Eric Collins is Charlotte Hornets’ new TV play-by-play announcer

Eric Collins becomes the Charlotte Hornets’ television play-by-play announcer this season and Stephanie Ready will have an expanded role on Hornets telecasts.

Fox SportSouth, which will be rebranded as Fox Sports Southeast in October, announced those changes Thursday.

Collins has previously done Big East basketball, college football and Major League Baseball for Fox. He replaces Steve Martin, who will return to his original role with the Bobcats/Hornets, doing radio play-by-play.

Ready will go full-time as a game analyst, alongside fellow analyst Dell Curry. Previously, Ready did mostly sideline reporting, occasionally filling in as game analyst when Curry was unavailable.

Ready has been part of Bobcats/Hornets telecasts from the franchise’s inception in the fall of 2004. Curry, who played for the original Hornets, enters his seventh season on Hornets telecasts.

This story was originally published August 27, 2015 at 1:26 PM with the headline "Eric Collins is Charlotte Hornets’ new TV play-by-play announcer."