ESPN and TNT Sports are betting that an NBA playoffs mix of new entrants and traditional powerhouses will help drive viewership of the league’s postseason games. 

Following this week’s play-in tournament, the next phase of the NBA postseason tips off this weekend with all 16 playoff teams playing across TNT, ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. Sports programmers point to the infusion of new teams such as the Oklahoma City Thunder — the top seed in the Western Conference — as well as the Eastern Conference qualifiers Orlando Magic and Indiana Pacers, as an opportunity to draw in new viewers while increasing the interest for hard-core fans. 

Also Read: NHL, NBA Playoffs Begin; Haney-Garcia PPV Boxing Event: What’s on This Weekend in TV Sports 

“The teams that are supposed to be in the playoffs are there, and it should be really competitive,” Warner Bros. Discovery Sports chief content officer Craig Barry said. “It’s great to see new teams like the Orlando Magic start to rise up and to see teams like the New York Knicks back in the playoffs, while still having the defending champion Denver in the mix as the team to beat. It’s great that the league continues to evolve and become more competitive.” 

ESPN head of event and studio production Dave Roberts also said the lineup of playoff teams offers viewers new faces and competitive matchups, particularly in the Western Conference. 

“What’s great about this is you have a host of new stars coming aboard, whether it's Oklahoma City and Minnesota Timberwolves, and of course the Lakers are right there as well,” Roberts said during a recent ESPN NBA Playoffs media conference call. 

The NBA is hoping to top last year’s playoffs audience of 5.4 million viewers across ABC, ESPN and TNT, which was the most-watched playoffs in five years, according to the league.

The league is coming off two straight nights of double-digit ratings increases for the play-in tournament. TNT’s Tuesday night coverage of the Los Angeles Lakers-New Orleans Pelicans and Golden State Warriors-Sacramento Kings telecasts averaged 3.98 million viewers across TNT and TruTV, up 37% from the 2023 play-in games, according to Sports Media Watch. 

Wednesday’s Miami Heat-Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks-Chicago Bulls games on ESPN averaged 3.25 million viewers, up 25% from last year’s play-in games, according to Sports Media Watch.

WBD’s Barry said TNT Sports is up to the task of educating viewers on the new playoff entrants throughout its coverage of the postseason. “We’re in the business of storytelling, so this is an opportunity to tell some fresh stories about some of these teams that are coming into the playoffs,” he said. “We spend so much time talking about the Celtics, Lakers and Warriors, so for our guys it’s a fresh take for them because some of these teams don’t appear on our air too often. This is a great opportunity to breathe in some fresh air with our coverage and watch these very talented teams compete.” 

ABC will tip off coverage of its 21st consecutive NBA Finals tonight with Game 1 between the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat. 

The NBA Finals features the Western Conference champion Nuggets — who are playing in the Finals for the first time in their 47 years in the league — against the Eastern Conference champion Heat, who enter the finals as the first eighth seed since the 1998-99 New York Knicks.

The league heads into the finals on a ratings roll. NBA playoff games averaged 4.7 million viewers across TNT, ESPN and ABC — up 13% from last year and its best performance heading into the finals since 2012, according to Nielsen numbers reported by Sports Business Journal.

The numbers were bolstered by a strong conference finals round that averaged 7.6 million viewers, up 10% from last year. TNT’s May 29 Heat-Boston Celtics Eastern Conference Finals Game 7 telecast led all games with 11.9 million viewers, the most watched conference finals game on the network since TNT’s 2018 Golden State Warriors-Houston Rockets game, according to SBJ. 

Last year’s Celtics-Warriors NBA Finals on ABC averaged 12.7 million viewers.

Veteran NBA announcer Mike Breen will call the games along with analysts Jeff Gundy and Mark Jackson, with Lisa Salters reporting during the telecasts. ABC will deploy 55 total cameras during the finals, including 15 Super Slo-Mo Cameras to capture the action, according to the network. 

