Netflix will launch a new sports documentary series in October featuring a behind-the-scenes look at five NBA players during the 2023-24 season. 

The 10-episode documentary series, Starting Five, follows the on and off-the-court lives of the Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler, the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards, the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James, the Sacramento Kings’ Domantas Sabonis, and the Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum throughout the 2023-24 regular season and playoffs, according to the streaming service. “The series captures all five athletes in their battles on and off the court as they chase greatness, push through injuries, and balance the demands of family and legacy,” Netflix said. 

James’ Uninterrupted production company will produce the series along with Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground and Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions. Executive producers include James, the Obamas, Manning, Maverick Carter, Jamal Henderson, Philip Byron, Randy Mims, Vinnie Malhotra, Ethan Lewis, Jamie Horowitz and Sam Pepper.

Starting 5 continues Netflix’s move into the sports documentary arena, which includes such series as Quarterback, Formula 1: Drive to Survive, and Simone Biles Rising. 

With the 2024 Summer Olympics set to begin next month, History Channel turns back the clock to the 1936 Summer Games and the historical achievements of sprinter Jesse Owens in a new documentary, Jesse Owens and the Berlin Olympics, now streaming on History.com.

The documentary, produced by NBA All-Star LeBron James’ The SpringHill Company and narrated by actor Don Cheadle, explores the Gold medal-winning Owens’ athletic triumph over Hitler’s Aryan supremacy agenda during the 1936 Olympics. 

Jesse Owens and the Berlin Olympics director Andre Gaines talked to Multichannel News about the significance of Owens’ Olympics triumph and its relevance to a new generation of viewers. Gaines, who is developing a film about the late ESPN anchor Stuart Scott, also talks about the burgeoning sports documentary film genre in the interview, an lightly edited version of which appears below. 

Multichannel News: How did you come to develop the documentary with LeBron’s SpringHill Company? 

Andre Gaines: This is actually the second film that we produced with LeBron James – the last film that we did together was a film called After Jackie about a group of baseball players that came after Jackie Robinson, which we wanted to do leading into the [75th] anniversary of Robinson breaking the color barrier. I think the same is somewhat true here where we're heading into a brand new Olympic cycle, so it just made sense to try to tell the story of Jesse Owens and what he really did in Germany in 1936. I also think this was a real opportunity for us to be able to tell a full-bodied story about the man who, in many regards, is relegated to his accomplishments of winning four gold medals in 1936. There's just so much more, and it's a much more complicated and triumphant story than that.

MCN: What do you hope viewers take from the documentary? 

AG: I think that perseverance is the key thing to take away. We're not all gifted with being the fastest man on the planet or being the best at anything on the planet, but we all have our own set of challenges and trials in the way of accomplishing our goals and our dreams. Jesse Owens left his wife and new baby in Jim Crow America to go over to Nazi-occupied Germany at the age of 21 and won four gold medals in front of the greatest evil that the world has ever known in Hitler. It's exactly the type of will and determination that we could all aspire to, and even if we took one-tenth of what he provided us, we could all use that in our lives and accomplish great things.

MCN: What did LeBron James and SpringHill bring to the table for the documentary? 

AG: The Jesse Owens conversation was something that we started immediately after the last film. He's got an incredible team, and he himself is a staunch advocate of so many different causes, political prowess and things of this nature. It’s wonderful to actually have a partner who likes to be intellectually challenged, educated, and entertained all at once. We were glad to be working with them again.

MCN: Are we in a golden age of sports documentary filmmaking given the multitude of distribution outlets and the demand from viewers for such content? 

AG: I think it’s a wonderful time to be able to tell stories in general, whether they're narrative films, documentary films, news stories or short films. There are so many more outlets to bring these stories to an audience. You can reach a global audience in a way that you couldn't do before just with cable or network television. That's really where the opportunity lies, and one that we've taken great advantage of over time.

A+E Networks said Domino’s will be the marquee sponsor of The History Channel’s original documentary about Jesse Owens that will appear Wednesday on Juneteenth.

The documentary, Triumph: Jesse Owens and the Berlin Olympics, is executive produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s Uninterrupted and Cinemation Studios in association with GroupM Motion Entertainment.

The sponsorship was arranged through GroupM Motion Entertainment's Diverse Voices Accelerator.

Actor Don Cheadle narrates the doc, which tells the story of Jesse Owens’s legendary triumph at the 1936 Olympics, which were hosted by Adoph Hitler’s Germany.

Before the Olympics, Owens broke four world records within 45 minutes at a Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Domino’s is based.

“The History Channel is proud to amplify the remarkable story of Jesse Owens with the powerful upcoming documentary and this incredible partnership with Domino’s and GroupM Motion Entertainment,” Peter Olsen, president of ad sales for A+E Networks, said. “Celebrating diverse stories and voices in front of and behind the camera remains a priority across all our platforms and this sponsorship reflects that.”

This project is the second between A+E Networks and GroupM Motion Entertainment as part of the DVA, with Domino’s support. Last year, they teamed up on 761st Tank Battalion: the Original Black Panthers. 

“The commitment to diversity and uplifting underrepresented voices is a priority for GroupM and our clients,” Chet Fenster, chief content officer for GroupM Motion Entertainment, said. “We are proud to continue to work with brands to find solutions that support equity in entertainment.” 

History will team with LeBron James’s The SpringHill Co. to chronicle Jesse Owens’ historic performance in the 1936 Berlin Olympics as part of a documentary set to debut June 19, according to a new trailer.

The documentary, Triumph: Jesse Owens and the Berlin Olympics, showcases the U.S. Olympic sprinter’s dominance during the 1936 games, winning four gold medals while triumphing over Adolf Hitler's Aryan supremacy agenda, according to the network. 

The two-hour project, narrated by Don Cheadle and inspired by Jeremy Schapp’s book Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics, will feature archival Olympic footage and interviews from Owens, his family members, journalists, historians and other athletes, said the network.

Triumph: Jesse Owens and the Berlin Olympics is the first of a three-part development deal between the network and SpringHill that will prioritize largely unknown historical stories that put diverse changemakers at the forefront of each narrative, according to History.

Along with James and Cheadle, the documentary is executive produced by Maverick Carter, Jamal Henderson, Philip Byron, Andre Gaines, Richard Foster, Chet Fenster, Eli Lehrer and Jennifer Wagman.

CNN has teamed with LeBron James’s The SpringHill Co. to develop a docuseries on the history of black television, debuting July 9.

