The NBA said it is bringing back Bill Walton’s streaming alternative game cast, which is available to NBA League Pass subscribers via that NBA app.

The hoops Hall of Famer will be joined by returning play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti on Throw it Down with Bill Walton, which tips off on Monday, when the Bucks play the Nuggets.

Walton and Benetti will be joined by a series of guests during the season. Benetti,  recently signed on as the voice of the Detroit Tigers after a run as TV play-by-play voice of the Chicago White Sox.

“Throw it Down Season 2 is here, and what could be better,” Walton said in a statement.

“I’m excited, honored, and privileged beyond words,“ Walton, the former Portland Trail Blazers, San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics star, said. “The NBA is the best — of everything; the best game, the best players, the best and most interesting people, the best and most innovative entertainment product, the list is endless. 

“Throw it Down is also the best way to enjoy, embrace, and consume the NBA,“ Walton said. “Our show team, led by the incomparable Jason Benetti, delivers unmatched everything; dynamic, vibrant, and exhilarating guests, fabulous, exciting, and provocative discourse and storytelling and leading-edge technology.  An all-encompassing experience like no other, all with minimal interruptions as we ricochet through uncharted time and space.  

“Our show is a mix of the greatest story ever told and the greatest show in this universe — and undoubtedly beyond,” Walton continued. “We are exclusive to the NBA App, which is the next evolutionary step in human progress following the innovations of the wheel, fire, the thermos and the high-post offense. Miss Throw It Down season two at your own peril.”

Four episodes are planned with the opener followed by a Mavericks-76ers game on February 5, the Suns taking on the Cavaliers on March 11 and the Pacers versus the Clippers on March 25.

With the 2022-23 NBA season in full swing, the league is looking to drive a deeper connection with its fans through its newly redesigned NBA App. The free, integrated digital platform — built in partnership with Microsoft — for the first time provides fans direct access to its NBA League Pass out-of-market game package as well as its NBA TV linear cable channel.

Through the app’s free NBA ID membership program, fans can access benefits and rewards from the league as well as its teams and partners, league officials said. Fans can watch live games as well as all pregame and postgame NBA press conferences and media days from every major event.  

With a nod to social media, the App’s new ‘For You’ offering will offer fan preferences and personalization, as well as a vertical video scrolling of content that features real-time highlights of all NBA games in progress.  

On the content side, the App will offer 500 of the best classic games in NBA history as well as every NBA Finals game since 2000. Also, documentary series such as Dream Team, The Doctor, Wilt 100 and NBA Inside Stuff will be available. 

Already the app has scored with viewers: Video views on the app were up nearly 300% globally during the first week of the NBA season in mid-October compared to last year, the league said.

NBA senior VP of media operations and technology Ken DeGennaro spoke with Multichannel News about the revamped NBA App and its appeal to viewers. Here’s an edited transcript of that conversation. 

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MCN: What initially prompted the league to revamp its digital app? 

Ken DeGennaro: With the shift from linear viewing habits to a little bit more digital viewing habits, we felt as though this was the right time to bring the technology staff up on resourcing to be able to build the app to deliver and innovate with a very fan- first mindset. Throughout the pandemic, as things slowed, we continued to invest in the new platform all the way through our launch of the app this past September. All of the technology has been replaced and is now fully cloud-delivered. We have a new partner, Microsoft and its Azure cloud, to help power the application. Now we’re able to get both implicit and explicit responses back from our fans and tailor our experience to that of the individual fan. A good example of that is our ‘For You’ feed, which is a personalized feed featuring content, games and other information tailored to that particular fan based on some of the signals of data that they’ve explicitly told us around their favorite teams and players, as well as some of the behaviors that we recognize just through the usage of the NBA App. 

MCN: Have you seen an uptick in usage among fans since you’ve rolled out the new app? 

KD: We’ve had a wonderful response from our fans. The engagement and usage of the application services and features throughout have been significantly more than we’ve seen historically.

MCN: How important has the integration of League Pass and NBA TV into the app been in terms of that increased response from fans?

KD: It certainly makes it easier to be an NBA fan, right? If you want NBA content, you now know where to go and where to get it. We are learning more and more about the fan and what content we should service, and also drive some discovery of things that fans might not have necessarily considered in the first instance. The other things we’ve really been focusing on are the quality of the experience, that the application works well and that our video gives a premium experience to our fans. 

MCN: How important is it for a league such as the NBA to have a quality, interactive digital app as part of its outreach to fans?

KD: It’s critical to us for us to be able to learn more about how our fans want to interact with our content. Most fans are interested in the game content, but there are a lot of fans that are interested in the content around the game, from the lifestyles and wardrobes of the players all the way to the players’ interests on and off the court. We’re learning more and more about what the fans are interested in, and we’re going to continue to serve all of them at the right levels with the right amount of content for their set of interests. It’s about driving engagement on a personalized level. ■ 

Just weeks after adding mobile streaming service NFL Plus to its +play subscription marketplace, Verizon has announced the integration of NBA League Pass, as well.