ABC's NBA Finals Television Schedule (Start times EST)

June 1 -- Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets, 8:30 pm

June 4 -- Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets, 8:30 pm

June 7 -- Denver Nuggets at Miami Heat, 8:30 pm

June 9 -- Denver Nuggets at Miami Heat, 8:30 pm

June 12 -- Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets, 8:30 pm (If necessary)

June 15 -- Denver Nuggets at Miami Heat, 8:30 (If necessary)

June 18 -- Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets, 8:30 (If necessary)

This weekend’s lineup of live tv sports events starts on the basketball court as the WNBA tips off its 2023 season.

The league, which is coming off a strong ratings run during its 2022 campaign and which welcomes back star Brittney Griner after her detention in a Russian prison, will feature two Saturday games on ABC pitting the Atlanta Dream against the Dallas Wings, and the defending league champions Las Vegas Aces against the Seattle Storm.    

In the NBA, ABC will air Game 3 of the Western Conference championship between the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers, with Denver up two games to none in the series. On Sunday, TNT will air Game 3 of the Boston Celtics-Miami Heat Eastern Conference championship series.

On the ice, TNT will televise Game 2 of the Florida Panthers-Carolina Hurricanes NHL Eastern Conference Finals while ABC on Sunday will air Game 2 of the Dallas Stars-Vegas Golden Knights Western Conference Finals. 

In the boxing ring, ESPN Plus Saturday will distribute a pay-per-view card headlined by the Devin Haney-Vasiliy Lomachenko undisputed lightweight championship fight. ESPN Plus will also distribute a Saturday UFC Fight Night card featuring a main event women’s strawweight bout between Mackenzie Dern and Angela Hill. 

On the baseball diamond, Peacock on Sunday will stream the New York Yankees-Cincinnati Reds game, while ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast will pit  the Cleveland Indians against the New York Mets. 

ESPN and CBS will offer final round weekend coverage of the PGA Championship golf tournament, while Fox on Sunday will air the Professional Bowlers Association’s Super Slam Cup tournament. 

On the football field, week six of the USFL season kicks off Saturday with USA Network's telecast of the Pittsburgh Maulers-Memphis Showboats game while Fox airs the Birmingham Stallions-Michigan Panthers matchup. Sunday’s action includes FS1’s New Orleans Breakers-Philadelphia Stars telecast and Fox’s New Jersey Generals-Houston Gamblers game. 

On the track, NBC on Saturday will air The Preakness Stakes, the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown. 

Jettisoned by Comcast and Dish Network in 2019, regional sports network Altitude Sports has faced a tough climb in the Mile High City, where Comcast is the dominant cable provider. 

On Thursday, Altitude Sports -- the exclusive RSN home of the NBA's Denver Nuggets and NHL's Colorado Avalanche -- signed a carriage agreement with virtual pay TV service fubo TV, which will run the channel in 10 Rocky Mountain-centric and adjacent states: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Northern New Mexico, Northeast Nevada and Southwest South Dakota.

The inclusion of a virtual MVPD to its carriage portfolio adds to distribution Altitude already has on Charter Communications linear cable outside the Denver region, as well as on DirecTV linear satellite and the IP-delivered DirecTV Stream. 

Notably, Altitude is also available via ATSC 3.0-based pay TV service Evoca, which also delivers AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, home of Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies, in an ultra-skinny bundle of mainly broadcast channels and RSNs delivered for only $25 a month. 

RSN Finds a Way

Certainly, the ability to tie themselves to lucrative RSN contracts can make the difference between boon or bust for pro sports teams and collegiate athletic conferences. 

In Next TV's home market, the Los Angeles Dodgers have thrived on a 25-year, $8.35 billion contract signed with the erstwhile Time Warner Cable in 2013 for carriage on SportsNet LA, now owned by Charter Communications. The Dodgers, which just finished with an all-time National League best 110 wins, have made the postseason 10 consecutive seasons, with the team able to withstand sizable luxury tax penalties each year. 

Conversely, the lightly regarded Pac-12 network -- available only via fubo TV and Sling TV in the all-important Southern California market -- has been signaled out as catalyst for a decision made by lynchpin Pac-12 schools USC and UCLA to leave the conference in 2024 and head to the Big Ten, a league far more flush with RSN coin. 

