NYC Rebel
...on the otherside of the pond
There was a time @CHICAGO bushed my threads alluding to this. 
Been yelling this for YEARS
They have to move away from that shytty Inside the NBA/ he said-she said model.
If shyt is fukked up....sell the lie just like the NFL does.
LOS ANGELES — When Hall of Famer Grant Hill thought back on NBC’s coverage of the NBA in the 1990s, his mind went first to battling Michael Jordan. In those days, sportscaster Bob Costas’s monologues built the tension and John Tesh’s “Roundball Rock” provided the soundtrack as the tongue-wagging Chicago Bulls legend headlined marquee matchups on network television.
“You knew everyone was going to be watching,” Hill said. “You got a good night’s sleep and a good meal the night before. You wanted to be at your best. Thankfully, I had some good moments in those NBC games ‘way back last century,’ as my children say. But at some point you had to guard Jordan. That brings back some bad memories.”
NBC and Hill will come full circle when the NBA season opens Tuesday: The network will broadcast NBA games for the first time since 2002, and Hill will serve as an analyst alongside fellow former stars Reggie Miller, Carmelo Anthony and Vince Carter. NBC has even named Jordan as a “special contributor.”
But when the NBA reached 11-year media rights agreements in 2024 with Disney, NBC Universal and Amazon worth a combined $76 billion, it was more concerned with positioning itself for the future than rekindling Jordan-era nostalgia. The NBA cut ties with TNT after 36 years, angling its broadcast model away from cable television and toward network television and streaming platforms.
By partnering with ESPN, NBC and Amazon’s Prime Video, which all also broadcast NFL games, the NBA has more closely aligned its broadcast portfolio with professional football’s strategy. What’s more, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has expressed a desire for NBA programming to “educate and celebrate” rather than spark angry debates or denigrate the modern game. The NBA’s new media partners, in turn, have opened their NFL playbooks to carry out that mission, tapping a wave of enthusiastic former players to sing the sport’s praises.
“I grew up in the 1990s and was a big Chicago Bulls fan,” said Dallas Mavericks icon Dirk Nowitzki, who joins a deep Prime Video roster that includes Steve Nash, Dwyane Wade, Candace Parker, Blake Griffin, John Wall and Udonis Haslem. “Jordan winning some of these championships were the best moments for me: Game 6 in Utah [in the 1998 Finals] with the slight push-off, that’s a memory I’ll never forget. Hopefully, we can put the game in a more positive light. I think there’s been a lot of negative spin on the game. We want to show that the league is fun and hard. Blake is hilarious, Steve is very dry, and hopefully we can have some fun and analyze the game.”
The NBA will air games nationally on ABC, ESPN, NBC, Peacock, Prime Video, NBA TV and the League Pass subscription service, which enables out-of-market fans to watch local broadcasts. By expanding its streaming options and airing national broadcasts seven days a week, the NBA hopes to better serve cord-cutters and younger viewers by offering a more personalized experience with various audio commentary options, multi-view capabilities and alternate feeds featuring statistical overlays or gambling-related content. Prime Video, which is available to Amazon’s 200-plus million Prime members, will also extend the NBA’s global reach by broadcasting in 12 languages and 200 countries. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
“In May of this year, the lines crossed for the first time where more television consumption is coming through streaming services than broadcast and cable,” Silver said in July. “It’s not an accident that in our new television deals every single game will be streamed.”
The NBA’s media reset follows several years of declining television viewership: Game 1 of this year’s Finals on ABC drew 10.3 million viewers, down from 15.1 million viewers for the comparable game in 2019, the last year before the coronavirus pandemic, and 20.4 million viewers in 2017, which was the highest mark of the post-Jordan era. By comparison, NFL games averaged 18.6 million viewers through the first five weeks of the regular season, and last year’s four divisional-round playoff games averaged 36.6 million.
In hopes of growing its audience, the NBA will air about 100 games on ABC and NBC during the regular season and playoffs, a sharp increase from last season. NBC will also produce “Sunday Night Basketball” games and the “Basketball Night in America” pregame show, spin-offs of its successful NFL broadcasts.
