TNT Sports is hopeful that the cultural relevance and popularity of its National Basketball Association (NBA) coverage will aid its pitch to renew its domestic media rights deal with the league.
The cable network, which is now part of the Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) media empire, currently shares national coverage of the league with ESPN in a deal reportedly worth a combined US$2.6 billion per year.
Those contracts, signed in 2014, run until the end of the 2024/25 season, and the incumbents reportedly have an exclusive negotiating window expiring in April next year.
While the live games are the crown jewel of TNT’s coverage, the broadcaster’s Inside the NBA pre-game, half-time and post-game show has become one of the most popular programmes in US sports entertainment since the network started showing the NBA in 1988.
Fronted by host Ernie Johnson and former players Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, the show has won 17 Sports Emmy awards and has earned plaudits for its game analysis, unpredictability, and the chemistry between the panel.
Craig Barry, who is WBD’s US-based chief content officer, is hopeful that the popularity and reach of that show doesn’t go unnoticed by the NBA amid rumoured competition from the likes of NBC, Amazon and Apple.
“Yes,” he said, fielding a question from SportsPro about whether Inside the NBA would be something WBD would point to during ongoing negotiations. “Who can really gauge it? I would like to think that it matters. But it doesn’t matter more than the game. It doesn’t matter more than the teams, the matchups, the players.
“But I’d like to think it’s a very nice complement people consider culturally relevant to the game.”
One market where TNT has already signed a new contract with the NBA is in the UK and Ireland. The broadcaster has taken over coverage from rival pay-TV network Sky Sports in a multi-year deal that gives it the rights to at least nine regular season games per week, as well as marquee events such as the All-Star game, playoffs and finals.
For its midweek games, TNT in the UK is taking the same feed of live matches broadcast by TNT in the US, featuring the same commentary team along with the network’s Inside the NBA programming. However, SportsPro has learned that there are also plans for a co-produced studio show specific to the UK market, which is expected to be rolled out next year.
The NBA deal in the UK came after BT Sport was rebranded to TNT Sports as part of the 50:50 joint venture between BT Group and WBD. Barry said the new rights agreement gives the company the opportunity to grow the TNT brand, which is already present in the US and Latin America, on a global scale.
The interview was part of a feature published during SportsPro’s Broadcast Week. To read the full version of the article, click here.