Lenny Daniels, who was president of Turner Sports before the company became part of Warner Bros. Discovery, is leaving the company, effective immediately.

The news was announced in a memo Monday from Luis Silberwasser, who left Univision to become chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports in June. Silberwasser replaced Jeff Zucker, who had also run CNN before he resigned in February.

Silberwasser said that Daniels has agreed to help ensure a smooth transition. On an interim basis, the people reporting to Daniels will report to Silberwasser, according to the memo.

Daniels was a part of the Turner Sports team that built relationships with the National Basketball Association, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League.

He was also involved with the acquisition of Bleacher Report.

“I have enjoyed working with Lenny during these past few months and I respect his decision,” Silberwasser said. “Lenny has never been one to place a spotlight on himself; he’s always been quick to shine it on those around him. His enthusiasm and light-hearted demeanor are among his most endearing qualities, and they will be missed.”

With Warner Bros. Discovery under pressure from $50 billion in debt, there are questions about how the company will deal with the cost of sports rights, including the NBA, which is coming up for renewal.

But Silberwasser said in the memo to staffers that he is confident in the future of WBD Sports. 

“We have an enviable portfolio of premium sports assets, and we have the best creative, production and business teams in the industry,“ he said. “With all of you, we will continue to innovate, grow and make the important strategic decisions that set us up for long-term success in this new media landscape.” ■

TBS will examine the cultural impact of the 50-year old Title IX federal law in a new documentary airing April 2. 

The documentary, Title IX: 37 Words That Changed America, will chronicle and celebrate the societal and cultural impact of the legislation that paved the way for women’s college athletics – and in particular women’s college basketball – to grow and prosper, said network officials.

The one-hour show, produced by Turner Sports in conjunction with Scout Productions and Baby Hair Productions, will showcase the impact of Title IX through the perspective of WNBA icon Candace Parker, and will also feature interviews with such sports celebrities as Billie Jean King, Peyton Manning and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. The sports documentary also explores the evolution of our country in the years since Title IX was enacted and the impact of ensuring equal opportunity in sports for everyone, said Turner Sports.

“In the 50 years since its enactment, Title IX created opportunities for me and for millions of others, with the impact felt way beyond the court or the playing field,” said Parker, who also serves as executive producer of the project. “I am proud to be able to share that story through this film, and to continue the discussion about how we collectively can further break barriers for future generations.”

Following the documentary, TBS will air a special edition of sports documentary franchise The Arena that will further explore the impact of Title IX on sports and society, featuring commentary from Parker, Dr, Kiki Barnes, Tyrann Mathiew and Master P, said the network.

Also: Syndication Ratings: March Madness Dunks on Syndies

NCAA March Madness Live, the digital home for the NCAA’s Men’s Basketball Tournament managed by Turner Sports, is adding features to the platform, which will stream all 67 games starting March 17. 

One new feature is the Starting Lineup Challenge, a fantasy sports type of game that lets fans pick a lineup of five teams before the tournament starts. Instead of being out when their teams lose, players will be able to buy and sell teams as games are played. Winning teams get points and players who hold onto their teams get bonuses. The game was created with SharpLink Gaming.

March Madness Live will also let viewers watch two games at once on some connected devices including Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV and Xbox One. 

Also: March Madness Sold Out With Record Ad Revenue for CBS, Turner

The app will remind viewers who are playing the Capital One NCAA March Madness Men’s Bracket Challenge to watch games and root for teams in their brackets.

Matchup Analysis is returning to March Madness Live. The feature lets fans personalize their brackets based on more than 20 stats as part of Bracket IQ presented by Ivestco QQQ.

Also returning are Fast Break presented by AT&T 5G and Nissan, a live whip around review of games enhanced with analytics from Second Spectrum, as well as The Catch Up presented by AT&T 5G, with game recaps.

In addition, Game Center returns as the platform’s central hub, with highlights and condensed games presented by AT&T 5G.

In addition to AT&T, Capital One and Nissan, Corporate Champion sponsors of March Madness Live include Coca Cola and Buick.  ■

March Madness has slam-dunked the ad market.

CBS Sports and Turner, which carry the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, said their commercial inventory is sold out on TV and on digital platforms, generating record revenue for the event.

Prices were up double digits, with 30-second spots on early games costing a couple of hundred thousand dollars and commercials in the final game going for more than $2 million. Two years ago, the tournament generated nearly $1 billion in ad revenue, according to Kantar.

“We have had one hell of a selling season,” said John Bogusz, executive VP for ad sales at CBS Sports. “As a matter of fact, we’ve written more ad revenue in this tournament than we ever had before.”

“This is the earliest we’ve actually sold the tournament out,” added Jon Diament, executive VP and chief revenue officer for Turner Sports.

Diament noted that the sports market remains strong and that Turner and CBS were able to sell out the tournament without selling ads to sports books and other gambling outfits, which have been pouring money into television as betting becomes legalized. The NCAA bars gambling ads during its events.

There are about 20 major sponsors for March Madness, all returning from last year. Those big advertisers represent about 60% of the revenue the tournament generates. Also returning is AT&T, which sponsors the halftime show during games.

Big spending categories for the tournament include auto companies, insurance companies and fast food chains. Diament also noted that movie studios are back after the pandemic, as are travel advertisers.

Some advertisers will be running commercials 1 minute or so long. Others will be incorporating talent from Turner into ads specially made to appear during games.

Bogusz said he expects ratings to be strong for this year’s March Madness because the Blue Blood schools — Duke, Kansas, Kentucky — will be playing this year and they are proven audience draws. The field is also likely to be well-distributed geographically with strong teams in the West and southwestern areas of the country. 

“It’s also nice to have a story,” Bogusz added. "This is Coach K’s last year. If Duke advances that’s going to be a really good story and help draw big ratings.” ■

In an unusual deal Draymond Green, an active star player for the Golden State Warriors, has signed a long-term contract under which he will be a part of TNT’s Inside the NBA and other Turner Sports and Bleacher Report programs. 

Green has been well known for firing back at comments made by Charles Barkley and the other stars of Inside the NBA, the post-game show that was inducted into the Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame in 2016. He has also served as a post-season guest analyst for TNT and interviewed players for Bleacher Report.

“I've had an amazing experience working with Turner Sports in recent years and I’m a big believer in the way they entertain and genuinely connect with fans on all levels,” Green said. “Today’s announcement helps to formalize our relationship and I couldn’t be prouder to officially be a part of the of the TNT family.”

Also: Wayne Gretzky Joins Turner Sports as Hockey Analyst

Some of Green’s appearances will be in person, others via remote depending on his schedule. His first appearance under his new contract was scheduled for Thursday night following Golden State’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“Draymond is an incredibly versatile talent, both on the court and in front of the camera,” said Tara August, senior VP, Talent Services and Special Projects, Turner Sports. “He’s a team player in every sense, while offering a distinct perspective that is highlighted by his keen basketball IQ, charismatic delivery and forthright, thoughtful opinions that include and extend beyond sports. We’re thrilled to more formally welcome him to the Turner Sports family.” ■

The New York State Gaming Commission approved four licensed mobile sports wagering operators to begin taking mobile bets in the state beginning at 9 a.m. on January 8, and cable networks are gearing up for what they hope to be a big financial windfall.

Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, FanDuel, and Rush Street Interactive, which operates the BetRivers Sportsbook, got the green light from the Gaming Commission on Jan. 7, about a week prior to the January 15 start of the National Football Leauge playoffs and around a month before Super Bowl LVI on February 13, the biggest betting day of the year.

In a press release, Rush Interactive CEO Richard Schwartz said New York’s decision came just in time. 

“With the college football championship game on January 10th and NFL playoffs approaching, and the NBA and NHL seasons in full swing, in addition to countless other sports and betting options available for play, fans have endless entertainment at their fingertips at BetRivers,” Schwartz said in a press release.

Eyeing a $10 Billion Opportunity

New York State expects mobile sports gambling to represent a $10 billion revenue windfall annually. On Nov. 8, the state agreed to allow mobile sports wagering — about 18 other states, including neighboring New Jersey, have allowed it for months —- with the government taking 51% of gross revenue generated by the providers. 

