FCC Chairman Ajit Pai took to the op ed pages of the Los Angeles Timesto explain his plans to roll back Title II classification of ISPs, likening the former FCC's decision to impose those rules to the Oklahoma City Thunder trading James Harden for fear of running up against the salary cap.

Pai is noted for his love of analogies (and song references).

Pai said that reclassifying ISPs for fear of prospective harms to Internet openness he argues were speculative, and not in evidence is like that trade, which he and others argue broke up a winning combination for fear of prospective problems with the NBA salary cap.

He said that Thunder fans "would give anything to undo a trade motivated by speculative fears," suggesting he was trying to undo the Title II-related effects of that unwise moves, which he says include that "fewer Americans have high-speed broadband access, fewer Americans are working to build next-generation networks, and fewer Americans have competitive choice than would have been the case had the FCC not gone down the Title II path.

And while the Thunder team is unlikely to be reconstituted, "we can correct a past mistake by moving away from government control of the Internet," he said. "And that’s exactly what we intend to do."

A vote is scheduled May 18 on Pai's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which proposes to reclassify ISPs, wired and mobile wireless, as Information services; roll back FCC authority to regulate interconnections under the Open Internet order, and ask whether the prohibitions against blocking, throttling or paid prioritization, and requirements of enhanced transparency about network management, are in the public interest.

TNT’s Memorial Day telecast of the Golden State Warriors-Oklahoma City Thunder Western Conference Finals Game 7 garnered a network record 15.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen Fast Nationals ratings.

The game, won by the Warriors to advance to the NBA Finals, bested the 14.1 million viewers TNT drew with a September 1995 Dallas Cowboys-Minnesota Vikings National Football League telecast, according to network officials.

TNT's 15.9 million viewers is also the biggest audience for an NBA game on cable, topping the 13.3 million viewers garnered for ESPN's June 2012 Boston Celtics-Miami Heat Eastern Conference Finals telecast, according to Nielsen. 

The game was also the most watched non-finals NBA telecast on broadcast on cable since the 2000 Los Angeles Lakers-Portland Trail Blazers Game 7 Western Conference Finals. Overall, the Warriors-Thunder series averaged 9.9 million viewers over seven games to top all Western Conference Finals coverage on cable television, according to TNT.

Additionally, TNT’s Inside the NBA garnered a 4.8 HH rating, the show’s highest overnight delivery ever, according to TNT.

TNT’s playoff coverage over 42 games averaged 4.7 million viewers, up 16% over last year’s NBA post-season coverage, the network said.

The Golden State Warriors’ comeback win against the Oklahoma City Thunder in game six of the NBA Western Conference finals last night drew a playoffs-best 10.8 million viewers, TNT reported Sunday.

The game, which tied the best of seven series at three games each, was the most viewed and highest-rated Conference Finals Game 6 of all time, according to Turner.

Last night’s Thunder/Warriors telecast was also up 33% in total viewers when compared with 2014, the last time TNT televised the Western Conference Finals (Oklahoma City vs. San Antonio). This year’s coverage of the Western Conference Finals Game 6 also generated double-digit audience growth across all key demos, said network officials.

Game seven of the Warriors/Thunder series will air tomorrow night at 9 p.m.

ABC’s Billboard Music Awards easily bested HBO’s Game of Thrones on the social media battlefield Sunday night {May 22), according to Nielsen.

Audiences sung the praises of the annual awards show on Twitter, generating 1.7 million tweets from 495,000 unique Twitter authors to top all shows for the day, according to Nielsen’s daily Twitter TV ratings report.

HBO’s Game of Thrones episode generated 307,000 tweets, followed by the WWE Network/pay-per-view distributed WWE Extreme Rules event, which tallied 268,000 tweets to finish third.

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s thrashing of the Golden State Warriors in game three of the NBA’s Western Conference finals playoff telecast on TNT drew 648,000 tweets from 281,000 unique Twitter users to finish first among all live sports events for the day, according to Nielsen.

HBO Sports will team with NBA superstar Kevin Durant for a documentary special that profiles the league’s Most Valuable Player, the network said Thursday.

The special, The Offseason: Kevin Durant, will air Nov. 4 and will take a first person account of the Oklahoma City Thunder superstar from his team’s Western Conference finals loss on May 31 to NBA training camp in late September, said network officials. Cameras and microphones were embedded with the 26-year-old five-time All-Star throughout the summer.

“This is an exciting partnership, and we are delighted to work with an exceptional individual like Kevin Durant,” says Ken Hershman, president, HBO Sports. “He has a magnetic personality that enables fans to connect with him far beyond the hardwood and we look forward to a very revealing program.”