The five-part See It Loud: The History of Black Television will celebrate the achievements of Black actors and creators, while examining the historical impact Black culture has had on all culture, according to the network. The series looks at Black television's origins through such series and sitcoms as the The Jeffersons and dramas like Roots, and explores emerging opportunities for Black voices in sci-fi, horror and unscripted genres, said CNN. 

See It Loud: The History of Black Television will feature appearances by Anika Noni Rose, Debbie Allen, Gabrielle Union, Jimmie Walker, Lynn Whitfield, Mo’Nique, Omari Hardwick, Tatyana Ali, Tisha Campbell and Vivica A. Fox, said CNN.

The series is executive produced by James, Maverick Carter, Amy Entelis, Lyle Gamm, Jodi Gomes, Jamal Henderson and Philip Byron.

The live TV sports lineup for the first weekend of February starts on the ice and the gridiron as the National Hockey League and the National Football League play their respective All-Star contests.

On Saturday ABC will feature the NHL All-Star Game from South Florida featuring a total of 44 players from the NHL’s four divisions. On Sunday, the National Football League gathers its best players for the NFL Pro Bowl All-Star competition in Las Vegas on ABC. This year for the first time the league’s All-Stars will participate in a series of flag football games.

On the pro basketball court, ESPN2 on Saturday afternoon will air the Los Angeles Lakers-New Orleans Pelicans matchup as Lakers’ star LeBron James moves closer to breaking the all-time NBA scoring record held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  TNT will also televise Tuesday's Lakers-Oklahoma City Thunder game and Thursday's Lakers-Milwaukee Bucks games. 

ABC on Saturday night will air the Dallas Mavericks-Golden State Warriors game, while on Sunday ESPN will air the Philadelphia 76’ers-New York Knicks contest. 

Also on Sunday Fox will rev up the upcoming NASCAR season with a live telecast of the NASCAR Cup Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum in Los Angeles.

USA, Peacock and NBC will offer nine Premier League games over the weekend.

Saturday’s schedule of Top ten-ranked men’s college basketball teams includes top-ranked Purdue meeting Indiana on ESPN, second-ranked Tennessee against No. 25 Auburn on ESPN, fourth–ranked Alabama facing LSU on ESPNU and fifth-ranked Arizona playing Oregon State on the Pac 12 Network. 

Other games include No. 6 Virginia-Virginia Tech (ESPN2), No. 7 Kansas State-No. 10 Texas (ESPN2), No. 8 Kansas-No. 13 Iowa State (ESPN) and No. 9 UCLA-Washington State (Pac-12 Network).■ 

Amazon Prime Video said LeBron James, Maverick Carter and Paul Rivera of Uninterrupted's The Shop will host an alternative feed for its NFL Thursday Night Football games.

TNF in The Shop, starting November 17 when the Tennessee Titans play the Green Bay Packers, looks like Amazon’s answer to ESPN’s popular Manningcast, where Peyton and Eli Manning host an alternative feed for Monday Night Football on ESPN2.

Amazon already offers several alternative feeds on Thursday night, including TNF with Dude Perfect, TNF with Storm & Kremer, TNF en Español and Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats.

Also Read: Amazon’s Marie Donoghue on How the Streamer Plans to Score Subs with Live Sports

“We are incredibly excited to welcome The Shop to the Thursday Night Football family and work alongside Uninterrupted to deliver a new viewing experience for fans of both the NFL and The Shop,” said Amina Hussein, head of talent, Prime Video Sports. "Each week, Thursday Night Football brings together friends and family to watch and engage with the teams and players they love. With ‘TNF in The Shop,’ we are honored to deepen that fan experience through organic, authentic conversation, and look forward to its premiere on November 17.”

TNF in The Shop will aim to capture the flavor of The Shop, which moved from HBO to Interrupted's YouTube channel, and captures conversations among athletes, musical performers, politicians and other cultural figures.

James, Carter and Rivera plan to have guests on the show, creating a watch-party atmosphere. James’s Los Angeles Lakers don’t have a Thursday NBA game until late January, freeing up the pro-hoops star to watch football.  ■

The History Channel in collaboration with LeBron James will celebrate the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier as part of a documentary debuting June 18 that looks at the plight of black ballplayers entering the league after Robinson.

The documentary, After Jackie, examines the often overlooked story of the second wave of talented Black baseball players including Bill White, Curt Flood and Bob Gibson who were up next in the fight for racial equality, said the network. 

The documentary features interviews with White, Gibson, CC Sabathia, Mookie Betts, Ken Griffey Jr., Joe Torre, Dave Roberts, Al Downing and Tim McCarver as they help shed light on black baseball players following Robinson into the league that put their lives on the line to integrate baseball and demand a fairer and more inclusive America for African American athletes around the world, said the network. 

After Jackie is executive produced by James, Maverick Carter, Jamal Henderson, Philip Byro, Stanley Nelson, Andre Gaines, Eli Lehrer, Jim Pasquarella and Nick Trotta. ■ 

HBO will debut a new episode of its sports/pop culture talk show The Shop: Uninterrupted on Aug. 27.

The show, executive produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter, will feature as guests actor Jason Sudeikis, NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony, rapper Jack Harlow, actor/producer Keegan-Michael key, WNBA All-Star Liz Cambage and SpringHill Company chief marketing officer Paul Rivera, said the network. 

Episode topics include anecdotes on being famous, balancing egos and dealing with the Olympic experience as an athlete, according to HBO

Along with James and Carter, The Shop: Uninterrupted is executive produced by Jamal Henderson, Devin Johnson and Philip Byron.

Nickelodeon will team with Awesomeness Films and LeBron James’ SpringHill Company to produce a new original film, Fantasy Football, the companies said Monday.

The film, produced by and starring Marsai Martin (Black-ish), follows a 15-year old girl who discovers she can control her pro football player dad’s prowess on the field through her video game, said Nickelodeon.

SpringHill and Martin's Genius Entertainment will serve as executive producers of the film, which will debut on Paramount Plus in 2022.

Also slated to debut next year on the streaming service is Nickelodeon and Awesomeness Films’ Hush Hush, a film adaptation of the young adult novels written by Becca Fitzpatrick. The films follows a 16-year old high school student who falls for a new student and unwittingly get caught in the crosshairs of an ancient battle between fallen angels and the immortal, said Nick. 

Nickelodeon and Awesomeness Films Studio head Syrinthia Studer said in making the announcement:  “With the continuing growth of Nickelodeon and Awesomeness’s live-action film studio business, we are curating a slate of aspirational, heartfelt films for everyone. From the fantasy and romance themes found in Hush Hush, to the love of sport and family captured in Fantasy Football, we can’t wait to entertain audiences everywhere with new YA and family stories about what they already love.”