Verizon will now let its wireless and home internet customers sign up for the NBA's direct-to-consumer streaming service through its apps, while handling all aspects of the customer relationship, including billing.

Verizon launched +play earlier this year. The free service, similar to Amazon Prime Video Channels, lets users centralize and manage an increasing range of digital entertainment subscriptions, including  HBO Max, Netflix, Peloton, The Athletic, Calm, Duolingo and TelevisaUnivision’s Vix+.

NBA League Pass lets users stream all out-of-market games live. The league is selling the base tier of the package, which allows for one stream at a time, for $99.99 this season. 

“Verizon has a track record of providing our customers incredible value, as well as great premium content from leading services," said Erin McPherson, chief content officer for Verizon.  "As one of the largest direct-to-consumer distributors in the country, we’re solving for millions of customers’ pain points by providing them with an innovative tool to manage and get exclusive deals on multiple subscriptions all in one place.”

The NBA and Turner Sports continued to provide more viewing flexibility for fans to watch live games by introducing a new 10-minute viewing option.

The NBA 10-Minute Pass, which launches March 16 on the NBA App and NBA.com, allows viewers to watch 10 minutes of any out-of-market game for 99 cents, according to the league. Fan can also watch as many live games as they choose during that 10-minute window.

The 10-minute option adds to several other in-game viewing microtransactions offered by the NBA and Turner, including allowing viewers to watch a single game after the end of the third quarter ($1.99); second quarter ($2.99) and first quarter ($4.99).

RELATED: NBA Looks To Score With Fans Digitally On a Quarter-by-Quarter Basis

“We’re committed to providing choices within our NBA League Pass product, and this new feature offers even more options for our passionate fans,” said Mark Johnson, SVP/GM Digital, Turner Sports in a statement. “With the launch of this 10-Minute Pass, fans can watch live NBA games on their time. We’re excited to partner with the NBA as the first major sports league to open up this live digital opportunity.” 

The NBA this week put a price on keeping its fans connected to all of its games from tipoff through the final minutes.

The league -- through its NBA League Pass out-of-market game package -- on Dec. 10 provided fans the opportunity to purchase any live game on a quarter-to-quarter basis via NBA.com and the NBA App, as well as participating digital NBA League Pass distributors such as Turner’s Bleacher Report Live streaming service.

RELATED: NBA League Pass Available Via Amazon Prime Channels

Consumers can now pay $4.99 to watch any game at the end of the first quarter. If James Harden has 40 points at halftime,  fans can purchase that Houston Rockets game before the beginning of the third quarter for $2.99.

If Stephen Curry has a shot to break teammate Klay Thompson’s record of 14 three pointers after three quarters, viewers can buy the fourth quarter of that Golden State Warriors game for $1.99, according to the NBA.

The NBA has always been on the fast break when it comes to tailoring live game purchasing options for its avid fan base. As part of its NBA League Pass offering last year, the league launched a $6.99 single game purchase option.

When NBA Commissioner Adam Silver first revealed plans for quarter-by-quarter purchasing within live NBA games this past spring, he said the offering would cater to those fans who don’t always have the time to sit down and watch a full-game, but still want tune in when they can or if something big is developing during a game. 

“We know that most fans are not watching an entire game,” Silver said at the time. “We all recognize that if we were designing our products from scratch today I’m not sure we wouldn't design them in the same way because people’s attention spans are shorter. I think this notion of micro transactions will catch on with all programmers.”

Time will tell whether the league’s quarter-by-quarter pay offerings will score with its fanbase. 

Turner will launch the live sports streaming service Bleacher Report Live (B/R Live) on April 7.

Turner described the service as “the central hub for both the discovery and consumption of live sports content,” allowing fans to “find and watch their favorite sports content anywhere, anytime and on the screen of their choice.”

Starting this summer, B/R Live will implement flexible pricing options, with direct access to live games for purchase on an a la carte or subscription basis.

The platform helps users find and watch live sports with the ability to scroll through a feed of real-time sports events, and offers personalization features that aggregate live sports content.

Sports on the platform include soccer’s UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, NBA League Pass games, 65 NCAA Championships and the PGA Championship, as well as the National Lacrosse League, The Spring League, Red Bull Global Rallycross and World Arm Wrestling League.