With New York in the mix, however, other states that have been on the fence regarding mobile sports betting — including Connecticut, Delaware, Ohio, Louisiana, and Maryland, which have approved mobile gambling but haven’t gone live — will give them a needed push. 

“When it starts in New York, it becomes a national story,” said sports consultant Lee Berke, CEO of LHB Sports Media & Entertainment. “You’ve got four of the biggest sportsbooks starting on this, they’re creating New York-specific commercials, it’s going to become a subject of New York-based media outlets,” which should give any fence-sitters a needed push.

Another incentive for states: the enormous amount of money to be made. Some reports estimate that New York could reap about $1 billion in yearly profits from mobile sports betting. The state also is charging each mobile sports wagering operator a one-time $200 million licensing fee, and other providers are expected to join the fray. Initially nine providers were conditionally licensed by the state — Bally Corp.’s BallyNets; BetMGM, WynnBET; PointsBet New York; and Empire Resorts, doing business as Resorts World — were the others. The state Gaming Commission is still considering those five other applicants.   

“The remaining five conditionally licensed Mobile Sports Wagering Operators continue to work towards satisfying statutory and regulatory requirements necessary to launch and will be approved on a rolling basis when requirements are met,” the Gaming Commission said in a statement.

New Jersey has said gross revenue from online sports wagering was about $1 billion in September, most of that from mobile transactions. New York allowing mobile betting might cut into that handle — New York City gamblers were known to travel into the state just to make mobile bets. According to some reports, New York gamblers made about 25% to 30% of the sports bets in New Jersey. 

For television networks, the initial windfall is likely to be in the form of additional advertising — already Caesar’s Sportsbook, FanDuel, DraftKings and Rush Street, have been ramping up ads leading to Jan. 8. While sportsbooks have been advertising on sports channels ever since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed legal sports wagering in 2018, Berke said the introduction of the largest media market in the country to mobile wagering is a game-changer. 

“As it becomes more national in scope, the economics change in terms of being able to offer up a range of national content in a range of national media outlets,” Berke said. “Even six months ago, buying on the NFL, people were starting to do it, but it’s inefficient because half of the country can’t bet. When New York kicks in, suddenly, things change.” 

Berke said that viewers should expect similar programming on other sports channels, as “the line blurs between what is sports programming and what is sports betting programming.”

At YES Network, the home of New York Yankees baseball, Brooklyn Nets basketball, New York City Football Club soccer and New York Liberty basketball, the initial impact will mainly be on ad sales. But the RSN, the most-watched in the country, already has strong relationships with sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings, so New York's entry into mobile sports betting “just makes YES all the more valuable to these entities,” said spokesman Eric Handler. 

FanDuel and DraftKings probably have the biggest relationships with television networks, having inked a deal with Turner Sports in October 2020 to integrate betting information into content from TNT, TBS and Bleacher Report. That pact also included the ability for Turner to collect referral fees if bettors placed wagers through their sites. 

MSG Moves Aggressively

Across the board, sports networks have long been anticipating this day, and many have spent the past few months forging partnerships with casinos and sports wagering outlets and creating programming geared toward gaming aficionados.  

One of the more aggressive networks on the programming and deal fronts has been New York area regional sports network MSG Networks, which has expanded its sports betting-focused programming. In October MSG Networks launched Odds with Ends hosted by former New York Giants players Mathias Kiwanuka and David Tyree on Sunday mornings during the NFL season; and The Bettor Half Hour hosted by Alex Monaco to complement its existing betting shows including The Betting Exchange with sports gaming experts Katie Mox, Jeff Johnson and former New York Jets safety Erik Coleman.

Also last year, MSG Networks struck marketing partnerships with FanDuel, Bet 365, BetMGM and Caesars Sportsbook.   

Caesars Sportsbook also plans to launch a new series on MSG Networks and its social media channels featuring actor and comedian JB Smoove — who also stars in the sportsbook’s national commercials. The show, One Course with JB Smoove, will integrate Caesars Sportsbook betting odds and content. In addition, the gaming giant and MSG Networks will launch a 20-part programming marathon to bring back the 2013 series Four Courses with JB Smoove, where the actor and comedian conversed with athletes and celebrities over dinner and which will now be updated with Caesars-themed content.

Caesar’s Sportsbook also will sponsor a special month-long programming block tied to former New York Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist. ■

The National Hockey League and Turner Sports said that Discover will be the title sponsor of the league’s Winter Classic outdoor game, replacing tire company Bridgestone.

This season WarnerMedia's Turner Sports outlets TNT and TBS and Disney-owned ESPN are taking over as the NHL’s broadcast partners, replacing Comcast’s NBC Sports.

Discover has been a long-term NHL sponsor. It is the first brand to announce a major sponsorship deal with Turner Sports. Discover will be promoted as the official credit card and official bank of the NHL in the U.S. as part of the promotion for the Winter Classic.

“When Discover extended our partnership with the NHL, we committed to deliver unique experiences to hockey’s passionate fan base while helping consumers achieve brighter financial futures. And there is not a more unique experience for hockey fans than NHL’s Winter Classic,” said Kate Manfred, senior VP and chief marketing officer at Discover. “We are proud to be the title sponsor of one of the NHL’s most prestigious events. We are equally excited about working with Turner Sports to bring this game to the fans, and to create unique content across Turner Sports’ platforms all season long.”

Discover will also be featured as sponsor of the Discover Second Intermission Report throughout Turner Sports’ inaugural season of NHL game coverage, with additional promotional extensions across Bleacher Report. Turner Sports and Discover will collaborate on additional custom content and promotions throughout the season and the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“The Winter Classic is a special day on the NHL calendar every year, and we are excited to expand Discover’s relationship with the League with their title sponsorship of the event,” said Jon Diament, executive VP and chief revenue officer at Turner Sports. “As Turner Sports drops the puck on its first NHL season next month, we look forward to collaborating further on new ways to reach and engage hockey’s highly-coveted fans across our expansive networks and platforms.”

The Discover NHL Winter Classic will be played Jan. 1 with the St. Louis Blues playing the Minnesota Wild at Target Field in Minneapolis. The game will be televised exclusively on TNT.

Turner Sports will start up its live NHL regular season action on Oct. 13, with a TNT prime time doubleheader beginning with the New York Rangers at Washington Capitals followed by Chicago Blackhawks visiting the Colorado Avalanche.

“We are thrilled to have Discover join us as title sponsor of the NHL Winter Classic, one of the crown jewel events on the NHL season calendar. This highly anticipated and special event on New Year’s Day brings together passionate NHL fans to celebrate the heritage of our great game,” said Brian Jennings, NHL chief brand officer and senior executive VP. “Discover, a committed NHL partner since 2010, will deliver creative and unique 2022 Discover NHL Winter Classic activations to connect with our fan base. The NHL, Discover and Turner Sports will bring the NHL Winter Classic to new heights by expanding its reach with new national and local activation.”

The National Hockey League's two newest teams will face off Oct. 12 as ESPN returns to the ice under its new contract with the league.

The expansion Seattle Kraken will take on the Las Vegas Golden Nights in the second game of an opening night double header. The Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning takes on the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1. 

Both games will also be simulcast on ESPN Plus, and more than 25 out-of-market games will be streamed live on ESPN Plus during the first week of the season.

Also Read: Streaming Takes Center Ice in NHL-Disney Rights Deal

The next night will feature Turner Sports’ first night of NHL action. The New York Rangers will play the Washington Capitals in the first game of a TNT doubleheader, followed by the Chicago Blackhawks taking on the Colorado Avalanche.

TNT will have another NHL doubleheader the following week. 

Later in the season, TNT will have the 2022 NHL Winter Classic with the St. Louis Blues playing the Minnesota Wild at Target Field in Minneapolis on Jan. 1.

Also Read: Wayne Gretzky Joins Turner Sports as Hockey Analyst

Disney’s ESPN and AT&T’s Turner replace Comcast’s NBC Sports carrying NHL games.

The Kraken’s inaugural season home opener on Saturday, Oct. 23, will be streamed live and exclusively on ESPN Plus and Hulu when they host the Vancouver Canucks in Seattle’s brand new Climate Pledge Arena.

ESPN will carry the 2022 NHL All-Star Skills Competition on Feb. 4 followed by the All Star game on Feb. 5 live from Las Vegas.