TV networks will recognize the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre with several documentaries that reflect on one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history. 

Cable and broadcast networks such as CNN, History, National Geographic and PBS will debut over the next few weeks documentaries and specials that document the events surrounding the 1921 massacre, in which a white mob burned down a wealthy Black-owned stretch of businesses and homes in the Greenwood section of Tulsa. As many as 300 Black people were killed and more than 1,200 Black-owned homes and businesses were destroyed during the two-day massacre, which has  mostly been ignored by historians until recently. 

DeNeen Brown, Washington Post writer whose reporting is at the center of National Geographic’s Rise Again: Tulsa and Red Summer and PBS’ Fire and Forgotten documentaries, says the massacre’s depiction through such scripted series as HBO’s Lovecraft Country and Watchman has helped bring attention to the massacre. As more people become aware of the tragedy -- and as the country continues to discuss issues revolving around race and inequality in the wake of the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death -- the more they want to know more about it. 

"I think the reason we’re seeing so much media interest around the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre is that it is one of the worst incidents of racial terror violence committed against Black people in U.S. history," Brown said. "For nearly 100 years, the massacre was deliberately covered up, kept out of textbooks and erased from history. Historians told me that for almost a century, civic and city officials in Tulsa orchestrated a deliberate campaign of silence."

The documentaries have also attracted such celebrities as NBA All-Stars LeBron James and Russell Westbrook, who serve as executive producers of CNN’s Dreamland: The Burning of Black Wall Street and History’s Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre, respectively. 

Read Also: Programming Review: History's 'Tulsa Massacre' Spotlights a Forgotten Tragedy

Below is a partial list and premiere dates of documentary chronicling the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre:

May 30 -- Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre -- History 

May 31 -- Dreamland: The Burning of Black Wall Street -- CNN

May 31 -- Tulsa: The Fire and the Forgotten -- PBS

June 1 -- The Legacy of Black Wall Street -- OWN

June 18 -- Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer -- National Geographic

YouTube announced new projects at the Brandcast Delivered event. They include an unscripted series following Will Smith on his fitness journey, an Alicia Keys docuseries and a Migos-produced series that explores racial inequality through the lens of hip-hop jewelry. 

Will Smith project Best Shape of My Life (working title) has six parts and sees Smith try to rebuild his middle-aged body “into the best shape of his life,” said YouTube, while “getting his groove back along the way.” 

Westbrook Media and YouTube Originals produce. Dexton Deboree is the showrunner. YouTube called the series “fun, funny, inspirational, wildly adventurous, and deeply entertaining.” 

It premieres next year. 

Alicia Keys series Noted (working title) premieres this summer. Ramping up to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Songs in a Minor and preparing to record her eighth album, Keys lets fans peer into her world. 

There are four parts. Westbrook Media produces. 

Ice Cold, about hip-hop jewelry and racial inequality, has four parts and premieres this summer. 

Migos executive produces. Quality Films, Universal Music Group’s Mercury Studios and Polygram Entertainment, MGX Creative and Mass Appeal produce. 

Recipe for Change (working title) premieres June 16. Asian-American storytellers bring together celebrities, chefs, activists, and creators to celebrate Asian and Pacific Islander culture and discuss the recent acts of hate and violence against the community. 

LeBron James and Maverick Carter executive produce on behalf of SpringHill Company. Michelle Kwan and Dennis Cheng also executive produce alongside Jamal Henderson and Philip Byron of the SpringHill Company, showrunner Joel Relampagos, and director Rich Kim.

Barbershop Medicine premieres this summer. The special explores the impact race and socio-economic status have on healthcare and longevity. Musical artist Masego, physicians Dr. Italo Brown and Dr. Jamie Rutland and community members in a storied barbershop come together to discuss health issues. 

Barbershop Medicine is executive produced by Charles D. King, Marta Fernandez, Jelani Johnson and Aisha Corpas Wynn for MACRO Television Studios and Culture House. Hashim Williams is executive producer and showrunner.

Season three of Liza on Demand premieres later this year. Liza Koshy stars in this series about the misadventures of 20somethings. Koshy executive produces with Courtney Carter, Deborah Kaplan, Harry Elfont, Marc Lieberman, Ally Engelberg, Caroline Miller and Elliot Glazer.

Season two of Could You Survive the Movies premieres this summer. Jake Roper hosts. 

Susanne Daniels is global head of original content for YouTube. Alex Piper is head of unscripted for YouTube Originals and Nadine Zylstra is head of family, learning and impact.

 BET has picked up rights to the first season of the LeBron James-produced basketball comedy Survivor’s Remorse.

BET and BET Her will air the first season of the series -- which ran on Starz from 2014 to 2017 -- beginning April 21, according to the network. The series follows the life of basketball star Cam Calloway and his family after he signs a pro-basketball contract and moves his family to Atlanta.

Survivor’s Remorse stars Jessie T. Usher, RonReaco Lee, Erica Ash, Teyonah Parris, Tichina Arnold, and Mike Epps.

Read Also: Starz Shows Power of Diversity

Amazon’s free-to-stream IMDb TV platform has announced the green-lighting of its latest original show, a six-part documentary about Southern California's star-studded Sierra Canyon High School basketball team, executive produced by one of the players’ celebrity dads, LeBron James, and his production partner, Maverick Carter. 

Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers will chronicle the team’s quest in 2019-20--against all odds!--to win a third consecutive California state high school basketball championship, as well as the players’ trials and tribulations in what Amazon bills as “one of the most academically elite high schools in the country.”

Also Read: IMDb TV: Everything You Need to Know About the Fast-Growing Free, Ad-Supported Side of Amazon’s Streaming Business

That Sierra Canyon team not only included James’ son, Bronny, but also Zaire Wade, son of another future NBA Hall of Famer, Dwyane Wade. Also featured was Shy Odom, son of two-time NBA champion and former L.A. Lakers Sixth Man of the Year Lamar Odom. And if that team wasn't stacked enough, it also featured: Zaire Williams, who went on to play at Stanford; and BJ Boston, currently playing for the University of Kentucky. 

Yeah, youth and prep sports can be just a little overwrought in Los Angeles and the tony surrounding suburban enclaves that house retired pro sports legends.

The series arrives under the “UNINTERRUPTED” production banner, which exists under James and Carter’s SpringHill Company shingle.  

