Turner to Take Over NBA’s Digital Businesses

TBS to Assume Responsibility for NBA TV, NBA League Pass, NBA.com Network

By Alex Weprin & Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/17/2008 3:10:00 PM

Turner Broadcasting System and the National Basketball Association expanded their long-running partnership with a new digital-rights agreement that will see Turner essentially take over the league's digital businesses.

Under the terms of the deal, the NBA and Turner will jointly manage the league’s digital portfolio out of Turner’s Atlanta headquarters.

TBS will assume responsibility for programming, marketing and technical operations for NBA TV, the league’s digital-TV network, and will host the NBA.com network, which includes NBA.com and WNBA.com.

TBS will also operate NBA League Pass, the league’s out-of-market broadband game package.

The NBA and Turner will jointly sell advertising for the digital properties.

In addition, talent from NBA on TNT and Inside the NBA will appear on the NBA TV network.

NBA commissioner David Stern said the league is not only impressed by the high production quality Turner delivers for its live broadcasts of NBA games on TNT, but also by the expertise Turner has developed with broadband assets such as CNN.com, TNT.tv, NASCAR.com and PGATOUR.com.

He added that he hopes to take advantage of that expertise through the new partnership for not only NBA TV and NBA.com, but other distribution platforms such as NBA League Pass, video-on-demand, interactive-TV applications and mobile devices.

“We’ll jointly sell advertising for all of those digital assets, and we’ll have the benefit of TNT’s talent and production competencies,” Stern said in a conference call Thursday morning.

He added that the NBA will maintain its production facility and digital archive in Secaucus, N.J., but the focus of that facility will shift to feeding the NBA’s international operations as the bulk of domestic production shifts to Turner’s Atlanta headquarters.

Although NBA TV’s carriage deals with cable and satellite operators expire at the end of the season, the league will continue to handle carriage negotiations independently for the 24-hour network. Turner will not pursue carriage for NBA TV on the league's behalf by bundling it with Turner's cable properties.

Regardless, Stern expects the carriage of NBA TV to increase significantly in the near-term, with Turner’s production support improving the product he puts on the table.

“We would like to discuss broader distribution, but we have to discuss it in the context of better programming, better pricing and better enhancements on the digital side,” he said.

David Levy, president of Turner Broadcasting Sales and Turner Sports, said he believes the NBA deal represents a “groundbreaking” new model for major league sports.

“This is the first time a major sports league has assigned complete digital rights to a media company in a profit-sharing, partnership model,” Levy said. “Together, we’re providing a fully-integrated experience.”

The NBA has had games on TBS and TNT continuously since 1984. The current television agreement between Turner and the NBA runs through 2016.