Wayne “The Great” Gretzky has signed on to the Turner Sports team as a studio hockey analyst as Turner launches coverage of National Hockey League games next season.

AT&T’s Turner Sports signed a long-term deal to televise NHL games last month.

Turner also signed play-by-play announcer Kenny Albert and analyst Eddie Olczyk to call live regular season and Stanley Cup games on TNT and TBS.

“The world’s best hockey league is coming to Turner Sports later this year and the exciting additions of Wayne, Kenny and Eddie will jumpstart our NHL coverage with some of the best and biggest talents in the sport,” said Tara August, senior VP of talent relations and special projects at Turner Sports. “Their incomparable experiences within the game and unparalleled depth of knowledge will bring a distinct dimension to our game and studio coverage. We’re thrilled to welcome them to the Turner Sports family.”

Gretzky is the all-time leader in goals, assists and points. He  won four Stanley Cups and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

“I’ve long admired Turner Sports’ coverage of the NBA, among other sports, and I’m thrilled to be joining the studio team in their inaugural NHL season,” said Gretzky. “This is an exciting opportunity to share my experiences and perspectives on the game I will always cherish, while hopefully informing and entertaining fans along the way.”

Albert has been calling hockey games since 1990 and most recently did national broadcasts for Fox and NBC.

Olcyzk, who played 16 years in the NHL, was in the broadcast booth as lead hockey analyst for NBC nationally and locally for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Turner Sports and TNT will once again take to the greens in July for its Capital One’s The Match celebrity golf tournament, with this year’s version featuring 2021 PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson.

The July 6 live event is the fourth of The Match events and will feature Mickelson and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady -- who also teamed up for TNT's May 2020 The Match event -- against 2020 U.S. Open Champion Bryson DeChambeau and reigning NFL league MVP Aaron Rodgers, according to the network. The participants will play in a modified alternate shot match, with all four players having open mics throughout the competition. 

Read Also: Turner Sports Secures NHL TV Rights Deal

Mickelson this past November teamed with NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley to play Stephen Curry and Peyton Manning in Capital One’s The Match: Champions for Change.  

Capital One's The Match will take place at Moonlight Basin in Big Sky, Montana. 

The National Hockey League will team with WarnerMedia's Turner Sports to distribute live NHL games -- including the Stanley Cup Finals -- beginning with the 2021-22 season, both parties announced Tuesday.

The seven-year deal will give TNT and TBS rights to NHL post-season games, including the Stanley Cup Finals, as well as live streaming rights for HBO Max. The deal completes the NHL’s television rights package, which also includes a seven-year deal with the Walt Disney Company and ESPN reached last month. It also ices out NBC, which has carried NHL games since 2005. 

See Also: ESPN Scores NHL Package With Stanley Cup on ABC

“Turner Sports is known for its outstanding sports coverage, quality and innovation and we are thrilled that this new partnership will provide our fans with the content they love on the platforms and devices of their choice,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. "Having WarnerMedia join the NHL family as co-rightsholders for the next seven years gives us incredible reach, positions us well for the future as the media landscape continues to evolve, and will fuel continued growth for the NHL and our Clubs.”

As part of the deal, TNT will air the Stanley Cup Finals in three of the seven years and half of the Stanley Cup Playoffs games each year. TNT will also air 72 exclusive national regular season games each season. The network will also exclusively present the NHL Winter Classic each year.  The deal gives Turner Sports rights to three of the four major sports leagues -- the NHL, NBA and Major League Baseball --  as well as the March Madness men's college basketball tournament, which it shares with CBS.

“This agreement with the National Hockey League brings one of the most prestigious championships in sports to TNT and fuels our entire Turner Sports and Bleacher Report portfolio with even more premium content for many years to come,” WarnerMedia News & Sports chairman Jeff Zucker said in a statement. “We’re delighted to spotlight the world’s best hockey league on our leading networks, while continuing to further elevate this marquee property through an ever-expanding array of digital platforms in the years to come.”

On the digital side, HBO Max will have live streaming and simulcast rights to NHL games, while Turner Sports will have TV Everywhere rights, allowing its networks to make games and related programming available to authenticated subscribers across all WarnerMedia platforms. Zucker said during a Tuesday conference call that HBO Max will not air live games right away but rather later into the deal. 

"What we're really focused on here as we begin are the Turner Networks," he said. "What we are excited about is that we do have optionality to put these games on HBO Max as well, and that will happen in the years to come. But for now the focus will be on the Turner Networks." 

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is inspiring March Madness among sponsors and generating record advertising revenue for CBS and Turner Sports.

“We’re virtually sold out,” said John Bogusz, executive VP, sports sales and marketing, CBS Network Sales, speaking on a call with reporters Wednesday. 

Bogusz said that for the big ticket items, all of the commercials in one of the Final Four games are already spoken for, and there are only a couple of units left in the other Final Four games and the championship game.

Also Read: CBS’s Sean McManus on March Madness: I’m Not Worrying About Ratings Being

A handful of spots are being reserved in case the trend to lower ratings seen in college basketball so far this year, as well as in the Super Bowl and the NBA All Star game also impacts the tournament, he said.

But ad sales at higher prices than last year have produced record revenue, said Jon Diament, executive VP, chief revenue officer, Turner Sports.

During the 2019 tournament, CBS and Turner Sports generated an estimated $655.1 million in ad revenue, according to Standard Media Index.

Diament said several new corporate sponsors signed up, helping to boost the revenue total. The new partner level sponsors are Aflac, Invesco and Great Clips.

Invesco and Great Clips actually signed up for last year’s tournament, which was one of the first events canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Aflac is brand new this year.

The Champion-level sponsors for the tournament are AT&T, Capital One and Coca-Cola. The partner level sponsors are Aflac, Buffalo Wild Wings, Buick, GEICO, Great Clips, Invesco, Lowe’s, Marriott, Nabisco, Nissan, Pizza Hut, Reese’s, Uber Eats, Unilever, and Wendy’s.

Those are generally multi-year deals, which means the event is nearly half sold out when CBS and Turner sales people hit the street each year. Those sponsorships include integrated media, marketing rights, activations and hospitality.

The big categories driving increased spending this year are insurance, auto, telecom, financial services and restaurants.

After the pandemic, both quick service and casual dining restaurants are advertising again, Diament said.

A couple of movie studios are also advertising plus streaming services, including Paramount Plus from CBS parent company ViacomCBS, which was a big Super Bowl advertiser, and HBO Max from Turner parent AT&T.

While ratings have been challenged for linear networks, spending on sports has continued to be good, said Bogusz. Diament added that Turner has been seeing record-setting revenue for its NBA season.

During the games, viewers will see new, custom contextual ads, many featuring the networks’ sports talent; in-game branding during marquee moments and commentary, made-for-TV moments and amplified social moments.

In all, 100 different advertisers will be involved in the tournament and about 90% of the advertisers buying linear ads will also be on digital platforms including NCAA March Madness Live.  

“We’re starting to see more of a trend of folks coming in and buying their inventory earlier because they’re concerned about  getting blocked out of the prime positions,” Diament added.

One thing that will make this year’s tournament different is smaller out-of-home viewership with fewer people watching in bars and in offices. For the past few years, out-of-home viewing has been included in the audience numbers on which ad sales are based.

“We expect the Nielsen number to reflect strong viewership at home,” Diament said. “There won’t be a need for a boss button.”

NCAA March Madness Live, one of the first popular sports streaming sites, will debut a new design and features as the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament returns after being cancelled last year by the COVID-19 pandemic.

March Madness Live this year is being presented by AT&T 5G, Coca-Cola and Capital, and Turner Sports, which manages it, said the new design will emphasize live video viewing, be easier to navigate and integrate seamlessly into connected and mobile devices to enable interactive experiences.

Read Also: NCAA 'March Madness' Tournament to Take Place Without Live Audience

One new feature is The Catch up, presented by AT&T 5G, which will give fans a recap of key moments from live games.

Game Center this year will be featured on all connected devices and include Condensed Games. It will also have a new tab to access interactive items, including polls, quizzes and alerts.

Fast Break, presented by AT&T 5G and Nissan returns.

