After news broke on Friday that NBA TV would end its partnership with TNT Sports to coincide with the network’s loss of live NBA broadcasts, questions surfaced regarding what exactly the league-owned network would look like without Turner’s magic touch.
Now, fans are getting a bit of clarity. And like many would expect, the network is going to look quite different next season when the league fully takes over operations.
According to John Ourand of Puck, “the channel’s new strategy is going to be more focused on live games and less on big studio shows or replays of, say, the 1984 Lakers-Celtics series.” The catch? NBA TV will need to avoid any national windows that its new broadcast partners are airing games in. That means scheduling around ESPN, Amazon, and NBC/Peacock, the combination of which covers nearly every day of the week during portions of the season.
But that focus on live games isn’t exclusive to NBA games, Ourand suggested on his The Varsity podcast. “One area to look is international. Look for NBA TV to carry many more international games focused on international prospects for both the NBA [and] the WNBA. It found success a couple of years ago when it carried French league games with Victor Wembanyama, Wemby. So expect the league to double down on that.
“Here in the states, I expect to see more behind-the-scenes content from practices and walkthroughs and things like that. Think about the type of content that was in that Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance. Remember, the NBA shot all of that content. The channel went direct-to-consumer several years ago, so it doesn’t really act like a linear TV channel. So I’d look for more digital-style programming, like creator-type content.”
Should this be the blueprint NBA TV follows post-TNT partnership, it seems like the network is gearing up to become more of a niche offering. We already know that NBA TV will be airing fewer live games under the league’s new media rights deals. And unlike under the old set of deals, the network won’t have any playoff inventory. That alone narrows the network’s appeal, so it makes sense that it’d lean into superserving its most dedicated fans. Highlighting international prospects and producing more behind-the-scenes content accomplishes that goal.