“The limitations of cable right now have dramatically reduced fan interaction with our sport,” said Gregg Winik, the NBA’s president of content. “[Network television] is a wider audience. We’ve been doing ABC Saturday nights for years. Once NBC’s ‘Sunday Night Football’ concludes, ‘Sunday Night Basketball’ will start. ‘Sunday Night Football’ is the No. 1 show in television every year, so that’s a great slot.”
ESPN, NBC and Prime Video all have initiatives aimed at creating a more immersive and fulfilling viewing experience. ABC and ESPN, which will continue to host the NBA’s Christmas slate and the Finals, will import “Inside the NBA,” the longtime TNT show starring Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal. In keeping with Silver’s desire for more nuanced coverage, ESPN has rolled out “Coaches Corner” film breakdowns featuring analyst Tim Legler and NBA coaches. Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James praised the series on social media Wednesday, noting that “hot take culture [is] so tired.”
Meanwhile, NBC’s package, which includes All-Star Weekend, will feature network television games on Tuesdays, including an opening night doubleheader, and Peacock streaming games on Mondays. The network plans to include starting lineup introductions as part of its broadcasts, deploy reporters to each team’s bench during its Peacock games to offer an up-close experience and launch “Enjoy Basketball,” a weekday show featuring YouTube creators and podcasts whose title neatly encapsulates Silver’s philosophical vision.
“To us, the game is the star,” NBC executive producer Sam Flood said. “We want to lean into the arena experience so, by the end of the telecast, everyone at home says they need to get to a game. We’ll call out a team that’s making bad decisions on the court and explain why another approach would help them that night. We’re not going to be Pollyanna, but at the same time we’re not going to play the hot take game.”
During a swanky tip-off party in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Amazon executives unveiled Prime Video’s futuristic, two-story studio that features 2,300 LED monitors, an expansive lounge and a full bar decorated with basketball art and famous sneakers. The 13,000-square-foot Culver City studio’s showpiece was a regulation-sized NBA half-court with an LED floor. The digital floor will be toggled during broadcasts, mirroring Madison Square Garden’s hardwood during a New York Knicks segment and switching to a color-coded shot chart for a breakdown of Anthony Edwards’s hot spots.
Been yelling this for YEARS
They have to move away from that shytty Inside the NBA/ he said-she said model.
If shyt is fukked up....sell the lie just like the NFL does.
LOS ANGELES — When Hall of Famer Grant Hill thought back on NBC’s coverage of the NBA in the 1990s, his mind went first to battling Michael Jordan. In those days, sportscaster Bob Costas’s monologues built the tension and John Tesh’s “Roundball Rock” provided the soundtrack as the tongue-wagging Chicago Bulls legend headlined marquee matchups on network television.
“You knew everyone was going to be watching,” Hill said. “You got a good night’s sleep and a good meal the night before. You wanted to be at your best. Thankfully, I had some good moments in those NBC games ‘way back last century,’ as my children say. But at some point you had to guard Jordan. That brings back some bad memories.”
NBC and Hill will come full circle when the NBA season opens Tuesday: The network will broadcast NBA games for the first time since 2002, and Hill will serve as an analyst alongside fellow former stars Reggie Miller, Carmelo Anthony and Vince Carter. NBC has even named Jordan as a “special contributor.”
But when the NBA reached 11-year media rights agreements in 2024 with Disney, NBC Universal and Amazon worth a combined $76 billion, it was more concerned with positioning itself for the future than rekindling Jordan-era nostalgia. The NBA cut ties with TNT after 36 years, angling its broadcast model away from cable television and toward network television and streaming platforms.
By partnering with ESPN, NBC and Amazon’s Prime Video, which all also broadcast NFL games, the NBA has more closely aligned its broadcast portfolio with professional football’s strategy. What’s more, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has expressed a desire for NBA programming to “educate and celebrate” rather than spark angry debates or denigrate the modern game. The NBA’s new media partners, in turn, have opened their NFL playbooks to carry out that mission, tapping a wave of enthusiastic former players to sing the sport’s praises.