This year the Capital One NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge has been optimized to integrate with live game coverage, reminding viewers which outcomes they predicted and his they affect their standings.

Matchup Analysis will allow fans to choose from 20 stats to personalize how they pick their brackets. Bracket IQ is sponsored by Invesco QQQ.

On mobile, Coca-Cola, Capital One and Buick will sponsor the NCAA March Madness Live App for iOS; AT&T 5G, Capital One and Nissan will sponsor the Android app. On connected streaming devices: Capital One and AT&T 5G will sponsor the Roku app; AT&T 5G will serve as a sponsor for the Apple TV app; Capital One and AT&T 5G will sponsor the Amazon Fire TV app; Invesco will serve as sponsor for Google TV; and AT&T 5G, Coca-Cola and Powerade will sponsor the Xbox app.

Between them, Turner Sports and CBS Sports will provide live coverage of all 67 games during the tournament across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV, plus NCAA March Madness Live.

The tournament tips off March 18.

The NCAA's March Madness men’s college basketball tournament will take place entirely in Indiana this Spring, a year after the 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA announced Monday. 

The unprecedented arrangement will allow for all 67 tournament games to take place in and around Indianapolis beginning in March, with the tournament's Final Four scheduled for April 3 and April 5, according to the organization. 

Tournament games will take place on two courts inside Indiana's Lucas Oil Stadium -- with only one game at a time being played --  as well as Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indiana Farmers Coliseum, Mackey Arena in West Lafayette and Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, according to the organization. It's unclear if fans will be allowed in the venues. 

CBS Sports and Turner Sports will continue to distribute all 67 games of the tournament across TBS, CBS, TNT, truTV and their respective digital platforms, according to the NCAA.

The announcement comes nearly a year after the NCAA canceled the popular tournament last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Also Read: NCAA Cancels March Madness

“The 2021 version of March Madness will be one to remember, if for no other reason than the uniqueness of the event,” NCAA senior VP of basketball Dan Gavitt in a statement. “With the direction of the Men’s Basketball Committee, we are making the most of the circumstances the global pandemic has presented."

The NBA is launching its 2020-21 season into a hot advertising market. All it needs are viewers.

Last season the NBA was already looking into why ratings were down before the season was abruptly interrupted by the coronavirus outbreak just after the All-Star break. Ratings stayed down in the Disney World bubble where the season resumed and the playoffs were concluded, with national games played at odd times versus competition from summer and fall sports, including the National Football League.

But hoops springs eternal, especially in the world of advertising sales. 

“The sports market is really strong now. There’s just a tremendous amount of money in scatter,” said Jon Diament, executive VP, chief revenue officer at AT&T’s Turner Sports unit. 

Also Read: The Five Spot: Jon Diament EVP, Chief Revenue Officer, Turner Sports

With the production of a lot of scripted primetime shows delayed, entertainment rating points are scarce and advertisers are turning to sports, Diament said. “Most people in the sports space are sold out, college football, NFL and NBA for the fourth quarter.” 

TNT’s NBA opening night is sold out, with more than 40 advertisers participating.

He said Tuner is projecting a sellout in the first quarter for its NBA inventory. Even the March Madness, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is seeing a sales spike, after being cancelled last year.

Disney Advertising Sales, which represents ESPN and ABC, said it saw tremendous demand for NBA Christmas Day, when it will show five games starting with the Pelicans and Heat at noon ET and concluding with the Clippers and Nuggets at 10:30 p.m. Categories showing significant growth include entertainment, computer software, cellular systems, alcoholic beverages and computers.

Partly because of the NBA’s schedule changes and partly because of how the recession affected advertisers during the pandemic, TV ad revenue for NBA games was down 12% to $10.4 billion last year, according to Standard Media Index.

For Turner, the regular season was down 9% to $171 million and the playoffs were down 14% to $232 million.

Turner will be making up some of last year’s NBA audience shortfalls in the form of make good ads for advertisers this season, Diament said.

ABC and ESPN saw NBA revenue drop 13%. For the NBA Finals on ABC revenue fell 32% to $170 million, according to SMI.

Also Read: NBA Coronavirus Suspension to Cost Disney $306M, AT&T $168M: Analyst

Diament said Turner is counting on viewership to bounce back when games return to their normal cadence, with TNT showing basketball on Tuesday and Thursday nights. It is looking to the 2018-19 season in making audience estimates.

“We were somewhat realistic. We work with our marketing partners to try to figure out a fair way to estimate [ratings] I don’t think it’s going to be as bad as last year when games were in the summer and during daytime.”

On the digital side, Bleacher Report has become more closely aligned with Turner Sports.

For example, Bleacher Report features, like it expanded House of Highlight Moment of the Month award will be announced during TNT Telecasts.

Most of Turner’s NBA packages including Bleacher Report schedules and the company is counting on Bleacher Report to recruit young basketball viewers.

Stefanie Rapp, chief revenue officer, Bleacher Report, said 74% of its audience between the ages of 13 and 37 use social media to follow the NBA and when 90% of that audience sees something exciting on social media, they tune into the live game.

This season, Bleacher Report is integrating live TNT games directly into its app. B/R app users can watch a preview of a live telecast but will need a pay TV subscription to watch the full game.

A big advertiser for both Turner and Bleacher Report is FanDuel as sports get gamified and legalized sports gambling expands into more states.

TNT’s partnership with FanDuel was announced in July. The network will be doing a number of stunts with FanDuel through the season, integrating it into telecasts.

At Bleacher Report, FanDuel will sponsor all NBA related gaming content. “We’re developing shows and we’re developing social content,” Rapp said.

“Almost everything that millennials interact with has a gamification to it,” she said. “At one end, there’s the hardcore odds bets. But oh the other end, there’s the proposition betting and that’s really where Bleacher’s sweet spot is. Who will make the first three pointer all the way to some of the more intricate prop bets. That’s where the fun and engagement for that younger generation comes into play.”

Also Read: NBA Tips Off ‘Only Here’ Campaign New Season

Diament said about 50% of Turner’s NBA ad revenue comes from multi-year deals with the NBA’s official marketing partners. That tends to stabilize revenue, even if ratings fluctuate from quarter to quarter.

Most of last year’s advertisers are back, including media companies with movie studios, including AT&T, which will be advertising that their films will be available on streaming services like HBO Max.

Also Read: CarMax Hooping as Sponsor of NBA and Turner Sports

One new marketing partner for the NBA this year is CarMax, the new official auto retailer, replacing AutoTrader. CarMax will also replace AutoTrader as the sponsor of TNT Tip-Off, beginning Dec. 22. The auto retailer will also be present for TNT’s NBA playoff games, which climax with the Eastern Conference Finals.

Key returning sponsors for TNT halftime sponsor American Express, Inside the NBA sponsor Kia, AT&T. Michelob Ultra and State Farm.

Diament added that TNT is working with the NBA on expanded in-arena signage as long as fans are not allowed to attend games.

The National Basketball Association and Turner Sports said that CarMax will be the official auto retailer of the NBA and WNBA and be presenting partner of NBA Tip-Off on TNT.

CarMax replaces AutoTrader as an NBA partner and Tip-Off sponsor.

CarMax will tip off its NBA sponsorship on Dec. 22 with TNT’s NBA Tip-Off presented by CarMax. CarMax will get in-game exposure across TNT’s 66-game regular season telecasts and on NBA TV telecasts and games viewed on digital platforms.

The auto retailer will also be present for TNT’s NBA playoff games, which climax with the Eastern Conference Finals.

“CarMax has had strong partnerships with local teams in the NBA ecosystem for more than a decade and we are excited to expand our relationship and brand awareness at the league level,” said Jim Lyski, executive VP and CMO at CarMax. “The NBA, WNBA and CarMax are all innovative brands dedicated to delivering an exceptional experience for fans and customers. Like CarMax, the NBA and WNBA are passionate about giving back to our local communities and we look forward to continuing to make an impact together in the years to come.”

The league partnership expands CarMax’s history of NBA team relationships. It has been the official auto retailer sponsor of the LA Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers and Golden State Warriors.

