National Basketball Association superstar LeBron James may not have been able to repeat as league champion on the basketball court last spring, but that didn’t stop him from having a championship-caliber year in the entertainment arena.

“The King,” through his SpringHill Entertainment production company founded by James and childhood friend Maverick Carter, took several major steps in helping to secure his legacy off the court in the entertainment business with a number of content projects that cut across both the traditional television business and emerging digital platforms.

While the clock officially ran out this year on SpringHill’s first scripted series — Starz’s basketball-themed Survivor’s Remorse— the company is poised to take several more shots in the genre. SpringHill is reportedly working with HBO on a half-hour comedy about a Los Angeles sneaker store; with ABC on a comedy dubbed White Dave, starring actress Gabrielle Union; and with CBS on a comedy revolving around a sports agency.

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James has also played on the unscripted court with his CNBC series Cleveland Hustles, which provided local entrepreneurs a chance to realize their dreams while revitalizing a Cleveland neighborhood. James also flexed his game show muscles earlier this year, partnering with NBC for The Wall, which has earned a second season after averaging more than 6 million viewers during its freshman run.

On the digital front, James and Carter have created a platform for athletes to express themselves creatively through the Uninterrupted online network, which in 2015 received a re-ported $15.8 million investment from Warner Bros. and Turner Sports.

Network executives said the entertainment future is bright for the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player, now and when he finally hangs up his sneakers.

“LeBron James’s desire to excel in the entertainment industry is no surprise to those who have watched him work tirelessly to become a transcendent basketball player and NBA champion,” said Mark Tatum, NBA deputy commissioner and chief operating officer. “Television and movie executives view him not just as an athlete but as a creative force who has the ability to help shape popular culture.”

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Indeed, Carter was quoted in a February ESPN the Magazine article as saying he and James have their eyes on the prize of creating an entertainment empire.

“LeBron and I have always been interested in the long game,” Carter said in the story. "And the long game here is to build a media company. To really, truly build a media company."

James and Carter have begun to realize their entertainment aspirations by being aggressive and involved in all aspects of their projects. “From the first time I met LeBron and Maverick, it was clear that they saw media as a way to have an impact in society, and that a media company could help them to have that impact,” Starz president of programming Carmi Zlotnik said.

An All-Position Player
Arguably James and SpringHill’s highest-profile project to date is Survivor’s Remorse, which ended its fourth and final season last month. Zlotnik said he was initially impressed with the attention to detail James paid to the series, which follows the exploits of a pro basketball star and his family from humble beginnings as he transitions to a big pro-hoops star.

Zlotnik recalled that James was very hands-on with regard to the pilot script for the series. “The producers went to LeBron’s house and LeBron recruited friends and family to pick parts to read together from the pilot script,” he said. “I wish I could have been a fly on the wall because it sounds like one of those very interesting situations that happens in the development of a show that no one knows about.”

It also didn’t hurt the show’s marketing and promotion efforts to have the LeBron James brand associated with the series. “LeBron as a personality helped sell the show because it’s so hard to cut through the cacophony that’s happening out in the media space,” said Zlotnik. “The fact that he has this huge fan base in social media is an attractive part about being in business with LeBron, Maverick and SpringHill.”

NBC Entertainment president of alternative and reality group Paul Telegdy also said James’s star power helped build momentum for NBC’s game show The Wall, in which contestants build cash prizes by correctly answering questions. James’s popularity has also helped the network extend The Wall internationally.

“The Wall is on in France, Italy, Poland and is being made in Brazil,” Telegdy said. “The success of the show is more than just the business in the U.S.; it’s about the rollout of a global brand.”

James was also heavily involved with The Wall, making sure the presentation on the screen worked to the benefit of both NBC and the James brand, according to Telegdy.

“The great thing about the partnership is that if at any point he had seen something that he had hated or that was against his brand, we would have found out about it immediately — he’s not a shy, silent partner,” Telegdy said. “He is incredibly down to earth and easy to talk to, and was able to communicate passion and the reasons why he was involved in a game show in a way we could communicate to our audience.”