In August, the Big Ten Network signed a new carriage deal that will net its 16 constituents more than $1 billion dollars a year. 

Conversely, the Pac-12 Network earned only $43 million in the COVID-impacted 2020 collegiate athletic season after generating $118 million in 2019. The RSN hopes to up its revenue with its own pending new TV deal, but that will likely look nothing like the largesse negotiated by the Big Ten or SEC. 

With national TV deals with Fox Sports and ESPN factored in, all told, the Pac-12's media efforts generated only $30 million for the conference's 12 programs in 2022.

It's no wonder that UCLA, which recently reported debt of $102.8 million for its athletic department, agreed to join USC in making a radical shift in conference affiliation. 

Big Clients Call for Creative Distribution

Owned by Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, Altitude Sports recently lost distribution of Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids, after MLS signed a 10-year deal with Apple TV. 

Indeed, the tech giants pose a grave competitive risk for regional sports channels, as the pay TV ecosystem dwindles. Their distribution partners may not be willing to pay more, but their league and team constituents are beginning to have more TV revenue options. 

Next TV couldn't find program licensing information for the Nuggets, a perennial NBA playoff contender featuring back-to-back MVP winner Nikola Jokić, and the Avalanche, which are coming off the franchise's third Stanley Cup win in June. 

Suffice it to say that with both franchises at the top of their respective games, Altitude Sports needs to keep its head and revenue up. 

FuboTV said it reached a carriage deal with Altitude Sports which will enable it to stream games of the Denver Nuggets and the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche.

Altitude Sports has been blacked out on Comcast Cable since 2019.

The regional sports network will be available on FuboTV in 10 Rocky Mountain states just before the starts of the NBA and NHL seasons. 

Altitude will have 74 regular-season games from the NBA’s Nuggets and 69 regular-season Avalanche NHL games. It also will have Colorado Mammoth lacrosse games.

Financial terms were not disclosed. 

“We’re thrilled to expand FuboTV’s leading sports coverage with the addition of Altitude Sports and bring fans of the Colorado Avalanche, Denver Nuggets and Colorado Mammoth an affordable streaming option in the seasons ahead,” said Todd Mathers, senior VP, content strategy and acquisition, FuboTV. “FuboTV is a leading choice for hometown sports, alongside our national and international sports coverage. Today’s distribution partnership means fans across the Rockies will be able to stream all available home games for some of the most loved teams in the region.”

FuboTV now carries a dozen regional sports networks in its base package. It streams more than 50,000 live sporting events annually. 

“We couldn’t be more excited that Altitude Sports will be added to FuboTV’s Pro Package,” said Matt Hutchings, president and CEO of KSE Media Ventures. “FuboTV becomes the newest streaming option for our fans as we continue to expand Altitude’s distribution throughout the Rocky Mountain Region. Best of all, FuboTV values those fans and provides them a great option for following their hometown teams.” ■

Altitude Sports Tuesday waived its local exclusivity rights to telecast Denver Nuggets and Denver Avalanche first-round playoff games, allowing fans without access to the network to watch national telecasts of the games.

While Altitude will still produce and air all Nuggets first-round playoff games, it will allow TNT or ESPN to also televise those same post-season games in the market to subscribers of MVPD’s such as Comcast and Dish who don’t have carriage deals with the sports network, Altitude president Matt Hutchings said. NBA first-round playoff games begin Aug. 17.

“Our fans have been ignored and dismissed by both Comcast and DISH Network continuing to blackout their hometown Network,” Hutchings said in a statement.

The same situation also applies to Avalanche NHL first round playoff games, which began this week. Attitude along with NBC Sports will provide coverage of the  Avalanche-Arizona Coyotes series throughout the market.

“We have never wanted our fans to miss a minute of action during Nuggets and Avalanche playoff runs,” said Hutchings. “The relationships with the NBA and NHL allow the playoff runs for our teams to be watched by all of our fans.”

Regional sports network Altitude Sports and Entertainment made good on its promise that Dish Network customers would be without its Colorado sports team coverage unless its carriage deal was renewed by midnight, going dark to the satellite TV service’s subscribers as the clock struck 12 on Aug. 29.