CarMax’s upcoming Call Your Shot campaign will feature players including four-time WNBA champion Sue Bird and three-time NBA champion Stephen Curry, as well AT&T NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion Zach LaVine of the Bulls and newly acquired Golden State Warrior Kelly Oubre, Jr., for the second year of the content series. The Call Your Shot campaign highlights the parallels of players’ on-court confidence with the confidence CarMax instills in its customers. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski is also featured in the series.

“CarMax has been woven into the fabric of the NBA for many years through successful relationships with NBA teams,” said Dan Rossomondo, NBA senior VP, media and business development. “We’re looking forward to collaborating with CarMax on a larger scale moving forward and creating unique opportunities for engagement with fans of both the NBA and WNBA.”

Turner Sports said it will televise a third golf challenge event, The Match: Champions for Change, with Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley taking on Stephen Curry and Peyton Manning on Nov. 27.

The event is being sponsored by Capital One and will appear live on TNT with live content on Turner’s Bleacher Report streaming service.

This is the third in a series of The Match events. Tiger Woods, golf’s biggest attraction will be absent for the first time. Earlier this year Mickelson and Manning participated in The Match: Champions for Charity, along with Woods and quarterback Tom Brady.

The competition format will be a modified alternate shot match play with five-time Major Champion Mickelson teaming with basketball Hall of Famer and NBA on TNT analyst Charles Barkley, as they take on three-time NBA Champion Stephen Curry – a near scratch golfer – and two-time Super Bowl Champion Peyton Manning, who played a key role in his team winning the last edition of Capital One’s The Match.

The players will again be wearing microphones, giving viewers enhanced access to the event. Cart Cam will also return.

“I’m excited to return for the third edition of Capital One’s The Match and get out on the course with these three legendary athletes,” said Mickelson. “While we may need a handicap for Chuck, I’m looking forward to playing with Peyton and Stephen and to help raise money for another important cause. It’s also going to give fans and viewers an up-close look at Stone Canyon Golf Club, a place that I’m extremely proud of and excited to show how special it is.”

Barkley, Mickelson’s teammate, added: “Capital One’s The Match has been a lot of fun to be a part of over the past few years and I’m excited to finally show off my skills on the course. Phil and I got this, I GUARR-AAAN-TEEEE!!!”

“Last year I had the incredible opportunity to play a small role in the rich history of Howard University through the game of golf,” said Curry. “I truly believe an investment in HBCUs is an investment in our future and I am honored to have the opportunity to continue to support these great institutions alongside some of my favorite players . . . and Chuck.”

Manning, Curry’s teammate, added: “Capital One’s The Match in May was such a memorable experience for me – not just competing against rivals and friends but, more importantly, contributing to COVID-19 and food insecurity relief efforts. I’m proud of the work the PeyBack Foundation has done to support HBCU students in both Louisiana and Tennessee, and I’m looking forward to helping raise additional funding and awareness for HBCUs through Capital One’s The Match.”

The Match will be held at Stone Canyon Golf Club in Arizona, owned by Mickelson Golf Properties, and will benefit Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Other initiatives are to be announced, Turner said.

“HBCUs are testaments to the ongoing achievements of the Black community in this country. As part of our work to advocate for equity and justice, we are honored to use the funds raised from Capital One’s The Match: Champions for Change to help strengthen HBCUs and create pathways to greater opportunity for the graduates of these vital institutions,” said Andy Navarrete, head of external affairs at Capital One.

The event will be closed to the public and tournament organizers are working with public health officials on competition and production logistics to ensure the event follows safety and health protocols.

AT&T’s Turner Sports said it signed a new multi-year contract extension with Shaquille O’Neal, the 15-time NBA all star and analyst for Inside the NBA and TNT Tuesday Night.

In addition to appearing on basketball coverage, O’Neal will work on entertainment and creative projects for AT&T’s WarnerMedia.

Upcoming is The Business of Basketball for NBA TV and an expansion of the Shaqtin-a-Fool franchise. He is also the executive producer of projects for Bleacher Reports.

In addition, O’Neal will also be a part of CNN’s New Year’s Live Show.

“Turner Sports is family to me – even you, Chuck – and I’m looking forward to working alongside my talented colleagues as we create many more Shaq-tastic moments in the years to come,” said O’Neal, who has worked with Turner and Charles Barkley since 2011.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“Shaquille’s tenacity as a player and loyal teammate made him one of the best to ever do it on the court, and those skills have translated to his contributions as a broadcaster,” said Tara August, senior VP of talent services & special projects, Turner Sports. “His fun, infectious personality is engaging, entertaining and beloved by fans. We’re thrilled to extend and deepen our relationship with him for many years to come.”

The return of the NBA drew double the viewership games on TNT had been drawing before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down live sports.

Thursday night’s doubleheader drew an average of 3.4 million viewers, up 109% from the average viewership this season before the stoppage.

Viewing peaked at 9:45 p.m.-10 p.m. ET during the second game of the double header when 4.1 million people watched the L.A. Lakers and L.A. Clippers. 

Related: Sports Fans Support Black Lives Matter: Nielsen Study

The first game featured the Utah Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans.

Turner Sports’ Inside the NBA racked up its highest viewership since the start of the 2018-19 season, averaging 1.3 million viewers. That’s up 101% from earlier telecasts this season.

Turner Sports Thursday (July 30) will kick off its coverage of the NBA’s return the court with a TNT doubleheader telecast of the New Orleans Pelicans-Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers-Los Angeles Clippers games, part of the network’s 18-game TV schedule for the league's shortened regular season that will run through the first two weeks of August.

Turner Sports executive vice president and chief content officer Craig Barry answered my questions about the importance of the league’s return after a four-month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic as well as some of the production adjustments the company has made to cover games from the NBA's bubble in Orlando. An edited version of the interview appears below.

How important is the return of the NBA from the perspective of a TV sports marketplace hit hard by the pandemic?

It’s very important, both for the marketplace and passionate fans of the game. We saw that enthusiasm from sports fans with (Turner Sports’ May 24 charity golf event) The Match a few months ago and there’s a ton of interest in the highly-anticipated return of the NBA. Premium live sports are must-see programming that drive large audiences, and the NBA fits perfectly into that formula.

How is TNT tailoring its coverage of the NBA from Disney's Orlando facilities?

It’s really a made-for-TV event. First and foremost, we’re going to focus on capturing everything happening on the court with an emphasis on access and storytelling. We’ll have a camera accompaniment and audio capabilities that are the equivalent of our NBA on TNT Conference Finals coverage for all game telecasts, including several new camera positions that will bring fans closer to the action than ever before. Combined with the NBA’s next gen enhancements, we’re looking forward to presenting the game in a new, creative way in Orlando.

How many Turner Sports production people will live in the bubble?

Above all else, we are prioritizing the health and safety of everyone involved so it will be a scaled down version including only those colleagues that are absolutely essential to the production itself.

What are the audience expectations for TNT and NBA TV games?

We never predict performance metrics, but there is clearly strong interest in the return of live sports and we have a very compelling schedule with prominent storylines. We’re hopeful that will be reflected in our audience figures.

Does the shift in schedule to having NBA games in the summer and early Fall hurt potential ratings, particularly with competition from other pro sports?

Traditionally that would be the case, but we’re in uncharted territory and there is no normal right now. We know there’s always a strong appetite for live sports, especially right now, and our focus is on the content itself and presenting the best product we can for our fans.

The NBA will tip off on TNT with a growing number of advertisers looking forward to the return of sports after being sidelined by the COVID-19 pandemic.

TNT will restart the season Thursday with an NBA double-header featuring rookie sensation Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans taking on the Utah Jazz in the opener and LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers taking on the L.A. Clippers and Kawhi Leonard. 

“We’re starting to see a lot of advertisers come in confident that the NBA will have a safe and successful season and playoffs,” said Jon Diament, executive VP and chief revenue officer for Turner Sports. “We had a lot of pent-up demand because of the hiatus.”

Advertisers also flocked when Major League Baseball started its season last week and signed up for the NHL, which is also about to resume skating.

“We could not be more excited,” said Ricardo Marques, VP for Michelob Ultra, the new official beer of the NBA, which is planning a unique digital courtside experience for fans.

Diament said TNT’s NBA opener is sold out and the regular season games that will be played are close to sold out. Some advertisers are waiting to see what happens in terms of the playoffs, but Diament said the post-season is already as well sold out as it has ever been.

