ABC to Offer Saturday Night NBA Games

ESPN will expand its National Basketball Association coverage next year by adding live game telecasts on Saturday nights via sister broadcast network ABC beginning in January, the network said Thursday.

Launching on Jan. 23, ESPN on ABC will offer weekly primetime games beginning at 8:30 p.m. (ET), preceded by the NBA Countdown pre-game show, ESPN president John Skipper and Disney/ABC TV president Ben Sherwood said.

With the addition of the Saturday night games, ESPN and ABC will offer NBA telecasts on four days a week from January to April. ESPN will air games on Wednesdays and Fridays, while ABC televises games on Saturdays and Sundays.

For the full story go to Multichannel.com.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.