Diamond Sports Seeks To Cut NBA, NHL Fees In Last-Ditch Bid To Survive Another Year

Bankrupt broadcaster Diamond Sports, the nation’s largest regional sports network, has made a take-it-or-leave-it offer to cut rights fees to the NHL and NBA in a last-ditch bid to avoid liquidation. Diamond proposed cutting the fees to both leagues by up to 20% ahead of a bankruptcy court-imposed Sept. 30 deadline, a source with direct knowledge of the situation said Thursday.

Golden State Warriors To Be Valued At $7 Billion In Potential Stake Sale

A chunk of the Golden State Warriors, the National Basketball Association’s most successful team over the past decade, is up for sale, according to people familiar with the matter. A group of minority investors accounting for just over 10% are looking to offload their stake, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

Peacock Taps Allen Iverson To Sell Streaming To Sports Fans

L.A. Clippers, KTLA Extend Partnership

KTLA and the L.A. Clippers have announced that they have extended their relationship through the 2024-25 NBA season. KTLA (KTLA 5) will televise 15 games this season, including all four preseason games, and tip off their coverage on Thursday, September 14, with the premiere of Clippers’ Clipboard, a Clippers mini-series that will air during the KTLA 5 morning news.

NBA Is Prepared To Broadcast Where Diamond Sports Group Can’t. Will Things Come To That?

As the NBA approaches a new season, releasing its 2023-24 schedule earlier this month and rolling out the matchups to watch over the next year, a nettlesome issue continues to hover over the league and half of its teams. Diamond Sports Group, the company that operates 19 Bally Sports regional sports networks across the United States and owns the local television rights for 15 NBA teams, including the Mavericks, Clippers, Cavaliers and Spurs, among others, continues to have its future linger in bankruptcy court. That has caused some uncertainty about how those teams will broadcast their games locally during the upcoming season.

ESPN Is Said To Talk With Leagues About Taking Stake In Network

The Disney-controlled channel is trying to find a way forward in the streaming age and has had discussions with the NFL, the NBA and Major League Baseball.

Behind The Slow-Motion Implosion Of Regional Sports Networks

The ecosystem, held together by the pay TV bundle, is showing wear and tear — like the MLB taking over a bankrupt network — as teams and programmers game out what’s next.

NBA Fans Furious At YouTube TV For Ruining End Of Heat-Celtics Game 1

National TV Advertising For NBA ’22-’23 Regular Season 28% Higher So Far

Through five months of the NBA season so far — with the start of playoff action looming in four weeks — national TV advertising is 28% higher to an estimated $656.9 million so far, according to iSpot.tv. Total impressions are also comparably higher — 22% more to a total of 29.8 billion — from 136,448 airings of commercials this season.

NBA And Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations Launch Strategic Partnership Powering Next-Generation Tracking Tech

The National Basketball Association and Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations, a provider of officiating and tracking technology in sports, have formed a multi-year partnership, beginning with the 2023-24 season, to deploy Hawk-Eye’s […]

Bankruptcy Be Damned: NBA Renews Bally Sports Plus Digital Deal

NBA reportedly re-ups a streaming deal with the league that will keep 16 teams on the DTC service through the 2024-25 season … should it still be around.

NBA All-Star Game Spots Sell Out

The slump in the advertising market didn’t stop Warner Bros. Discovery from selling out its inventory across the NBA’s All-Star Weekend. “We’re sold out,” Jon Diament, executive VP for ad sales at WBD, said. “This is the best year we’ve ever had.” Diament said that in addition to official league sponsors — big names long associated with the NBA like Kia, State Farm and AT&T, this year’s All-Star weekend has 20 new advertisers in the lineup.

NBC Sports Hopes To Make Aggressive Bid For NBA

Comcast’s NBCUniversal is preparing to make a strong bid to win back National Basketball Association broadcast rights more than 20 years after the company lost them to Disney and Turner Sports, according to people familiar with the matter. NBCU executives have informed the NBA of their interest, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. NBC Sports wants a package that would include playoff games to air on NBC’s broadcast network, two of the people said. Some regular season games could be exclusive to NBCU’s streaming service, Peacock. The NBA could also decide to force media companies to simulcast all games on streaming to increase reach, the people said.

As James Nears Record, Tuesday’s Lakers Game Moved To TNT

LeBron James is on pace to break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record next Tuesday at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder. That game will now be shown on TNT, a change that forced a reworking of that night’s entire schedule on the network. TNT was supposed to show Atlanta at New Orleans, followed by Minnesota at Denver. Instead, it’ll show Phoenix at Brooklyn first, followed by the Thunder-Lakers game.

Sling TV Adds ABC Stations In 8 Major Cities, Becomes Go-To vMVPD For NBA Postseason

In a major programming addition, Sling TV will now carry ABC-owned stations in eight major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Unfortunately for Sling Orange tier customers in those markets, who also have access to local NBC and Fox stations, the price of their service is going up another $5 to $45 a month. And the price of the combined Orange/Blue tier is also going up for them by $5 to $60 a month.

Meta To Offer 50+ Live NBA Games In Virtual Reality On Meta Quest

Meta says it is expanding its partnership with the NBA and WNBA to launch more than 50 live NBA games in virtual reality on Meta Quest, including five in immersive, 180-degree VR. Those five games will feature celebrity broadcasters Meta said.

NBA Christmas Day Games Generate Ratings Highs For ABC & ESPN

The five-game average was up 5% from 2021, managing about 4.27 million viewers (compared to 4.08M viewers from last year), according to Nielsen. The NBA games on ESPN and ABC also generated 3% year-over-year viewership increases in key demos, including people 18-49 and people 25-54.