Also Read: MDb TV Expands Amazon Studios Originals Ties, Adds Two Docu-series

“Like millions of fans around the world, we were riveted by the Trailblazers’ dynamic and exceptional journey last season,” said Lauren Anderson, co-head of content and programming for IMDb TV, in a statement. Telling a story beyond sports and highlighting how the team’s intelligence and competitive streak seamlessly transfer to the classroom, the docu-series captures the devotion, resilience, and raw emotion experienced by the players, coaches, and families through every setback and victory—both on and off the court.”

In November, IMDb TV premiered the spy thriller Alex Rider, an original series based on Anthony Horowitz’s best-selling book franchise. Other previously announced originals coming to IMDb TV include the true-crime docu-series Moment of Truth; a reimagining of the crime drama Leverage; the second season of Alex Rider; and the Untitled Judge Judy Sheindlin Project, the streaming debut for no-nonsense, expeditious Judge Sheindlin and her signature adjudication style.

The NBA Friday released the television schedule for the first half of its 2020-21 season, including its Christmas and Martin Luther King Jr. holiday lineup of games.

ESPN and ABC will televise a total of 49 games during the first half of the season, which begins Dec. 22. The schedule includes five Christmas Day games --  New Orleans Pelicans-Miami Heat; Golden State Warriors-Milwaukee Bucks; Brooklyn Nets-Boston Celtics; Dallas Mavericks-Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers-Denver Nuggets. ABC will air five primetime Saturday night games through Feb. 27, beginning Jan. 30 with the Lakers-Celtics game.

TNT will air 36 games through Feb. 27, including a Dec. 22 opening night doubleheader featuring the Warriors and Nets, followed by Lakers-Clippers. TNT’s three-game Martin Luther King Jr. holiday lineup includes Warriors-Lakers, Phoenix Suns-Memphis Grizzlies and Bucks-Nets.

Related: NBA to Start New Season in September

NBA TV will air 61 live games during the first half of the season, beginning with a Dec. 26 tripleheader featuring the Grizzlies-Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers-New York Knicks, Houston Rockets-Portland Trailblazers games. 

The schedule for the second half of the season will be released at a later date, according to the league, which will play a truncated 72 game schedule due to the pandemic. 

Former President Barack Obama will appear on the latest edition of HBO's sports talk show series The Shop: Uninterrupted, the network said Tuesday.

Obama will appear with series producers LeBron James and Maverick Carter on the Oct. 30 episode of the series, which offers unfiltered conversation and debate with athletes, celebrities and politicians, said the network. 

HBO will make the episode available to non-HBO subscribers from Oct. 31 to Nov. 28  
at www.HBO.com, www.YouTube.com/HBO, www.HBOMax.com and www.YouTube.com/HBOMax, said the network. 

“Two years ago, LeBron and Maverick created a unique forum with The Shop" said Nina Rosenstein, Executive Vice President, HBO Programming in a statement. “Their conversation with President Obama is candid, compelling and urgently relevant.”

Showtime has a short feature series from the makers of Shut Up and Dribble, including LeBron James and Maverick Carter of The SpringHill Company. There are six parts, ranging from 5 to 7 minutes, and they are voiced by Jemele Hill. 

The series “features bonus footage and never-before-seen elements from the original series, which spotlights the changing role of basketball and its athletes in advancing social justice and civil rights,” said Showtime. 

The first video is here. Each will be released on the Showtime Basketball YouTube channel and will air interstitially on Showtime over the next two weeks. 

“During the making of Shut Up and Dribble, this talented team of filmmakers produced a vast array of important and powerful material spanning decades,” said Stephen Espinoza, president and general manager of sports and event programming, Showtime Networks Inc. “Unfortunately, not all of that material fit into the original three-hour series. Today, we revisit this material and highlight some of the more relevant and timely unaired segments so that we might, in a small way, contribute the ongoing social justice conversation and help shape our path forward.”

The videos share insights from Craig Hodges’ failed protest following the Rodney King incident and Oscar Robertson’s landmark demand for free agency and social change, among other topics. Kendrick Lamar, Bob Costas, Arsenio Hall, Jesse Jackson, Mark Cuban, Adam Silver and Steve Kerr lend their voices. 

Shut Up and Dribble debuted in November 2018. It is available on demand and will air Saturday, Oct. 10, starting at 1 p.m. ET/PT. 

The National Football League kicks off its 2020 season tonight (Sept. 10) with NBC’s live coverage of Houston Texans-Kansas City Chiefs game, adding to what is emerging as a cornucopia of live sports content for fans to watch on broadcast and cable networks during the fourth quarter as the entertainment industry continues to recover from the COVID-19 outbreak.

The next few months will be an exhilarating and exhausting period for sports fans and network sports producers as the NBA Finals, NHL Stanley Cup finals, baseball’s playoffs and World Series, The PGA Masters Tournament, the Preakness Stakes -- the third leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown races -- and live NFL and college football regular season games are all scheduled to hit the field. That doesn't include the numerous live boxing, mixed martial arts, tennis and other pro sports events that are also set for action through the end of the year. 

With the launch of the traditional fall broadcast television season mostly on hold due to the pandemic-delayed production of scripted series, networks will lean on those live sports events to help fill the original programming void in primetime.

Just this past Sunday, three of the four major broadcast networks featured live sports programming in a primetime block usually reserved for new, original entertainment content. ABC aired the Houston Rockets-Los Angeles Lakers NBA Western Conference Semifinal game; NBC offered the first game of the Dallas Stars-Vegas Golden Knights NHL Western Conference Finals and Fox stepped into the boxing ring for a live fight card. Ratings have at least been solid and in some cases show there was pent-up demand: NBA games in primetime after the July restart were 80% ahead of the viewing before the March shutdown, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“Usually everybody in the sports business works hard not to have major sports events bump into one another,” said sports analyst Lee Berke. “It’s going to be less so this year because of the pandemic. At the same time you’re going to have primetime nights of the week that are going to be bereft of original programming if not for sports.” 

The sports schedule is getting so packed for NBC that it will move a Sept. 19 Notre Dame-South Florida primetime telecast to sister cable service USA Network so it can televise a live NHL Stanley Cup playoff game.

Berke says while the glut of sports programming could dampen ratings for some live sports events, he believes there is a huge audience of sports fans willing to watch the games, particularly events that feature familiar and popular players and teams. 

“I think there is a big enough audience for all of it,” he said. “Some events will suffer, particularly if the events don’t have stars in place, but the flip side is the cupboard is bare on the entertainment side. You’ll have a much broader audience that will tune into live sports for the foreseeable future.”