“We expect interest to be through the roof,” especially among younger people and light TV viewers, he said. “Every game counts and you only have the best teams.”

As a result, Turner is asking higher prices for commercials, based on the big increase in viewing it expects, based in part on the big numbers Major League Baseball is generating. Turner’s ad revenues dropped in the second quarter mainly because of the NBA’s absence, but Diament expects that when the playoffs are done, ad revenues might finish up from last year.

“We’ve actually pretty conservative” in making ratings projections," Diament said, noting that Turner has been insisting that advertisers buy a consistent season-long schedule, rather than cherry picking just the potentially highest-rated games.

When the league stopped hooping in March as players tested positive for the virus, most NBA advertisers--including the NBA’s official marketing partners--had bought full commercial schedules. Nearly all of those commitments shifted from the spring to summer and fall.

Since then most businesses have adjusted to doing business amid a pandemic. “You’ve got a lot of categories that are quicker healthy by now.,” Diament said, pointing to automakers selling cars, quick-serve restaurants offering takeout and media companies promoting streaming. He added that some companies that haven’t advertising in the NBA before might this year because the fall is an important selling season for them, including back-to-school.

Most key sponsorships were renewed, with the NBA Tip-Off presented by Autotrader, the American Express Half-Time Report, Inside the NBA presented by Kia and NBA on TNT presented by State Farm coming back, joined by the recently announced The Arena presented by Tractor Supply.

A new NBA sponsor is Microsoft, which is working with Michelob Ultra on its Courtside Experience.

“What the NBA allows us to do is something that has never been done before literally in the history of sports, which is creating a virtual fan experience in partnership with the NBA and Microsoft,” Marques said.

At each NBA game, Michelob is giving away about 300 tickets to sit courtside virtually. Their faces will be seen on TV via 17-foot video boards that will surround the courts at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando. Those fans will also be able to talk to one another via Microsoft’s Together mode.

“We think this sort of experience will bring the athletes closer to the fan and the fans closer to the game,” Marques said. “There’s nothing that can replace the actual experience of sitting courtside, but this is as close as we can come for the time being.”

Michelob has been able to produce commercials to promote the experience and its NBA sponsorship despite the restrictions caused by the pandemic.

It shot a commercial with the Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler with a one-man crew directed remotely from New York, and has another teaser video with former Chicago Bulls Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen that relies heavily on computer-generated graphics.

“We’ll have a number of broadcast integrations throughout the game, many of which will of course call attention to the Michelob Ultra Courtside Experience,” he added.

Marques noted that during the pandemic, beer sales at bars and restaurants were hurt, though in-home consumption partially offset that. “We’ve seen consumers coming back to well-known trusted brands, such as Michelob Ultra,” which he said was the fastest-growing brand in the category.

“We think the NBA opens up an opportunity for us to connect Michelob Ultra with a new set of fan and new markets where we see expansion opportunities,” Marques said, noting that in some cases, the brand will be sending different messages to different part of the country.

“Our tagline is ‘it’s only worth it if you enjoy it’ and we believe that the NBA symbolizes that active enjoyment story and gives us ample opportunities for storytelling,” he said.

Tractor Supply has signed up as presenting sponsors of Turner Sports’ The Arena that will take a deep look at issues on and off the court.

The series starts July 20 on TNT as the network gets ready for the National Basketball Association to restart its season.

The Arena, created in cooperation with Bleacher Report, is hosted by Cari Champion and features former and current NBA stars Charles Barkley, Dwayne Wade and Draymond Green. The show is shot on a custom set at WarnerMedia Studios in Atlanta.

“Tractor Supply is honored to lend our support to The Arena and the opportunity to bring this relevant discussion and content to the forefront,” said Christi Korzekwa, senior VP, Marketing. “In these unprecedented times, Tractor Supply knows we are stronger together by serving the needs of our local communities, our customers and our team members. Sports have always played an important role as a unifying influence across our country and this forum will substantially add to the conversation as some of basketball’s greatest players share their valuable insights and experiences.”

CBS All Access will stream more live soccer content as part of ViacomCBS’s new extended rights deal for UEFA Champions League games.

The deal, which runs through 2024, calls for CBS All Access to now stream all UEFA club competition matches, including all UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches, beginning in August, according to the company. The streaming service will also carry the UEFA Super Cup and all UEFA Europa Conference League matches during the 2021-22 season.

ViacomCBS and UEFA had agreed to a TV rights deal beginning with the 2021-22 season, but Thursday added the conclusion of the 2019-20 season -- which was suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic -- and the 2020-21 campaign after Turner Sports last month pulled out of its deal with UEFA, which was scheduled to run through next season.

“This is a landmark acquisition for CBS as we add the world’s most popular sport to our extensive portfolio of marquee properties,” said Sean McManus, chairman, CBS Sports in a statement. “We’re excited to be the new home of the UEFA club competitions and looking forward to showcasing the best soccer in the world with a first-class presentation serving both the passionate and casual soccer fans, starting in August."

CBS All Access begins its coverage next month with the remaining round of 16 matches for the 2019-2020 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in a straight knockout tournament. CBS Sports Network will also air select games.

The streaming service adds UEFA games to its lineup of exclusive live sports events, which includes the National Women’s Soccer League tournament games it is currently streaming. 

The agreement comes the same day as NBCUniversal-owned streaming service Peacock was named as the exclusive U.S. home for UK Premier League soccer.

As Major League Baseball and its players argue over the economic health of the game during a pandemic, the league is near a lucrative new agreement to televise games with AT&T’s Turner Sports.

Under the new deal Turner will pay MLB an average of about $470 million per year from 2022 through 2023, according to Sports Business Daily. That would be up about 40% from the $325 million Turner pays under its current deal.

Fox agreed to a similar percentage increase in 2018.

Turner will continue to televise some MLB post-season games, including a league championship series, two division series and one wild-card game. Turner will be changing what it does during the regular season, exchanging its low-rated Sunday afternoon game to a Tuesday night game in primetime, according to Sports Business Daily. 

When the deal was first reported by The New York Post, it appeared to undercut some of the arguments team owners have been making about baseball’s financial health. The beginning of the season was postponed by the Coronavirus and the players union and management have been squabbling over how much players will get paid during a shortened 2020 season.

“But baseball is dying!” Phillies outfielder Andrew McCutchen tweeted sarcastically.

Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford added in a similar tone, “The industry isn’t that profitable,” just a few days after Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr. said that in an interview.

Turner Sports’ live telecast of a charity golf tournament featuring Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning scored big ratings numbers, continuing a trend of strong showings for the return of live sports events amid the pandemic.

The May 24 The Match: Champions for Charity drew 5.8 million viewers across TNT, TBS, truTV and HLN, according to Nielsen. The event, which generated $20 million for COVID-19 relief efforts, was the most-watched golf telecast in cable TV history, according to Turner.

The Match was one of a small-but-growing number of live sports events that have taken place since the pandemic forced the shutdown of most events in mid-March. Most have brought a large following of fans to TV screens.

Fox Sports has averaged nearly 4 million viewers for its first three live NASCAR telecasts, led by its first telecast since the pandemic broke out. The May 17 race at Darlington drew 6.3 million viewers on Fox — the second-best race performance this season for Fox Sports, according to Nielsen.

ESPN has pinned down some impressive numbers for its live UFC telecasts. The sports network averaged more than 1.2 million viewers for the main card of UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Harris on May 16 after generating a reported 700,000 pay-per-view buys on ESPN Plus for UFC 249 on May 9.

With most live sports sidelined since
March due to the coronavirus outbreak, industry observers say sports fans have been salivating for live sports events, whether or not they were big fans of the sport being televised.

“The audience for televised sports is not going away. If anything it’s getting larger and perhaps more passionate because they miss what they haven’t been able to see during the past few months,” sports analyst Lee Berke said.

More sports are making their way back to television, sans live audiences: pro bowling, auto racing events and a potential boxing match are on deck for June, with plans announced for the National Hockey League to conduct a Stanley Cup Playoffs tournament and Major League Baseball negotiating with the players about starting a shortened season. Berke said demand for live sports events will only increase.