“I grew up in the 1990s and was a big Chicago Bulls fan,” said Dallas Mavericks icon Dirk Nowitzki, who joins a deep Prime Video roster that includes Steve Nash, Dwyane Wade, Candace Parker, Blake Griffin, John Wall and Udonis Haslem. “Jordan winning some of these championships were the best moments for me: Game 6 in Utah [in the 1998 Finals] with the slight push-off, that’s a memory I’ll never forget. Hopefully, we can put the game in a more positive light. I think there’s been a lot of negative spin on the game. We want to show that the league is fun and hard. Blake is hilarious, Steve is very dry, and hopefully we can have some fun and analyze the game.”
The NBA will air games nationally on ABC, ESPN, NBC, Peacock, Prime Video, NBA TV and the League Pass subscription service, which enables out-of-market fans to watch local broadcasts. By expanding its streaming options and airing national broadcasts seven days a week, the NBA hopes to better serve cord-cutters and younger viewers by offering a more personalized experience with various audio commentary options, multi-view capabilities and alternate feeds featuring statistical overlays or gambling-related content. Prime Video, which is available to Amazon’s 200-plus million Prime members, will also extend the NBA’s global reach by broadcasting in 12 languages and 200 countries. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
“In May of this year, the lines crossed for the first time where more television consumption is coming through streaming services than broadcast and cable,” Silver said in July. “It’s not an accident that in our new television deals every single game will be streamed.”
The NBA’s media reset follows several years of declining television viewership: Game 1 of this year’s Finals on ABC drew 10.3 million viewers, down from 15.1 million viewers for the comparable game in 2019, the last year before the coronavirus pandemic, and 20.4 million viewers in 2017, which was the highest mark of the post-Jordan era. By comparison, NFL games averaged 18.6 million viewers through the first five weeks of the regular season, and last year’s four divisional-round playoff games averaged 36.6 million.
In hopes of growing its audience, the NBA will air about 100 games on ABC and NBC during the regular season and playoffs, a sharp increase from last season. NBC will also produce “Sunday Night Basketball” games and the “Basketball Night in America” pregame show, spin-offs of its successful NFL broadcasts.
“The limitations of cable right now have dramatically reduced fan interaction with our sport,” said Gregg Winik, the NBA’s president of content. “[Network television] is a wider audience. We’ve been doing ABC Saturday nights for years. Once NBC’s ‘Sunday Night Football’ concludes, ‘Sunday Night Basketball’ will start. ‘Sunday Night Football’ is the No. 1 show in television every year, so that’s a great slot.”
ESPN, NBC and Prime Video all have initiatives aimed at creating a more immersive and fulfilling viewing experience. ABC and ESPN, which will continue to host the NBA’s Christmas slate and the Finals, will import “Inside the NBA,” the longtime TNT show starring Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal. In keeping with Silver’s desire for more nuanced coverage, ESPN has rolled out “Coaches Corner” film breakdowns featuring analyst Tim Legler and NBA coaches. Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James praised the series on social media Wednesday, noting that “hot take culture [is] so tired.”
Meanwhile, NBC’s package, which includes All-Star Weekend, will feature network television games on Tuesdays, including an opening night doubleheader, and Peacock streaming games on Mondays. The network plans to include starting lineup introductions as part of its broadcasts, deploy reporters to each team’s bench during its Peacock games to offer an up-close experience and launch “Enjoy Basketball,” a weekday show featuring YouTube creators and podcasts whose title neatly encapsulates Silver’s philosophical vision.
“To us, the game is the star,” NBC executive producer Sam Flood said. “We want to lean into the arena experience so, by the end of the telecast, everyone at home says they need to get to a game. We’ll call out a team that’s making bad decisions on the court and explain why another approach would help them that night. We’re not going to be Pollyanna, but at the same time we’re not going to play the hot take game.”
During a swanky tip-off party in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Amazon executives unveiled Prime Video’s futuristic, two-story studio that features 2,300 LED monitors, an expansive lounge and a full bar decorated with basketball art and famous sneakers. The 13,000-square-foot Culver City studio’s showpiece was a regulation-sized NBA half-court with an LED floor. The digital floor will be toggled during broadcasts, mirroring Madison Square Garden’s hardwood during a New York Knicks segment and switching to a color-coded shot chart for a breakdown of Anthony Edwards’s hot spots.