HBO will premiere a new episode of its sports/entertainment talk series The Shop: Uninterrupted this Friday (Oct. 25.) 

The new installment of the LeBron James/Maverick Carter-hosted series will feature such guests as California Governor Gavin Newsom, Diddy, Rich Paul, DeMar DeRozan, Rick Rubin, Bill Hader, Jerrod Carmichael and Paul Rivera.

 The HBO series offers unfiltered conversation and debate from the biggest names in sports and entertainment, according to the network.  

This past March, then-Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown appeared on HBO’s sports documentary series The Shop: Uninterrupted, where he sounded off on Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. The outspoken wide receiver took issue with Roethlisberger’s assertion in the mainstream press that Brown incorrectly ran a pass route that forced a critical interception during a late-season game.

“We lose a game … [Antonio Brown] should have run a better route,” Brown said, paraphrasing Roethlisberger’s comments. “He feels like he’s the owner … but he threw that sh-t to the [opponent’s] d-line.”

Two weeks later, Brown was traded to the Oakland Raiders. While Brown’s appearance on the show didn’t directly force the trade, the HBO show executive-produced by NBA superstar LeBron James — which takes place in a barbershop and provides celebrities with a raw, unfiltered forum to share their views on everything from game action to politics — offered a platform for Brown to express his feelings, for better or worse, regarding his relationship with the Steelers.

The Shop, now in its second season, is one of several sports documentaries and series executive-produced by pro athletes on linear channels and streaming services that provide a pro player’s unflinching perspective on issues both on and off the field — views that previously were rarely seen on the small screen.

Athletes Talk Back

“For centuries, it had been one way: the public would watch athletes perform; the press would dissect athletes’ lives; and owners would decide their fate,” said Peter Nelson, executive vice president of HBO Sports. “We are now seeing athletes taking some ownership back of their narratives.”

Indeed, athletes — who had already been utilizing social media to speak directly to fans — are now using mainstream television channels to get their messages to the public and past the echo chambers of the sports media and the leagues. And they’re not afraid to speak their minds about the state of sports or the country.

“I don’t think we can expect that any longer sports and politics or sports and society will not intersect,” Showtime Networks president of sports and event programming Stephen Espinoza said. ”They have always intersected — maybe we have not been able to acknowledge and realize it — but I think in today’s times, they are interwoven to a point that they’re inseparable.”

Sometimes the narrative goes beyond the field. Showtime’s 2018 limited series, Shut Up and Dribble, which focuses on African-American athletes’ influence on politics and culture, served as a touchstone for the intersection of sports and politics.

In February 2018, Laura Ingraham of Fox News Channel’s The Ingraham Angle infamously chastised James for directly criticizing President Donald Trump, saying the NBA star should just “shut up and dribble” and not comment on issues off the basketball court.

James, who executive-produced the Showtime series, would end up using what was deemed as a derogatory phrase by Ingraham as the title for the series, which was narrated by controversial former ESPN personality Jemele Hill who, as a SportsCenter anchor, was suspended in 2017 for writing negative tweets about the president.

“Shut Up and Dribble felt like an answer to Laura Ingraham and her criticism of [James] when he criticized the president,” National Public Radio television critic Eric Deggans said. “Through the documentary, it allows him to speak at length about a subject that people would be interested in.”

It’s risky for athletes to inject politics into a traditional platform like sports documentaries, according to Espinoza, but in the end it provides a unique narrative that offers a perspective that’s different from anything seen on traditional news or sports news shows.

“It takes courage for LeBron and everyone who contributed to Shut Up and Dribble to address politics in a very direct and explicit way at a time in which most people are saying let’s separate sports and politics,” he said. “It takes courage to dive deeper into that topic when everyone else is shying away from it.”

Docuseries such as The Shop and Shut Up and Dribble are putting the athlete’s story squarely in the spotlight, according to former NBA player Jay Williams.

Putting Media Savvy to Work

“Now we have the next tier of athletes that understands how the business works,” said Williams, now a college basketball analyst for ESPN. “Athletes like [NBA superstar] Kevin Durant can say, You might not like what I say, but this is how I feel, and I want you to understand how I feel.”

Not every athlete-produced series has to play on the social commentary field to be important or informative. ESPN+’s The Boardroom, produced by Golden State Warriors star Durant’s Thirty Five Ventures and Durant’s business partner, Rich Kleiman, examines the ins and outs of the business of sports, from the sneaker business to team ownership, through conversations with athletes and sports executives.

Williams hosts the series, where prominent figures like Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer or players such as Durant himself talk about the business of sports from the perspective of those in the trenches. ESPN+ last month renewed The Boardroom for a second season.

“We get a chance to showcase how these people have started their own business and what they think about different topics that are currently occurring culturally,” said Williams, who played for the Chicago Bulls in the early 2000s. “It’s not only about what the consumers want to see, but what they need to see. I want to see who I buy products from. Viewers want transparency.”

Showtime’s Espinoza said the appeal of these shows is driven by viewers’ desire to see and hear the authentic and transparent voice of their favorite athletes, which was initially fostered by social media.

“The ubiquity of social media has raised the bar for documentary filmmaking, because we know so much about the hour to hour lives of many athletes,” he said. “We need to look a little bit harder and push a little deeper into athletes lives or into topics they’d like to investigate because so much is available via social media.”

While social media can provide a snapshot of an athlete’s life and views on certain issues and topics, HBO’s Nelson added, the documentary format has the ability to extrapolate more information over time to provide a more complete picture.

“You never want to be duplicative of content found elsewhere,” Nelson said. “Social media gives a lens into an athlete’s world, but often is incapable of defining that world’s deeper meaning.”

Added Deggans: “The players know they have a [social media] voice. The question then becomes, what do you want to do with that voice? So it makes all kinds of sense to try to leverage that media footprint they have to try to produce content.”

Controlling the Message

With more athletes looking to serve as executive producer for their own documentaries — Showtime is teaming with former Los Angeles Lakers player Metta World Peace, formerly known as Ron Artest, this month on a documentary chronicling his successful and controversial pro career — it will be virtually impossible to go back to a time when the leagues or the networks fully controlled the narrative of sports documentaries.

“Gone are the days when an athlete was just an athlete,” Espinoza said. “Once athletes are able to discuss issues ranging from amateurism to race to politics to ownership to diversity in the front office, all of these topics are going to continue to be unavoidable.

“I don’t think the industry has the luxury of burying their heads in the sand on the intersection between sports and every other element of our society,” Espinoza said.