“You can’t go out to games, you can’t go out to shows, you can’t go to the movies, so the audience is starving for live events and content,” he said. “If sports can be brought back safely there’s a ready-made, large audience ready to watch.” 

B&C has partnered with always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv to bring you a weekly chart we call Promo Mojo: exclusive data showing the top five TV promos ranked by ad impressions. This is the programming the networks have been promoting most heavily to drive tune-in (our data covers the seven-day period through May 24).

On the strength of 293.6 million TV ad impressions, a promo for TNT’s The Match: Champions for Charity is No. 1 (the golf special was also simulcast on TBS, TruTV and HLN). Cable networks dominate our top 5, with TNT joined by Nickelodeon, which hypes its Wild About Movies family film night in second place, and National Geographic and Discovery, which promote, respectively, Barkskins and All on the Line in fourth and fifth.

Meanwhile, NBC, the sole traditional broadcaster in our mix, grabs third place for The Titan Games. 

Notably, the Nickelodeon promo has the highest iSpot Attention Index (146) in our ranking, getting 46% fewer interruptions than the average promo (interruptions include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV).

1) The Match: Champions for Charity, TNT

Impressions: 293,558,538

Attention Score: 94.84

Attention Index: 115 (15% fewer interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 93%, Local 6%, VOD/OTT 1%

In-network Value: $2,097,133

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $102,767

2) Wild About Movies, Nickelodeon

Impressions: 278,171,303

Attention Score: 96.74

Attention Index: 146 (46% fewer interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 97%, Local 2%, VOD/OTT 1%

In-network Value: $7,513,393

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $0.00

3) The Titan Games, NBC

Impressions: 262,381,313

Attention Score: 89.24

Attention Index: 57 (43% more interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 85%, Local 14%, VOD/OTT 1%

In-network Value: $3,591,382

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $779,720

4) Barkskins, National Geographic

Impressions: 246,738,072

Attention Score: 93.26

Attention Index: 90 (10% more interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 88%, Local 10%, VOD/OTT 2%

In-network Value: $2,446,204

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $701,059

5) All on the Line, Discovery Channel

Impressions: 229,228,279

Attention Score: 94.19

Attention Index: 105 (5% fewer interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 99%, Local 1%, VOD/OTT 0%

In-network Value: $1,104,549

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $0.00

*Data provided by iSpot.tv, TV Ad Measurement for Disruptive Brands*

Impressions - The total impressions within all US households including National Linear (Live & Time-shifted), VOD+OTT, and Local.

Attention Score - Measures the propensity of consumers to interrupt an ad play on TV. The higher the score, the more complete views. Actions that interrupt an ad play include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV.

Attention Index - Represents the Attention of a specific creative or program placement vs. the average in its respective industry. The average is represented by a score of 100, and the total index range is from 0 through 200. For example, an attention index of 125 means that there are 25% fewer interrupted ad plays compared to the average.

Imp. Types - Impression types tracked include National (Live + Time-shifted), Local, VOD & OTT. See below for further details.

In-network Value - Estimated media value of in-network promos.

Out-of-network Spend - The estimated amount spent on TV airing time for this promo's spots during a given date range.

National: Live - A national promo which was viewed during live linear television broadcast or same day, via DVR or on-demand.

Local - A promo that was aired during a local ad break slot.

VOD - This includes promos that run in on-demand content past three days (i.e. do not contain the linear promo load)

OTT - On-demand streaming content (i.e. Hulu, Roku, Fire TV Stick, Chromecast).

Turner Sports this Sunday (May 24) will take viewers to the golf course for a live competition featuring Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson that is expected to raise $10 million to benefit COVID-19 relief.

Capital One’s The Match: Champions for Charity will feature Woods and Mickelson in a sequel to their November 2018 Turner Sports-distributed pay-per-view golf match, as well as iconic NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. The event is Turner Sports’ first live sports telecast since the COVID-19 pandemic forced most live sports events to the sidelines. 

Live coverage of the tournament airing on TNT, TBS, truTV and HLN will feature access with all players having open mics throughout the entire competition. The players will have the capability of communicating directly with other golfers and  broadcast commentators, which includes former NBA star Charles Barkley.

Turner Sports chief content officer Craig Barry recently talked about the origins and production of the event.

How did this event come together in light of the pandemic?

It’s really been months of preparation and it’s touched every part of our organization. Despite the pandemic, and with everyone working remotely, we’ve all come together in support of the event and we’re excited to produce a fun, entertaining event this weekend. We have four of the most iconic athletes on the planet involved and it’s all for COVID-19 relief. We hope fans will be able to take a break and enjoy it.

How big is The Match for sports-starved fans in general and golf fans in particular?

From the response we’ve been seeing, there’s strong interest in this event from both hardcore and casual sports fans. Above all, we hope it will drive meaningful funding for COVID-19 relief, while also offering people a bit of distraction from everything else they are facing in this unprecedented moment in time.

How has advertisers responded to The Match?

We were seeing a very strong marketplace before the pandemic, so it’s not a surprise that this event has generated an overwhelming response from our advertising partners. Capital One, as the title sponsor, and all of our marketing partners have enthusiastically supported both the event and its mission to drive funding for COVID-19 relief. We’re proud that we’ve been able to bring together these partners and hopefully deliver some moments that bring levity to viewers, all while maximizing how much funding we can raise in those relief efforts.

What production adjustments has Turner Sports made to televise the event due to the pandemic?

As you can imagine, our event footprint is significantly reduced to only include those individuals that are essential to the production. Most of those personnel have been hired locally for this event. That said, we’re confident in producing a high quality, entertaining show for our viewers.

What are your viewership expectations for The Match?

The key number we’re focused on for this event is the amount of funding for COVID-19 relief. That’s at the center of everything we’re doing. We don’t project viewership numbers, but we have four of the best athletes in the world on display and we think it is going to be a lot of fun for us and our fans.

Is Turner Sports developing on any other live sports events to televise in the near future?

We’re constantly seeking innovative ways to deliver premium sports content for our fans across all platforms, with this event being the latest example of that commitment. We’re very engaged with all of our partners and we’re going to keep exploring opportunities to provide content that truly resonates with fans.

Illustrating the pent up demand for live TV sports, Turner Sports has sold out the sponsorships for the upcoming Capital One’s The Match: Champions for Charity, pitting Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning against Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady.

In addition to Capital One, presenting sponsors are Audi of America, Michelob Ultra and Progressive.

Cisco and DraftKings are content integration partners and AT&T, HBO Max, Callaway, Wheels Up and E-Z-Go are associate sponsors.

The event will be simulcast on TNT, TBS, truTV and HLN on May 24 at 3 p.m. ET., which pre-match coverage on the Bleacher Report App.

While television ads are sold out, some digital packages are still available via Bleacher Report, House of Highlights and Xandr.

Turner Sports’ parent company WarnerMedia and the golfers will be donating $10 million to COVID-19 relief charities.

The event is a rematch of the Tiger-Mickelson pay-per-view showdown in 2018. Because of technical difficulties viewers wound up watching for free or getting their money back.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unimaginable tragedy and heartbreak,” said Jeff Zucker, chairman, WarnerMedia News and Sports. “We’re hopeful this event and platform will help raise meaningful funding for COVID-19 relief, while also providing a source of brief distraction and entertainment for all sports fans.”

Live coverage will feature unprecedented access with all players having open mics throughout the entire competition, including the capability to communicate directly with other golfers and the broadcast commentators.

“At Capital One, we’re committed to supporting our customers, communities and partners through this difficult time, and that is why we are proud to be the returning title sponsor of Capital One's The Match: Champions for Charity. This wonderful event will bring four of the world's best athletes together for a tremendous cause," said Marc Mentry, chief brand officer, Capital One. “Capital One knows our customers are passionate about sports, which is why we are excited to support this event and to help bring awareness to these amazing charities."

Illustrating the pent up demand for live TV sports, Turner Sports has sold out the sponsorships for the upcoming Capital One’s The Match: Champions For Charity, pitting Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning against Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady.

In addition to Capital One, presenting sponsors are Audi of America, Michelob Ultra and Progressive.

Cisco and DraftKings are content integration partners and AT&T, HBO Max, Callaway, Wheels Up and E-Z-Go are associate sponsors.

