN 50) was the home of Lions preseason games.

This year, FOX 2 will be the official home of three of the Lions' four preseason games. One of them is set to be nationally televised by CBS, but the other three will be broadcast locally by FOX 2. Also, the Lions' non-national preseason games will presumably continue to be shown on the team's "preseason television network," which includes various affiliates throughout Michigan.