With The Wall and several other potential projects lined up — Zlotnik said Starz is working with SpringHill on an unscripted series, Warriors of Liberty City, which chronicles the town of Liberty City, Fla. and its ability to turn out a high percentage of NFL football players — Telegdy said it won’t be long before content distributors are knocking on James’s door for a chance to play on the entertainment court with one of the NBA’s best and most exciting players ever.

“Get in line now,” Telegdy added. “We weren’t the first people to spot his talents, but we feel like champions for being in business with LeBron.”

ESPN AND TNT will tip off their respective National Basketball Association regular-season coverage expecting to build on their ratings performances from last year, despite an earlier tip-off to the campaign.

The season kicks off Oct. 17 — two weeks earlier than usual — in an effort to better schedule games to limit player fatigue and injuries during the season. TNT will offer an opening night doubleheader showcasing the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Boston Celtics along with the Houston Rockets battling last year’s champion, the Golden State Warriors.

The games are part of TNT’s 67-game regular-season NBA schedule, which also features a Christmas Night telecast, its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day tripleheader and its 20-game Tuesday night “Players Only” lineup of games featuring former basketball players in all broadcast roles, according to network officials.

ESPN will begin its 87-game NBA coverage Oct. 18 with a Philadelphia 76ers-Washington Wizards/Minnesota Timberwolves-San Antonio Spurs doubleheader. Combined with sister network ABC’s broadcast schedule, the two Disney-owned networks will offer a company record 104 NBA regular season games.

ESPN executive VP of programming and scheduling Burke Magnus said the network is bullish on the upcoming season, given the number of off-season moves by top teams and players as well as the emergence of a strong crop of rookies.

He also expects that ESPN will surpass the 1.6 million viewers it generated last season despite the early start.

“We’ve been pushing for our efforts around the NBA to be year-round, and with our coverage of the past off-season the league had, in terms of free agent movements, a draft class that hasn’t been seen in many years, the season starting now seems about right to me,” he said.

ABC's Golden State Warriors-Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Finals telecast last night scored big on social media, drawing more than 11 million interactions, according to Nielsen.

ABC's live game telecast, in which the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers to take the first game of the NBA Finals, generated 11.2 million Facebook and Twitter interactions from 4.5 million unique accounts, easily besting all sports and entertainment shows for the day, according to Nielsen’s Social Content Ratings list.  

ESPN’s coverage of the 90th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee was the most discussed entertainment show on Thursday, generating 172,000 social media interactions across 120,000 unique accounts. Two cable new shows, Fox News’ Hannity and MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, were second and third on the daily TV social media list, respectively, according to Nielsen.

TNT heads into its coverage of the NBA All-Star weekend festivities in New Orleans looking to build some ratings momentum heading into the NBA playoffs push. TNT’s  NBA live game coverage -- which includes exclusive Thursday night doubleheader games and a new package of Monday night NBA telecasts -- is averaging 1.7 million viewers thus far this season, on par with last year’s performance.

I caught up with Turner president David Levy prior to his departure to New Orleans to discuss the state of the league going into the All-Star break, as well as the prospects for a strong TNT ratings performance during the second-half of the NBA season.  

MCN: How has the NBA on TNT performed thus far heading into the All-Star Game?

David Levy: The numbers have been pretty good – I believe we’re flat year to year but we added more games on Monday nights. I like the storylines developing with Golden State and Oklahoma City, and I like the fact that Boston and the Clippers are playing a little better; San Antonio is always there, and let’s not forget about LeBron (James) and Cleveland. So I think the NBA is going to be in a really good position, and I think the playoffs are going to be really exiting this year.

MCN: What are your expectations for the All-Star game thig year?

DL: First of all its back in the US [last year’s game in Toronto] -- from a ratings perspective last year wasn’t one of our best rated games. I think it’s going to be a ratings success having it in New Orleans, but I also think there’s interest in the NBA right now. Carmelo Anthony just got in – he’s the commissioner’s pick but some have asked does he deserve to be in? I love to see [former teammates] Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant have to practice with each other on the same team, so I think there are a number of underlying stories that people will look at.

