Portland Trail Blazers Broadcasting is undergoing a dramatic facelift.

Mike and Mike are out and Antonio Harvey will not return as part of an overhaul of the Blazers' television and radio broadcasts, The Oregonian/OregonLive has learned. The only on-air talent coming back for the 2016-17 season is Brian Wheeler, who will continue as the team's radio play-by-play voice.

The changes signal a new era in the faces and voices that bring Rip City its beloved Blazers basketball.

Mike Barrett and Mike Rice have been the face of the Blazers' television broadcast for 11 seasons and a fabric of the organization for far longer. And Harvey, who played with the team for two seasons, has served as the radio color analyst the last 11 years. But the trio learned Wednesday morning in meetings at the Moda Center that the organization has decided to reboot its broadcasts to add new life and a fresh perspective at a time it is negotiating a new television contract.

Rice joined the Blazers in 1991 as a radio analyst and partnered with each of the franchise's three radio play-by-play voices over the years, working alongside Bill Schonely, Eddie Doucette and Wheeler. Rice moved to television in 2005 to work alongside Barrett, and "The Wild One" became a mainstay, using humor, extensive basketball knowledge and a passion for the Blazers to add analysis and color to broadcasts. Rice, who was an All-American college player and successful college coach, was known for his big and unpredictable on-air personality. He often made outrageous statements, had a habit of bumbling the pronunciation of players' names and seemed to relish complaining about officiating. In 1994, he was infamously ejected from a Blazers game after an incident with referee Steve Javie, becoming the first and only broadcaster booted from an NBA game.

Barrett, who grew up in Albany and attended Oregon State, joined the Blazers in 1999 to fill a variety of radio and television roles before moving to television full-time in 2003, when he became the team's play-by-play announcer. He partnered with Steve "Snapper" Jones for two seasons before Rice joined the broadcast and "Mike and Mike" was born. While Rice could be outrageous, Barrett played things straight, providing traditional, by-the-book commentary.

Harvey played for the Blazers from 1999-2001 during his 10-year professional career, which included eight seasons in the NBA. He then returned to the organization in 2005 in a broadcast role, replacing Rice as radio analyst. Harvey and Wheeler have been the voice of the Blazers' radio broadcast since. In April, Harvey and his family became one of the first groups in Oregon to be granted a license to grow recreational marijuana, but that personal business venture did not play a role in his dismissal, sources say.

Rice, Barrett and Harvey signed two-year contract extensions last summer, so they will be paid next season. The Blazers are expected to begin a search for a new television tandem soon, but they do not plan on replacing Harvey. Instead, Wheeler will call games by himself.

The timing of the Blazers' broadcast shakeup is noteworthy because their 10-year contract with television partner Comcast SportsNet Northwest expires after the 2016-17 NBA season and the team has been plotting its broadcast future for months.

Comcast, which leans on the Blazers as its flagship partner in the region, submitted a new contract offer earlier this year during an exclusive negotiating window. But the Blazers -- long frustrated by Comcast's lack of distribution -- have been fielding offers from other potential partners for weeks and it's possible they will move in another broadcast direction. For nearly a decade, Blazers games have been unavailable to satellite television subscribers because of national distribution disagreements between Comcast and DirecTV/Dish, leaving a large percentage of Blazers' fans in the crosshairs of a corporate kerfuffle.

As the Blazers ponder their next move at a time when more and more households are "cutting the cord," the franchise has entertained offers from both traditional and nontraditional broadcast partners and seems to be open about the future of its broadcast. The team has until July 1 to select a new partner.

But whatever direction the Blazers turn, it will not include Barrett, Rice or Harvey, who have worked their last game with the organization.

-- Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com 503-294-5183 @BlazerFreeman