HBO has teamed with LeBron James to develop a new unscripted series The Shop, the network said Thursday.

The series, created by James and Maverick Carter through their digital media company Uninterrupted, will premiere Aug. 28 and will offer unfiltered conversation and debate with some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment that will air periodically throughout the year, according to the network.

Among the athletes and celebrities appearing on the first show are Snoop Dogg, Odell Beckham Jr., Draymond Green, Jon Stewart and Candace Parker.

“LeBron James told us he wanted to create a place where athletes and artists can come together to share points of view freely,” said Peter Nelson, executive VP for HBO Sports in a statement. “We are honored they want HBO to be the home of that conversation. We are pleased to partner with LeBron, Maverick Carter and Uninterrupted on The Shop.”

TNT ran its weekly primetime cable ratings winning streak to five on the strength of its NBA playoffs coverage, according to Nielsen. 

TNT averaged 2.6 million viewers during the week of May 14-20 to top all cable networks, according to Nielsen. Fox News tied for second with NBA playoffs-infused ESPN at 2.3 million viewers.

MSNBC was distant fourth at 1.7 million viewers, followed by USA Network (1.3 million viewers), HGTV (1.1 million), NBCSN and TBS (tied with 1 million), History (999,000) and CNN (937,000).

Fox News was tops on a 24-hour basis for the 19th consecutive week, followed by MSNBC, TNT, Nickelodeon and CNN, according to Nielsen. 

History will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death with a one-hour documentary revolving around the Civil Rights movement. 

Rise Up: The Movement that Changed America, will debut April 4 and explores the key battles in the Civil Rights Movement that transformed American society, said network officials. The This documentary will follow the inner workings of the movement and the four legislative decisions that resulted, including: Montgomery Campaign, which declared that segregated public transportation was in violation of the 14th Amendment; Birmingham Campaign, led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination; Selma Campaign, led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which aimed to overcome legal barriers that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote; and the Chicago Campaign, which led to the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibited discrimination over the sale, rental or financing of housing.

The one-hour documentary is executive produced by LeBron James, Maverick Carter and Stanley Nelson, and features interviews with Civil Rights movement activists, politicians and historians such as President Bill Clinton; Jesse Jackson; Andrew Young; Sen. Cory Booker; Sen. Doug Jones; Harry Belafonte and Rashad Robinson, Color of Change Executive Director, said the network. 

RELATED: LeBron James -- The King Extends His Court to TV 

“We are currently witnessing a young generation rising up to make their voices heard, similar to the journey courageous leaders of the Civil Rights movement took to create change in America,” said Eli Lehrer, Executive Vice President of Programming, for History in a statement. “Through the powerful storytelling of LeBron and Stanley, this film will reflect on the past providing viewers with an intimate account of the campaigns that resulted in unprecedented legislation, and look toward the future as current activists and politicians continue the path toward change.”

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.

Related:MCN Sports Brand of the Year | At USTA, Adams More Than Holding Serve

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.”

Related: Reality TV’s Got Game

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.”

Starz’s basketball-themed comedy series Survivor’s Remorse will end its four-season run this Sunday (Oct. 15.)

The series, executive produced by LeBron James, will conclude with back-to-back episodes this Sunday, according to the network. 

The series, which follows the exploits of a young basketball star trying to balance fame and family life, stars Jessie T. Usher, RonReaco Lee and Tichina Arnold. 

RELATED: Actress Tichina Arnold talks about her starring role in 'Survivor's Remorse' (VIDEO)

“We have been fortunate to work with incredible talents like Mike O’Malley, the executive producers and our cast on this very special show for four seasons,” said Starz CEO Chris Albrecht in a statement. “While this may be the end of The Calloway’s story, we do believe that the themes Survivor’s Remorse confronted over the seasons, through a unique mix of humor and sober observation, will be appreciated for the insightful, heartfelt way they were addressed. We are proud of the show.”

When NBC dropped the puck on its coverage of the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup Playoffs earlier this week, it did so with the hopes of boosting viewership by offering wall-to-wall live coverage across several networks and platforms.

Along with airing every first-round playoff games across four networks — NBC, NBCSN, USA Network and CNBC — its telecasts were not blacked out for the first time in local-team markets since NBC Sports Group acquired the NHL’s rights in 2005. Boston and Pittsburgh were the only markets where first-round blackouts remained in place, NBC said.

 “The fans are the real winners here,” NBC Sports and NBCSN president of programming Jon Miller said of the side-by-side telecasts. “They now have more options than ever to watch first-round playoff coverage of their local teams.”

The losers could be the regional sports networks, which will now have to compete with national network coverage for eyeballs — although for most hockey fans, local-team telecasts are often more palatable than national network coverage.

At worst, NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood said the new setup should eliminate the confusion over which games are blacked out in which markets. “Now you know where to go,” Flood said during a pre-playoffs conference call with reporters. “We like that. Simplicity is a good thing.”

 On the digital side, the NBC Sports app will provide live streaming of every NHL playoff game televised by NBC, NBCN, USA and CNBC, giving hockey fans multiple points of entry to watch live playoff games on multiple platforms.  

With baseball season in full swing — and with the LeBron James and Kevin Durant-led NBA Playoffs launching this weekend — NBC Sports is hoping its one-stop shop approach to distributing the chase for the Stanley Cup will keep hockey’s post-season excitement competitive in a crowded TV sports arena by streamlining the fan experience and making the competition easier to find.

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.

Starz has ordered a fourth season of its basketball-themed comedy series Survivor’s Remorse, the network said Wednesday.

The LeBron James-produced series, which follows the exploits of a star basketball player and his family as they deal with the challenges of their new lives while not forgetting where they came from, is averaging 2.9 million viewers across all reportable platforms since its third season debut this past July, an increase of more than 20% about season two and 60% above season one, said network officials.

The series, executively produced by Mike O’Malley, Tom Werner, LeBron James, Maverick Carter, Paul Wachter, Victor Levin and Hilton Smith, stars Jessie T. Usher, RonReaco Lee, Tichina Arnold, Teyonah Parris and Erica Ash.

“We are thrilled to renew ’Survivor’s Remorse for a fourth season,” said Carmi Zlotnik, managing director of Starz in a statement. “Critics have consistently called it one of the smartest and funniest comedies on television and we are delighted to see audiences embracing the characters and the storyline with that same enthusiasm.”

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.

Starz has greenlit a third season of its basketball-themed series Survivor’s Remorse, the network said Wednesday.

The series, about a young basketball star and his family adjusting to the life of the rich and famous, will return in 2016, according to network officials.

