Could there be an Inside the NBA outside of the familiar environment of TNT?
The latest reports around the NBA’s new broadcast rights package indicate that Warner Bros. Discovery could be falling behind NBC Universal in negotiations, creating a distinct possibility that the NBA leaves TNT Sports for the first time in decades.
But in the latest episode of The Town podcast from The Ringer and Puck, host and Hollywood insider Matt Belloni expects the beloved NBA studio show to find a new home at Prime Video or NBC if the network loses NBA rights or sees a dramatic reduction in its package.
“They could do four packages, the NBA supposedly prefers to do three, but there’s a real chance here that Warner (Bros.) Discovery does not get NBA rights,” Belloni said on The Town. “And if it does get NBA rights, the amount of games is going to be very small, likely.
“So my prediction is that Inside the NBA, the Turner studio show that everybody loves, that will not exclusively air on TNT after the 2024-25 season. It’s either going to be on Amazon, or it’s going to be on TNT and another one of those outlets, Amazon or NBC.”
In Belloni’s thinking, the new bidders at Prime Video and NBC need studio programming around the games. And we already know that when WBD re-signed Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith recently, the company is believed to have given the hosts the ability to opt out should it lose NBA rights (TNT has matching rights in these NBA broadcast talks).
“I wouldn’t go by myself,” Barkley previously told Sports Illustrated‘s Jimmy Traina. “And I would find it hard to go without Ernie, to be honest with you. Obviously, me, Kenny, and Shaq are close, but Ernie is the guy. So I would have to look at if they were gonna bring those guys, but also if they had other guys in mind who to partner with. The good thing about it is, I got a two-year window that I don’t have to worry about anything.”
“Ernie is the one guy we probably have to worry about more than anybody walking anyway,” Barkley told Traina. “I’m gonna stay at least two more years, but Ernie, I know he’s toyed with the idea of leaving in the next couple years also. It’s gonna be a very interesting next couple of years because nobody knows, because Amazon and Apple have so much damn money, they might just outbid ESPN and Turner.”
Provided the hosts still want to work in basketball media, the new rightsholders would likely pursue the most popular NBA broadcasters and give them a landing spot post-TNT.
“They could do a thing where they share that show with TNT, which is less competitive then if it goes to NBC and they have to share [NBA rights] with another TV network,” Belloni added.
Considering the idea of NBC and TNT Sports partnering on broadcasts was previously floated, sharing a studio show would hardly count as a surprise. The extent to which the NBA is truly against bringing on four broadcast partners is unclear. The league could just be posturing to drive up the cost in a bidding war between WBD and NBC Universal.
From a cost standpoint, Amazon probably doesn’t care about spending big on a studio show as it enters its first year broadcasting the NBA in 2025. But given that NBC is in a tenuous position as its Comcast cable business decays and it tries to grow its Peacock streaming service, cutting costs on the studio side could be a big help.
While NBC and TNT are rivals now in negotiations with the NBA, they could very well turn into partners down the line. Or at the very least, TNT may have to come hat in hand to NBC in a few weeks or months to discuss buyouts of Barkley and Co. as they look to jump to NBC.
Either that or Amazon continues to come in from the top rope and take over, creating some interesting decisions for the entire NBA broadcasting team at TNT Sports.
[The Town]