​University of Hawaii sports will be viewed through a broader lens as a renewed era begins with Hawaii News Now taking control of UH sports television rights for the next four years. Under the Hawaii News Now umbrella are KGMB, KHNL and KFVE (branding as K5), with K5 serving as the primary home for UH telecasts. The HNN telecasts will preserve many elements from Spectrum Sports, the rights holder for the past 15 years. Lead play-by-play announcer Kanoa Leahey will remain in his role, and Da Crew, a production company comprised of engineers, directors, producers and camera operators, will continue handling game operations. HNN has also secured a deal with NEP for up to three production trucks, 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,” said HNN general manager Katie Pickman. “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.”
A key change is the broader reach of UH telecasts. 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 services such as YouTube TV and FuboTV. K5 content will also be available nationally via the Mountain West app for a nominal fee, and there will be simulcast opportunities on KHNL and KGMB. The pay-per-view format for football telecasts was discontinued after the 2024 season. Pickman noted that fewer than half of Hawaii households previously had UH game subscriptions, so expanding access “opened up” viewing for a larger portion of the community.
With guidance from students and HNN, UH will produce roughly 50 simulcast games, also available on the Mountain West app. Currently, there are four dates when Rainbow Wahine volleyball and soccer teams compete simultaneously.
Here is the outline of the four-year deal between Hawaii News Now and UH:
Viewers will benefit from a commitment to high production standards, reflecting the quality of Spectrum-produced telecasts and related programming. HNN’s sports programming director, Aaron Brooks, acknowledged this level of quality and the effort to maintain and elevate it. KFVE previously held the sole rights and later shared them before Spectrum (then Oceanic) took over in 2011. Brooks credited that KFVE tradition for lifting the broadcast and indicated his goal is to sustain that standard and push it even higher through new technologies, including improvements for search engine optimization.