Currently in the midst of its second season run, the series posted an 18% week over week audience gain in its second episode with a series-high 1.34 million viewers, said network officials.

Survivor's Remorse, which stars Jessie T. Usher, Mike Epps, Tichina Arnold, Teyonah Parris and Erica Ash, is executively produced by Tom Werner, Maverick Carter, LeBron James, Mike O’Malley, Paul Wachter and Vic Levin.

“We are thrilled to renew Survivor’s Remorse for a third season,” said Carmi Zlotnik, Managing Director of Starz, in a statement. “Since it began, the critics instantly embraced the show, and now we’ve seen its fans grow season over season. This all-star creative team, led expertly by Mike O’Malley, boldly tackles the most topical of issues with heart and humor as the Calloway family deals with ‘pro-money and pro-problems’ off the basketball court. We are very happy and proud to have them return to Starz for another season.”

Starz is giving viewers an early look at the new seasons of Survivor’s Remorse and Blunt Talk

The network said Monday (Aug. 17) it has made the first two episodes of its freshman series Blunt Talk, as well as all six episodes from the first season of its sophmore comedy series Survivor's Remorse, available via Starz.com, Starz On Demand and Starz Play app before its Aug. 22 premiere.

The first episodes of both shows are also being streamed via Facebook. Survivor’s Remorse executive producer LeBron James posted the show’s sophomore season premiere episode on his Facebook page this past Friday, while Blunt Talk star Patrick Stewart dropped the first episode of his series for his Facebook followers to watch over the weekend.

The moves follows Starz’s announcement late last month that it would offer all episodes of the final season of Da Vinci's Demons nd the freshman season of Flesh and Bone online prior to their Starz debuts this fall.

“Starz has sampled many new original series on multiple platforms – including Facebook – over the past few years and we continue to witness first-hand the importance of engaging fans in the social media community who have migrated the ‘water cooler talk’ to a much bigger and virtual break room, ” said Starz CEO Chris Albrecht in a statement. “The network and our shows, including ‘Power’ and “Outlander,’ are definitely benefitting from the tremendous online community engagement.”

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.

ABC’s coverage of the Golden State Warriors-Cleveland Cavaliers 2015 NBA Finals was the highest-rated ever for the network.

The series, in which the Warriors defeated LeBron James and the undermanned Cavaliers 4 games to 2, averaged a 13.9 overnight rating, up 31% from the 10.6 generated by last year’s Miami Heat-San Antonio Spurs matchup.

Last night’s game six telecast drew a 15.9 overnight rating, making it the highest-rated Game 6 ever on ABC, which has been telecasting the NBA Finals since the 2002-03 season, according to network officials.

Last night’s game also drew 939,000 unique viewers to Watch ESPN, the most ever for an NBA game on the platform. In addition, Game 6 drew an average minute audience of 292,000 viewers, which also ranks as the most-watched NBA game ever on the platform.

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.

The Cleveland Cavaliers-Atlanta Hawks Eastern Conference Finals series is delivering big numbers for TNT.

The third game of the series Sunday night averaged 7.8 million viewers for the network, topping all shows during the day, according to Nielsen Fast Nationals. The game, in which Cleveland defeated Atlanta to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the best of seven series, was up 16% among total viewers compared to game three of TNT’s Western Conference telecast last year.

Overall the Cavaliers-Hawks series is averaging 6.9 million viewers, up 11% from the network’s comparable live game telecasts last year, said network officials.

Game four of  the series will air Tuesday night on 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.

Disney XD has teamed with NBA star LeBron James to produce a series featuring inspiring athlete profiles.

The half-hour, ESPN Films-produced series, Becoming, will premiere on the boys-targeted network later this year and will feature extraordinary stories of athletes from around the world. James, who was featured in the pilot episode of the series that aired on Disney XD this past October, will serve as executive producer of the series, said network officials.

"We are thrilled to continue working with ESPN Films and LeBron James on Becoming,” Marc Buhaj, senior vice president, programming and general manager for Disney XD said in a statement “This unique sports-focused series gives our worldwide audiences the inspiring and entertaining personal stories from some of the biggest athletes in the world."

The roundball will be regal in Barclays Center tonight.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – aka Prince Phillip and Kate Middleton – will attend their first NBA game as The King, LeBron James, leads the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Brooklyn Nets.

The couple will be celebrating the Royal Foundation’s United for Wildlife and Coach Core programs and the league’s NBA Cares global social responsibility program. The partnership will raise awareness about the importance of international wildlife conservation, develop the next generation of conservation leaders, and grow the game of basketball. 

Former NBA star Dikembe Mutombo, Serge Ibaka of the Oklahoma City Thunder and two-time All-Star Al Horford of the Atlanta Hawks have been named United for Wildlife Ambassadors.  They are joined by fellow ambassadors from the world of sports such as David Beckham, Andy Murray, Lewis Hamilton and NBA legend Yao Ming, they will support United for Wildlife’s effort, led by the Duke of Cambridge, to rally the world’s leading wildlife charities around a common goal: to create a global movement for change and to preserve nature.

Additionally, the NBA will work with the Royal Foundation’s Coach Core program, an initiative that helps young people acquire the skills, experience and confidence to join the next generation of inspirational coaches.  The NBA will support Coach Core in developing young, motivated and talented new basketball coaches through coaching experience and logistical support.  As part of this cooperation, NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony will participate in a Coach Core graduation event on Jan. 14 while in London for NBA Global Games London 2015, when the New York Knicks will play the Milwaukee Bucks at the O2. 

The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry was set up by the princes in September 2009 to enable them to take forward their charitable ambitions. Along with The Duchess of Cambridge, who is also a patron, they intend to use the Foundation as the main vehicle for their philanthropic activities.

LeBron James went back to his erstwhile palace, and even though the New York Knicks spoiled the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers on-court coronation, TNT rang up some royal ratings with its NBA coverage last night.

TNT's Oct. 30 telecast of the Knicks' 95-90 win over the Cavs  -- keyed by Carmelo Anthony's baseline jumper over James (pictured) -- at Quicken Loans Arena averaged a 2.6 rating and 4 million viewers, according to Nielsen data, gains of 44% and 50% from the Knicks-Chicago Bulls in the same window last season.

Thursday night’s Knicks-Cavs telecast was up 117% and 111% among total viewers compared with TNT’s 1.2 and 1.87 million average audience for 2013-14 NBA regular-season games.  The telecast – peaking with 2.9 rating and 4.5 million viewers from 10:30-10:45 p.m. – netted a 27.2 metered market rating in Cleveland and a 7.0 mark in the New York DMA.