“As viewing habits continue to evolve, Turner is well positioned to provide fans with direct access to premium live sports content that is highly coveted by audiences of scale, including a high concentration of millennials,” said David Levy, president of Turner. “When we first acquired Bleacher Report in 2012, we knew the definition of a network was changing and we anticipated a time when B/R would become a virtual network. Today is a significant step in that direction and we will fully leverage the reach of B/R and its deep connection with passionate sports fans to provide compelling experiences for them across this new, exciting platform.”

NBA League Pass will allow fans to purchase and watch live NBA games in progress at a reduced price.

“For us, it’s really a question of bringing fans what they want,” said Adam Silver, NBA commissioner, offering the example of a fan tuning in as a star player goes for a historic point total.

Lenny Daniels, president of Turner Sports, called B/R Live "a game-changing product that will serve as the ultimate destination for the sports fan."

The NBA and Turner Sports have added a new virtual reality subscription package to its NBA League Pass live game out-of-market service, which tips off Tuesday (Oct. 17), the company announced Monday.

The new, season-long virtual reality subscription package – developed by NBA Digital and NextVR -- will be available across the Samsung Gear VR, Google Daydream and Windows Mixed Reality platforms. In all, the $49.99 VR service can be accessed across 19 platforms including television, broadband, tablets and mobile phones and connected devices.

Related: NBA Digital, NextVR Strike Multiyear Partnership

In addition to the $199.99 price tag for the traditional NBA League Pass package, NBA Digital will offer a $249.99 premium package that features continuous in-arena coverage during live game breaks.

The new packages will join other NBA League Pass premium packages including NBA Team Pass ($119.99) and single game ($6.99). NBA Digital will also bring back NBA Mobile View, which offers zoomed-in, tighter shot of the action that is optimized for the smaller screen size of mobile devices.

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NBA League Pass, the out-of-market game package, is launching a new mobile-optimized component in time for the start of the 2016/2017 season. 

Looking to optimize deliver of games for smaller screens, NBA Mobile View will provide a “zoomed-in, tighter shot” of the action. The feature will debut on Tuesday (Oct. 25) as part of the NBA League Pass preview, which runs through Nov. 1.

When fans select any game on NBA League Pass, NBA Mobile View will appear as an additional streaming option alongside the traditional “Home” and “Away” viewing options, which will stay in place. 

The video below shows a side by side comparison of the traditional view and the new Mobile View: 

NBA Mobile View was developed by the NBA and Turner Sports via their NBA Digital partnership, and was created by installing new cameras in all 29 NBA arenas. Each game will have a designated producer assigned for the NBA Mobile View feature, they said. 

In addition to NBA Mobile View, other NBA League Pass enhancements for the upcoming season factor in Turner-owned iStreamPlanet, which will provide the live streaming infrastructure for all games provided via the service. 

RELATED: Turner Snaps Up iStreamPlanet

For the upcoming season, NBA League Pass will be offered with a Single Game option ($6.99 per game), as well as NBA Team Pass ($119.99), which lets viewers follow a single team throughout the regular season.  NBA League Pass will also offer its usual comprehensive full season package ($199.99), with access to nearly 1,000 live out-of-market games and archived NBA fare. 

The league and Turner said NBA League Pass generated a record 26.7 million game views and more than 1.2 billion minutes viewed last season, and that digital subscriptions were up 10% year-on-year. 

The subscription-based service is supported on a wide range of platforms, including iOS and Android mobile devise, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 consoles; the Xbox One; Apple TV boxes; Samsung smart TVs, Amazon Fire tablets and Fire TV devices, and Roku players and integrated Roku TVs. 

The year 2015 will go down as a championship campaign, ratings-wise, for live sports programming — and particularly for live sports telecasts emanating from cable networks.

Live sports telecasts represented 19 of the top 25 programs on cable this year, according to ESPN, which is poised to finish as the most watched network on cable for the year in primetime.

Most cable networks carrying live sports events this year either set ratings records or generated strong performances from their coverage. ESPN set an all-time cable ratings record by drawing 33.6 million viewers for the Ohio State-Oregon College Football National Championship game on Jan. 12, while TBS garnered a network-record 16.7 million viewers for the Kentucky-Wisconsin NCAA men’s basketball Final Four national semifinal game on April 4.

Sports fans dished out record amounts of cash for pay-per-view events in 2015, bolstered by the May 2 Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight, which obliterated all pay-per-view event-revenue records by generating $400 million.

Sports fans also chatted up the year’s biggest sports events on Twitter, including NBC’s Feb. 1 New England- Seattle Super Bowl telecast, which drew a television show-high 25 million tweets, according to Nielsen.

With increased viewing via digital video recorder, video- on-demand and TV everywhere platforms taking a bite out of traditional TV entertainment-network ratings in 2015, sports telecasts remain one of the few video properties that continue to be DVR-proof and more than hold their value in the evolving television marketplace.

