NBA TV is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through TNT Sports. Launched on November 2, 1999, as nba.com TV and later rebranded to its current name on February 11, 2003, NBA TV is dedicated to basketball, featuring exhibition, regular season, and playoff game broadcasts from the NBA and related professional basketball leagues. It also provides NBA-related content, including analysis programs, specials, and documentaries. The network is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and serves as the national broadcaster of the NBA G League and WNBA games. NBA TV is the oldest subscription network in North America to be owned or controlled by a professional sports league. As of November 2023, it is available to approximately 37,000,000 pay television households in the United States, down from its 2013 peak of 61,000,000 households 1.
The network's programming includes a variety of shows focused on basketball news, player lifestyles, team seasons, historical games, and live games. It carries at least 90 regular season games per season, typically airing four days a week during the NBA season, and some first-round playoff games. NBA TV also covers the NBA draft and showcases international games, particularly from the Euroleague and the Maccabi Tel Aviv team from Israel. Its flagship program is NBA Gametime Live, which provides news, highlights, and looks at games in progress, airing live six days a week 12.
NBA TV was initially launched with the purpose of serving as a barker channel for the NBA's out-of-market sports package, NBA League Pass, and featured statistical and scoring information more easily accessible in the pre-broadband age. Over time, the network expanded its programming to include international basketball leagues and programming from FIBA, often unseen in the American market. The network's operations were transferred to Turner Sports in 2007, and it began using the same announcers and analysts used on TNT's NBA telecasts. Production of analysis and news programming was upgraded, with programs being produced at Studio B at Turner Studios in Atlanta, Georgia 1.
NBA TV's history reflects its evolution from a niche channel focused on providing access to NBA games and information to a comprehensive sports network offering a wide array of basketball-related content. Its programming mix and channel format have evolved over the years, adapting to changes in technology and viewer preferences while remaining committed to delivering high-quality basketball content to fans worldwide 12.
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