MCN: If the elite teams in the league start to pull away from the pack, do you think that will hurt ratings for TNT’s NBA game telecasts in the second half of the season?

DL: No. I know a lot of people like to say parity is great, but it’s really about brands and strong teams. If we get some exciting [regular-season] games and then some game 7’s in the playoffs, the ratings will be there.

ABC’s NBA Finals Game 7 telecast last night drew more than 30 million viewers, making it the most watched NBA Finals came in 18 years, according to ABC.

The game, in which LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the defending champion Golden State Warriors to win its first NBA title and the city’s first championship since 1964, drew 30.7 million viewers, besting Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz, according to ESPN.

 ABC’s Game 7 viewership peaked with 44.5 million viewers and a 22.5 U.S. rating from 10:30-10:40 p.m. (ET), according to Nielsen.

Overall, the series averaged 20,1 million viewers and an 11.3 U.S. rating for its seven games. The back-to-back Cavaliers-Warriors NBA Finals in 2015 and 2016 are the two-most-watched and highest-ratedNBA Finals ever on ABC, according to ESPN.

The game also drew a whopping 7.4 million Tweets from 1.7 million unique Twitter users, according to Nielsen’s Twitter TV Ratings. The game also generated 96.2 million total minutes streamed and an average minute audience of 598,000 viewers, which is the most for a non-World Cup event ever on WatchESPN, according to the network.

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ big win over the Golden State Warriors in Game Six of the NBA Finals was all the talk on Twitter yesterday, driving more than 3 million tweets according to Nielsen.

ABC’s telecast of the game, in which Cleveland forced a seventh and deciding game for the championship on Sunday, averaged 3.09 million tweets from 889,000 unique Twitter authors to easily top all live sports and entertainment series for June 16, according to Nielsen Twitter TV ratings.

On the ratings front, ABC’s NBA Finals Game 6 averaged a 6.3 among adults 18-49 viewers, up from a 6.0 generated for Game 5, according to Nielsen.

FS1’s coverage of the 2016 Copa America Centenario tournament was a distant second with 261,000 Tweets, said Nielsen.

On the entertainment side, USA Network’s WWE SmackDown! Series was the most tweeted show on television yesterday with 39,000 tweets, followed by Comedy Central’s At Midnight With Chris Hardwick with 21,000 tweets, the season four finale of BBC America’s Orphan Black (19,000 tweets), Fox News Channel’s Hannity (8,000) and CW’s Beauty and The Beast (7 million).

Turner sportscaster Craig Sager, who is battling cancer,  is on the May 2 cover of Sports Illustrated.

In the story, Sager’s positive outlook is described, along with facts about his long career as a sideline reporter covering NBA games.

The story features NBA stars LeBron James and Chris Paul, along with TNT teammate Ernie Johnson talking about how Sager is regarded. Following are some highlights from the story:

Sager on staying strong: “I don’t like to complain. I don’t want people to go, ‘Look what happened to Sager, that’s so sad, that’s not the guy I knew.’ Then they won’t come see me.”

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron Jameson seeing Sager on the sidelines of his games: “Whenever Craig Sager is covering your game, you know it’s a big one. But when I look over and see him covering our game right now. . . Talking about it makes me sentimental.”

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Coming off record ratings and ad sales for its postseason Major League Baseball telecasts, Turner is now pacing ahead of last season in its NBA telecast sales as the season opens on Tuesday night with a TNT doubleheader.

TNT, which will again televise 53 NBA games this season, has currently sold 5% more TV commercial ad volume for the season than it sold last year at this point. And NBA TV, which Turner also sells, is pacing 12% ahead of last season’s ad sales. NBA.com, which Turner also manages and sells, is currently pacing 46% more in ad volume compared to last season.

Jon Diament, executive VP of Turner Sports ad sales & marketing, said he finds the numbers exceptional because last season just prior to the start of the telecast schedule, TNT had sold more ad inventory than it had since it began televising NBA games 30 years ago. Now those totals are being surpassed.

“Last season we had the major storyline of LeBron James moving from the Miami Heat to the Cleveland Cavaliers and everything surrounding that, and it turned out to be one of our strongest seasons ever,” he said. “So for us to be pacing ahead of that is really pretty good.”