As more live sports games make their way onto digital platforms through TV Everywhere services like Watch ESPN and over-the-top game packages like “NBA League Pass,” the value of such content undoubtedly will continue to rise as distributors jockey to secure rights to content that will draw not only hard-to-reach male viewers, but legions of casual sports fans across all demos.

The beat will seemingly to go on in 2016 as big events such as Super Bowl 50 and the 2016 Summer Olympics — along with technological advances such as 4K and virtual reality — promise to further enhance the broad appeal of live sports programming and provide a win-win ratings scenario for distributors across traditional and digital platforms, as well as social media.

 NBA fans will be able to purchase any regular season game for $7 as part of the newly restructured NBA League Pass out-of-market service.

Also new to the traditional NBA League Pass package, which this year will retail at a suggested price of $199.99, will be a "Team Pass" package in which fans can access all the games of their favorite team for $119.99, said NBA officials.

Fans canpurchase NBA League Pass beginning Sept. 8, according to the league. Consumers can sign up at www.NBA.com/leaguepass to be notified when the package will be available for purchase, according officials.

The NBA will allow fans to purchase single games and individual team packages next season as part of its NBA League Pass out-of-market package, the league said Tuesday.

The  single game offering will allow fans to select individual NBA League Pass live games on a given day during the regular season, the league said. The individual team package will give fans the option to follow one team through the regular season.

Pricing for the new NBA League Pass options were not revealed by the league but will be announced sometime in mid-July, the league said. 

With the season crossing into the second half, NBA Digital and InDemand are teaming on a free preview of the league's out-of-market package this week.

NBA League Pass is available as a freeview from Monday Jan. 19 through Sunday, Jan. 25 to digital subscribers of Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Cablevision, Bright House Networks and Verizon FiOS, plus smaller In Demand affiliates around the nation.

The package offers customers up to 40 live out-of-market games per week across 10 channels. Basketball fans can order NBA League Passat the half-season package price, which includes digital and mobile access, of $99, or four installments of only $24.75. With the package's purchase, subscribers can access NBA League Pass Digitalon an authenticated basis.

In addition to the digital access, NBA League Pass presents  creative and free enhancements, including game replays, dual feeds, a mosaic channel, a stats channel and HD games as follows*:

SAME-DAY REPLAYS: The service re-airs every game in the package starting approximately one hour after the final buzzer so that fans can see NBA action they might have missed.  Each game is replayed in its entirety and repeats continuously overnight and the next day, on the same channel, until the following day’s live matchups begin. Games are available in both SD and HD (varies by system).

DUAL FEEDS: For many games, subscribers also receive innovative dual-feed telecasts, which deliver home-team plus visiting-team local market broadcasts so fans can choose the announcers they prefer.

MULTI-SCREEN MOSAIC: Package subscribers receive the popular rotating mosaic of multiple screens that give simultaneous snapshots of all the live-action games being played around the league, along with scores, time clocks and channel locations. The NBA LEAGUE PASS mosaic can be found on the last channel (10th) of the system’s package lineup. (Mosaic may occasionally be pre-empted to accommodate live games.)

STATS CHANNEL: The NBA LEAGUE PASS Stats Central is a live source for scores, statistics, game previews, game recaps and schedule information. This can be found on the ninth channel of the system’s package lineup. (Stats channel may occasionally be pre-empted to accommodate live games.)

NBA LEAGUE PASS DIGITAL ON NBA.COM:  This feature allows package subscribers to watch NBA LEAGUE PASS games live online at NBA.com or on authenticated mobile devices.  It is included for NBA LEAGUE PASS TV subscribers once their subscription is verified. Complete activation instructions and details are available at: www.nba.com/activate.

The package runs until the last day of the regular season, April 15.. More information about NBA League Pass, cable offerings, game schedules and channel numbers are available at www.getbasketball.com  and general information is at NBA LEAGUE PASS. Customers can order by calling 1-888-SPORTS-iN (888-776-7874) or their local cable provider. Blackout and other restrictions apply.

In Demand will offer its cable operator affiliates a free, eight-day preview of the NBA League Pass out-of-market live game package beginning tonight (Oct. 8).

The preview, which runs from Oct. 28 to Nov. 4 will include access to all live regular season NBA games during the preview period.

Overall NBA League Pass, which retails for suggested price of $199, will offer 40 live out-of-market games per week across 10 channels during the 2014-15 NBA regular season.

Consumers purchasing NBA League Pass will also have access to live games via NBA.com and mobile devices, as well as several new alternative distribution platforms including Microsoft’s XBOX One video game console, the Amazon Fire digital player, Samsung Smart TV’s and select Sony Blu-ray players, said NBA officials.

The mobile offering will also feature a library of classic NBA games dating back to the 1960s, but heavily weighted toward memorable games played during the 1990s and 2000s, said the league.

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.