While his on-air future remains in limbo, Charles Barkley is making moves.
According to Front Office Sports’ David Rumsey, the Hall of Fame power forward is set to “relaunch” his Round Mound Media production company with a new investment from RedBird IMI, whose CEO is Barkley’s former Turner Sports boss, Jeff Zucker. After first launching in 2018, Round Mound Media will now be a joint venture with RedBird IMI-backed EverWonder Studio, with Barkley’s manager, Marc Perman, serving as president.
“We’re treating this as the launch of a new company,” EverWonder CEO Ian Orefice told FOS.
A relaunch of Round Mound Media certainly makes sense, as the original iteration had produced just two projects, with the most recent being 2022’s The Great Debate with Charles Barkley. Along with the four-part series, American Race, both projects aired on TNT and starred Barkley.
According to Orefice, the new version of Round Mound Media will produce “live events, documentaries, game shows, scripted content, and other special formats,” with approximately one-third of such projects focused on sports. Ten projects are already in the works, including a longform documentary about Barkley’s life and multiple projects with TNT Sports, which will reportedly get the first rights to pick up any of the company’s sports-related projects.
The timing of Round Mound Media’s reboot is certainly interesting, as Warner Bros. Discovery enters the final year of its contract as an NBA media rights partner. While Barkley previously reaffirmed his commitment to WBD after initially announcing his retirement, the future of its signature studio show, Inside the NBA, remains in flux, with the 11-time All-Star at one point suggesting he could take the program independent via his production company.
According to Orefice, however, that’s not what’s happening here.
“Our goal in launching Round Mound Media was not surrounding that show, and not surrounding the NBA,” he told FOS. “Charles’s relationship remains exclusive from an on-air perspective with TNT. So that show was really not the foundation for any of our conversations.”
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.