And much like last season, it’s not really the ratings that are driving marketers to jump into the NBA in a big way. Despite James and the success he had in driving the Cavaliers into the NBA Finals, regular season ratings were stifled a bit by the poor seasons had by teams in some of the largest markets from teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and New York Knicks.

Just how much of an impact did those teams’ games have on TNT’s ratings? The network’s games involving the Celtics declined 42% in the ratings from the previous season. Its Knicks telecasts fell 19%, and its Laker outings declined 13%.

TNT, despite those ratings declines by some once marquee teams, held steady in its overall viewership last season, averaging 2 million viewers for its Thursday night games; for its complete 53-game regular season schedule, it averaged 1.9 million viewers, down just 100,000 from the 2014-15 season. Much of that was boosted by Cavaliers and (eventual champion) Golden State Warriors telecasts, among others. But live sports events, including NBA games, continue to be a major draw for advertisers.

Diament said the NBA games are not only live and DVR-proof, for the most part, but the audience is younger than both the NFL and college football audiences and is a better target for millennial consumers. Additionally, the fourth quarter is a time when many marketers want to reach consumers for the upcoming holidays, and the Thursday night games are particularly attractive tofor targeting weekend shoppers.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

The defending NBA World champion Golden State Warriors will get plenty of national television exposure this season as the team will appear more than 30 times in live regular season game telecasts on TNT, ESPN, ABC and NBATV.

TNT will tip off its 53-game, 2015-16 NBA regular season telecast schedule Oct. 27 with a doubleheader telecast featuring the Warriors against the New Orleans Pelicans, as well as a LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers matchup with the Chicago Bulls, said network officials.

The network will also showcase a primetime doubleheader on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day ( Jan. 18) featuring a Warriors-Cavaliers NBA Finals rematch, along with a Los Angeles Clippers-Houston Rockets telecast. Overall, the Warriors will appear 10 times on TNT along with the Bulls and the Clippers, according to TNT officials.

The Warriors will also appear on ESPN and ABC 15 times, including in a Dec. 25 NBA Finals rematch with the Cavaliers -- one of five Christmas Day NBA live game telecasts between ESPN and sister broadcast network ABC, according to ESPN.  The cable sports network will kick off its regular season coverage Oct. 28 with a San Antonio Spurs-Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves-Los Angeles Lakers doubleheader telecast.

ABC will launch its new Saturday night package of games Jan. 23 with a Bulls-Cavaliers telecast.  Overall ABC and ESPN will televise 90 games during the 2015-16 NBA season.

NBA TV will televise a network record 31 doubleheaders and one tripleheader as part of its live NBA season coverage, including nine appearances by the Warriors and league MVP Stephen Curry, said network officials.

An average of 6.3 million viewers tuned into TNT Tuesday night to watch LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers sweep the Atlanta Hawks on their way to the NBA Finals, the network said Wednesday.

TNT’s telecast of the fourth game of the NBA Eastern Conference Championships was the most watched sports program of the evening, according to network officials.

Overall, TNT's four-game Eastern Conference finals coverage averaged 6.8 million viewers, up 7% over the network’s comparable Conference Finals telecast last year.

On the social media front, the Cavaliers/Hawks series generated nearly 280 million social media impressions for content published across Turner’s NBA On TNT and NBA TV accounts via Facebook and Twitter, up 108% over the same number of telecasts last year, said TNT.

TNT’s Cleveland Cavaliers-Atlanta Hawks NBA Eastern Conference finals telecast last night scored 6.8 million viewers, the network said Thursday.

The game, which the Cavaliers won to take a 1-0 lead in the best of seven game series, was the highest rated and the most-watched NBA game telecast on the network this season. The 6.8 million viewers was up 8% over the network’s coverage of the first game of the Western Conference finals last year, according to TNT officials.

TNT’s Inside The NBA series averaged a 2.6 overnight rating, ranking it as the second highest-rated program of the night across cable behind the Cavaliers-Hawks telecast.

TNT will air game two of the Eastern Conference Finals Friday from Atlanta.