Advertisers Line Up For NBA Games On Christmas Day

More than 60 brands will be in the lineup as The Walt Disney Co. presents five National Basketball Association games on ABC and ESPN Christmas Day. State Farm returns as the NBA Christmas Day presenting sponsor for all five games, which will be simulcast on broadcast and cable. NBA player Boban Marjanovic stars in State Farm’s latest commercials and will appear as an announcer in the second quarter of an alternative telecasts of the noon  Philadelphia-New York game hosted by Stephen A. Smith. The Smithcast is presented by Cricket.

NBC Sports Chicago And PointsBet Expand Collaboration

NBC Sports Chicago and PointsBet are again partnering to present a series of BetCast presentations of Chicago Bulls games during the 2022-23 NBA Regular Season, expanding the collaboration that launched the alternate […]

Bally Sports+ Goes National With NBA & NHL Teams

Sinclair today has begun taking orders for its Bally Sports+ cord-cutter app in all 19 Bally markets with NBA and NHL teams. However, as expected, MLB teams are available in only five of those markets.

MLB, NBA, NHL May Buy Biggest Owner Of Regional Sports Networks

MLB, the NBA and the NHL may orchestrate a buyout of the nation’s dominant owner of regional sports TV networks, whose shaky finances pose an increasing threat to their teams. The trio of pro-sports leagues are expected to soon begin talks with Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Diamond Sports, which operates 21 regional Bally Sports networks that account for more than half the local broadcast markets around the country, sources close to the situation say.

Live LA Clippers Basketball Returns To KTLA Los Angeles

The Nexstar CW affiliate will exclusively air 15 games this season and produce pre-game, halftime, and post-game programming. The broadcasts will be syndicated throughout Southern California.

ESPN Adds C.J. McCollum To Analyst Roster For NBA Playoffs

NBA Returns To China’s State-Run TV For Playoffs

Roberts Pleased With Changes, Progress Of ESPN’s NBA Shows

Last August, Roberts was named ESPN’s senior vice president for NBA and studio production. As the league comes out of the All-Star break and the push toward the playoffs intensifies, Roberts says he is pleased with the early results. Game viewership on ESPN is up 10%, and the new NBA Today studio show has seen a 35% increase.

Draymond Green Will Analyze NBA Games For WarnerMedia While He Keeps Playing

Sinclair Gets Deal With NBA Including Local Direct-To-Consumer Rights

Sinclair Broadcast Group‘s regional sports network unit Diamond Sports Group has signed a new deal with the National Basketball Association that gives its Bally Sports networks permission to offer streaming content including live games on an authenticated and direct-to-consumer basis.
The deal covers 16 NBA teams in their local territories.

TVN FOCUS ON ADVERTISING

TV Sports Advertising Shifts Into Juggernaut Mode

By all measures, sports advertising is dominating ads in all other types of programming, walloping the competition in primetime. All indications are it only has more to grow.

Sinclair Lines Up NBA & $600M For New Streaming App

Sinclair Broadcast Group’s sports network unit is close to clinching deals to carry National Basketball Association games on its new streaming service and $600 million of financing to support the launch later this year. The new loan for Diamond Sports Group’s venture could be announced along with local NBA streaming rights as soon as this week, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

NBA Has ‘No Plans’ To Postpone Christmas Day Games, Despite Omicron Surge

In 2020, the NBA and the NHL were the most assertive major American sports leagues in their efforts to contain the impact of COVID on their seasons. Both leagues employed “bubbles” that sequestered players and employed aggressive testing regimens to continue their seasons. About a year-and-a-half later, their paths have diverged. On Tuesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league has “no plans” to halt games, despite the lightning-quick spread of the Omicon variant.

Marv Albert Signs Off After 55-Year Career

National Basketball Association broadcasting legend Marv Albert signed off for the final time on July 4, his final words a simple “good night” to his legion of fans. Albert, whose 55-year-career was punctuated by his trademark “Yes!” call when someone made a crucial jump shot, finished his career with TNT, as the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Atlanta Hawks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

NBA Play-In Doubleheader On TNT Jumps By 60% Over Regular-Season Ratings

Sling TV Launches NBA Betting Info Channel

NBA Opening Night Doubleheader Viewership Holds Steady With 2019

NBA Postpones First Game Of New Season

After making it through the three-month Orlando bubble without a single case of COVID-19, the NBA couldn’t make it through two days of its out-of-the-bubble 2020-21 season before the virus wreaked havoc. The league announced that Wednesday’s game between the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder has been postponed due to health and safety protocols.

NBA Player, Coach, Announcer Tommy Heinsohn Dies At 86

NBA Poised To OK Dec. 22 Season Start

The NBA’s board of governors and players’ association will hold separate meetings on Thursday expected to culminate with an agreement on starting the 2020-21 season on Dec. 22 and playing a reduced 72-game schedule, sources tell ESPN.

TVN TECH

TVN Tech | Pandemic Means New Playbook For Sports Production

New remote production techniques, distributed workflows and onsite safety protocols have dramatically reshaped sports production. As COVID-19 continues to be a threat, sports producers can expect less travel, trucks staying in place and a slowdown of UHD production until the crisis abates.

NFL, NBA Take Nielsen Ratings Hit

Post- and end-of-the-season action for TV sports franchises has seen sharply lower overall viewership as a result of sports competition caused by disruptions in scheduling due to COVID-19, as well as lower persons using television (PUT) data. MoffettNathanson Research says the returning NBA and NHL have been impacted by lower PUT data in August and September versus the April and May periods — the former period being one that traditionally sees lower PUT data.

NBA Playoffs To Resume Saturday

In a joint statement released Friday, the league and the players association said they would immediately establish a social justice coalition, made up of players, coaches and owners, that would focus on issues such as voting access and advocating for meaningful police and criminal justice reform.