The blackout affected Dish customers in nine states -- Colorado, Utah, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Altitude Sports and Entertainment is owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, the sports team and arena vehicle of billionaire Stan Kroenke. Altitude carries games from the NHL Colorado Avalanche, the NBA Denver Nuggets, Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids, the National Lacrosse League’s Colorado Mammoth and college sports from the University of Denver. On Wednesday, the channel warned it could go dark at midnight Wednesday if a deal with Dish isn’t reached. The channel also has renewal agreements with DirecTV and Comcast that expire on Saturday (Aug. 31). 

The blackout comes as preseason games for the Avalanche (Sept. 17) and the Nuggets (Oct. 8) draw near. 

In a press release Thursday, Dish blamed the blackout on Altitude’s demand that a new deal includes a guaranteed minimum of subscribers, as well as high affiliate fees.

“This comes down to Altitude demanding payment on a guaranteed minimum number of customers,” said Dish senior vice president of programming Andy LeCuyer in a press release. “We’re no longer going to support the broken regional sports TV business model that seeks to have the majority of pay-TV customers pay for the few who watch.”

Dish directed customers to its DishPromise.com website for more information.

According to Altitude, Dish, DirecTV and Comcast have carried the RSN for 15 years, but despite the network’s good-faith efforts to negotiate, the distributors “want to play by their own rules and are making unrealistic demands on Altitude. Their actions will affect hundreds of thousands of regional sports fans and negatively impact hundreds of local businesses that continue to support their home teams.”

This is the second regional sports network to go dark for Dish customers. In July, 15 Fox RSNs and the YES Network went dark after Dish could not reach a deal. Dish chairman Charlie Ergen warned that unless a compromise is made, the Fox RSNs may never be carried by the satellite TV service provider. 

Dish also is in negotiations with Disney regarding five networks -- FX, FXX, FXM, National Geographic and National Geographic WILD -- that were scheduled to go dark on Aug. 28. Disney granted Dish an extension to avoid a blackout, and sources said talks were progressing. 

 Altitude Sports & Entertainment veteran Ben Boylan has been elevated to president of the regional sports network. 

Boylan, who has been with the RSN home to the NBA Denver Nuggets and NHL Colorado Avalanche since its launch a decade ago,  will oversee television operations, including production, programming, creative services, marketing, and distribution efforts. Additionally, Boylan will also oversee all Nuggets and Avalanche radio operations.

At the RSN, he succeeds Kim Carver, who last month announced that she would be departing KSE Media Ventures, where she served as president and CEO of Altitude and president of World Fishing Network. 

Boylan has been with Altitude Sports since its bow in 2004. Over the past two years, he has served as  senior vice president of media sales, focusing on sponsorship sales for the Nuggets and  Avalanche, for the Denver-based RSN that counts some 3.1 million homes in 10 states. Boylan started with Altitude as the network's local sales manager in 2004 and was promoted to general sales manager in 2005.

Boylan began his career at KOA Radio in 1986 in promotions, followed by talk show producer, before moving on to advertising sales. Boylan transitioned to Prime Sports Net as an account executive in 1991, which later became Fox Sports Network. He was promoted to local sales manager and national sales manager during his 13 years with Fox.

 “We’re excited to have someone who has seen the progression of our business from the beginning elevate to the position of president, KSE Media Ventures president and CEO Matt Hutchings. “With over 25 years of experience in the industry, Ben is uniquely positioned to take us to the next level.”

Noted Boylan: “I am humbled by this opportunity.  It’s an honor to lead this incredible group and I look forward to building upon the solid foundation of our team programming as well as the Altitude brand.”

In the wake of Carver’s departure, Jim Liberatore was named president and CEO of World Fishing Network. Liberatore remains CEO of Outdoor Channel, the outdoor lifestyle network owned by KSE Media Ventures, a unit of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, the Denver-based sports conglomerate owned by billionaire Stan Kroenke. KSE owns half of the dedicated angling lifestyle service.

http://www.multichannel.com/news/people/liberatore-named-world-fishing-net-ceo/385836