TNT officials said the Knicks-Cavs telecast also registered significant growth across all key demos including a 56% jump among persons 18 to 49 and a 60% amelioration among guys 18 to 49 over the same telecast window in 2013.  Moreover, last night’s game was up 116% and 122% in those demos versus the network's NBA regular season average. 

Overall, the network’s NBA Thursday doubleheader – the nightcap featured the Los Angeles Clippers besting the Oklahoma City Thunder – averaged 2.9 million total viewers and a 1.9  rating, up 21% and 19% respectively over the comparable doubleheader last season.  The Oct. 30 twinbill grew 54% in total viewers and 58% in rating above over last year’s  regular season coverage.

CNN will chronicle the rise of NBA superstar LeBron James in a special airing next Friday (Oct. 24), network officials said.

The CNN Films special, More Than A Game, takes a look at James’ ascension through his high school career in Ohio and his relationship with his close high school basketball teammates, according to network officials.  

The special comes on the heels of another James documentary airing Oct. 26 on Disney XD. That special, Becoming, also features footage from James’ earliest days in sports.

CNN’s More Than A Game is the third CNN Films Presents broadcast in 2014 following March Of The Penguins and The Imposter.

Starz will net a second season of LeBron James-produced comedy, Survivor's Remore.

The 10-installment, second-season order comes after just one linear airing for the series, which bowed on Oct. 4.

The show's rookie run is for just episodes.

Starz said the first episode has garnered 1.3 million multiplatform viewers. Survivor’s Remorse was previewed online in the week ahead of its linear launch, with the first two episodes becoming accessible on Sept. 27.

The series also counts Tom Werner, Maverick Carter, Mike O’Malley, Paul Wachter and Victor Levin as executive producers.

The NBA League Pass out-of-market live game package will be offered for the first time on XBOX One, the league said Wednesday.

The subscription-based package, which offers 900 live NBA games a year, will be streamed through XBOX One video game consoles, joining a list of other devices offering the package including PlayStation4, PlayStation3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, Apple TV, Samsung Smart TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and select Sony Blu-ray players, said the league.

The package, which will retail at $199 for access on both TV and digital platforms, will include live and on demand feeds of both home and away team broadcasts for every game, said the league. In addition, the package will include a full on demand archive for all nationally and locally televised games, condensed versions of all games and a catalog of select classic games.

Starz is giving its latest original series a preseason of sorts.

The premium network will tip off a multiplatform nationwide sampling of the first two episodes of Survivor’s Remorse, the comedy executive-produced by basketball legend LeBron James, beginning Sept. 27. The exposure comes a full week before the series makes it national, linear debut on Starz on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 9 p.m.

In the latest expansive sampling effort behind its original shows, Starz will make Survivor’s Remorse, the story of baller Cam Calloway (Jessie Usher) and his family who are suddenly thrust into the limelight after he signs a multimillion dollar contract with a professional team in Atlanta, available to multichannel video households through on-demand, online and linear runs on select cable, satellite and telco affiliates in the United States (see list below).

Additionally, the first two installments are accessible online through select websites including Starz.com, and the show’s Twitter, YouTube and Facebook pages. They will also be available via Starz on Demand and the free Starz Play app for all users in the United States, and through Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, Sony Entertainment Network and Xbox Video.

All told, Starz's sampling assist for Survivor's Remorse will reach some 78 million U.S. households.

Starz has supported the launch of current hit, Outlanderand key original series like Black Sailsand Power, as well as the sophomore run of Da Vinci's Demonsand reality series The Chair with various on-demand, digital and experential marketing initiatives

Mike O’Malley, consulting producer and Emmy-nominated actor for his role on Glee, serves as executive producer and showrunner for Survivor’s Remorse. In addition to James, Tom Werner, chairman of the Boston Red Sox and whose production credits include The Cosby Show, Roseanne and That '70s Show; Maverick Carter, sports marketing executive and James's business partner; Paul Wachter, founder and CEO of Main Street Advisors; and Victor Levin (Mad Men, Mad About You); are also serving as executive producers.

Starz retains all domestic and international multiplatform rights including television, home entertainment, and digital.

The following is a list of some of the providers offering on demand and/or linear sampling:

• Comcast (FOD)
• DirecTV (FOD)
• Dish(FOD + Linear)
• Time Warner Cable  (FOD)
• Cox Communications (FOD)
• Verizon FiOS (FOD)
• Bright House Networks (FOD)
• Mediacom (FOD)
• Other select NCTC members

Starz is making inroads on its efforts to reach out to underserved audiences on premium TV through its original series.

The network’ freshman series Power, which follows the life of an African-American club owner who doubles as a New York City drug kingpin, is generating the largest concentration of black viewers for a scripted premium series over the past several years, according to the network. Only HBO’s Game Of Thrones and True Blood draws a larger number of African-American viewers of any premium series currently running.

With 68% of Power’s audience African-American, the network is targeting what it believes is an underserved audience on premium TV, according to David Baldwin, executive vice president of program planning for Starz. Overall, the series, which has already been renewed for the second season, is averaging about 4 million viewers across all platforms, which shows that Power is also drawing in more than black viewers.

The network is also hoping to expose the series to a wider audience when it launches Power on its Encore Black channel beginning Aug. 12, according to Baldwin. “With Starz at 22 million homes and Encore [Black] at 35 million homes, we have a whole other universe that we can expose the series to,” he said.

The network will continue to mine the African-American audience this fall with the debut of the LeBron James-created, basketball-themed comedy series Survivor’s Remorse, said the network. “There’s every reason to believe that we’ll get a lot of African-American households to tune in, check it out and stay with it,” Baldwin said. “Also with the number of NBA fans around the country and people who know about professional sports it wouldn't be surprising if we get a broader audience to check it out.”

Along with African-Americans, Starz is also looking to draw in more female viewers. Its White Queen series drew a 60% female viewership in route to generating more than 4.8 million viewers across all platforms. While the network has yet to greenlight a second season of its White Queen mini-series – network officials has said Starz may pursue a White Queen sequel dubbed White Princess – the network has high hopes that its new fantasy-based series Outlander will attract a huge female audience. The series, based on the popular Diana Gabaldon series of best-selling novels, debuts Aug. 9 on the network.

“I think it’s fair to say that Outlander is in the same wheel house as the White Queen in terms of having a large female following,” he said. “Premium television has been something of a male-skewing sector, on recently has there been recognition of the female audience on premium networks.”