The event will be simulcast on TNT, TBS, truTV and HLN on May 24 at 3 p.m. ET., which pre-match coverage on the Bleacher Report App.

While television ads are sold out, some digital packages are still available via Bleacher Report, House of Highlights and Xandr.

Turner Sports’ parent company WarnerMedia and the golfers will be donating $10 million to COVID-19 relief charities.

The event is a rematch of the Tiger-Mickelson pay-per-view showdown in 2018. Because of technical difficulties viewers wound up watching for free or getting their money back.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unimaginable tragedy and heartbreak,” said Jeff Zucker, chairman, WarnerMedia News and Sports. “We’re hopeful this event and platform will help raise meaningful funding for COVID-19 relief, while also providing a source of brief distraction and entertainment for all sports fans.”

Live coverage will feature unprecedented access with all players having open mics throughout the entire competition, including the capability to communicate directly with other golfers and the broadcast commentators.

“At Capital One, we’re committed to supporting our customers, communities and partners through this difficult time, and that is why we are proud to be the returning title sponsor of Capital One's The Match: Champions for Charity. This wonderful event will bring four of the world's best athletes together for a tremendous cause," said Marc Mentry, chief brand officer, Capital One. “Capital One knows our customers are passionate about sports, which is why we are excited to support this event and to help bring awareness to these amazing charities."

For a guy who grew up a Knicks fan in Bergen County, New Jersey, it seemed like Jon Diament has one of the best jobs in TV, selling commercials for Turner Sports.

Then the coronavirus shut down the National Basketball Association, cancelled the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and delayed the start of the Major League Baseball season, snuffing out what had been shaping up as a fairly lucrative year in terms of ad revenue for Turner.

Diament and his Turner colleagues are looking to make a comeback in May via a charity golf event featuring a rematch of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, with quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning joining the fun.

But like other sports fans, Diament is looking for activities to keep himself physically and mentally fit. “I find an half hour in the middle of the day to do a spin class or weight lift, anything to break up the monotony of being on the phone or a Zoom meeting,” he said.

B+C business editor Jon Lafayette talked with Diament about life without sports. An edited transcript follows.

How did this golf match come about? This is a rematch. We did the first one in Las Vegas and we’ve been thinking about a new format to make it more interesting. When COVID hit, we decided we’d be one of the first, maybe only, live sporting events. Bringing other celebrities was always in the works, and playing for charity felt like the right thing. Hopefully it will be an entertaining few hours of relief of being able to watch live sports again, during the coronavirus crisis.

What was your reaction to the NBA and the NCAA basketball tournament beingcanceled? From a financial perspective, we’re super-disappointed. We sell the NCAA Tournament with CBS, and we claimed our sellout position months before the tournament. That never happened before. With the NBA, we were pacing way ahead of where we needed to be, and then all of a sudden we got the rug pulled out. It sounds like a small thing with how bad the pandemic’s been, but it did hurt us.

What do you have to sell now? We have some things going on, but we miss not having the tournament and the NBA in the second quarter, that’s for sure. We’ve got NBA TV,
NBA.com. We also have Bleacher Report in our portfolio. We’re doing podcasting with some of our personalities and producing things for social media. So I wouldn’t say we’re completely not working, but I wouldn’t say we’re at full capacity. We should be in playoff mode right now. We’ve been quite busy, having a lot of discussions with clients about what their plans are.

What are you telling advertisers? When do you guess sports will be back? We’re long-term partners with most of the advertisers; 82% to 90% of them are consistent with us from year to year. We try to work with our advertisers and encourage them to participate in the media we currently have on the air, whether it’s CNN, HLN, TBS, TNT, tru TV or Cartoon Network. We’re hopeful the NBA will come back and we’ll talk about some of those commitments when that happens. I think the folks at MLB and NBA are working feverishly to figure out how to salvage the summer and get live sports back on the air.

Are you a Zoom guy or a Hangouts guy? We use a Microsoft app called Teams. I have a happy hour with people from the sports industry every Thursday. We have league people, agency people, talent firms. It’s a tough time for the industry, but we all get together using Team for that. 

BONUS FIVE

Shows in yourqueue?The Sopranos again and Ozark.

Book on your nightstand?Mental Toughness by A.C. Drexel.

Favorite podcast?The Stream Room with Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson.

Destination on your bucket list? I am so excited to travel, I’ll go anywhere. … I’ve never been to Australia, so that’s where I would go.

Recent memorable meal? In early March, the Men’s Basketball Committee Meal at Quality Italian [in Manhattan]. It’s a formal get-together between Turner, CBS and the NCAA. On the way to the dinner, I bumped into an NBA exec who said they were talking about the Warriors game being played without fans. I was shocked.

The Division I men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments have been cancelled. NCAA president Mark Emmert made the announcement March 12.

“This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities,” the NCAA said.

The men’s tournament was expected to begin March 17 and conclude in Atlanta on April 6. The women’s championship was to start March 20 and finish in New Orleans on April 5.

Earlier in the week, the NCAA said it would hold the games, but bar spectators.

CBS Sports and Turner Sports produce the games, which air on CBS and the Turner cable networks.

The NBA put its season on hold after a player tested positive for coronavirus. 

The NBA and Turner Sports made a fast break to the direct-to-consumer consumer court Tuesday with the debut of NBA TV as a subscription-based streaming service.

NBA fans can now access the linear channel through NBA.com and the NBA app for $6.99 per month and $59.99 annually, according to Turner Sports executives. The service, which includes more than 100 exclusive live games, original programming and on-demand content, will continue to be available on an authenticated basis for fans who get NBA TV from a pay TV provider.

“Innovation has always been at the core of our NBA Digital partnership and the launch of this direct to consumer product, paired with new content initiatives, will provide NBA fans even greater opportunities to engage with NBA TV and our collective portfolio of brands,” said Tina Shah, executive vice president and general manager, Turner Sports in a statement. “As sports consumption continues to evolve, we will continue to develop new opportunities for fans to access and engage with premium NBA content.”

Along with its current lineup of content, NBA TV will also feature “Center Court,” a series of 20 live NBA games with enhanced viewing options including new camera angles, in-depth analytics and statistical graphics, and social media integration. Alternative streaming options for “Center Court” games including “Backcourt” streams featuring statistical overlays on the game feed, and “Frontcourt” streams incorporating alternative audio options with rotating groups of NBA influencers, according to the league.

“NBA TV is the ultimate destination for around-the-clock access to premium NBA games and programming,” said Chris Benyarko, NBA senior vice president, Direct to Consumer. “We are thrilled to offer more ways than ever to access NBA TV and provide a preview of the future live game viewing experience.”

The National Basketball Association tips off a new season on Tuesday, Oct. 22, and because of unprecedented player movement, a new rookie star and a wide-open championship race, the networks expect higher ratings and revenues.

Star players, including Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and Anthony Davis, have switched teams; the long-dominant Golden State Warriors are no longer favorites; and the athleticism of Zion Williamson, the NBA’s No. 1 draft pick, is putting the New Orleans Pelicans on the map and in the national games televised by The Walt Disney Co.’s ABC and ESPN and AT&T’s TNT.

Sports remains the bright spot in the linear TV world. Ratings for the National Football League are up so far this season, and media buyers have been getting money down early on the NBA, pushing prices up for ESPN’s five-game Christmas hoopstravaganza and the playoffs.

The U.S. ad market doesn’t appear to be affected by the league’s problems with China, which has pulled NBA games from TV because of a Twitter post supporting Hong Kong protesters by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey.

RELATED: 30 Years of Hoops and Fun At TNT’s ‘Inside the NBA’

Last year’s big NBA offseason news of LeBron James moving west to the Los Angeles Lakers didn’t work out so well. Ratings dropped for early East Coast games, James missed games because of injury and the Lakers missed the playoffs. For the regular season, ESPN ratings were flat and TNT was down 12%.

Revenue Up Despite Off Year

Despite the ratings dip, regular-season ad revenues for ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV rose 3% to $695.7 million, according to iSpot.tv. The playoffs generated another $829.3 million, up 12%.

This season, “the NBA marketplace is strong,” said Madhavi Tadikonda, senior vice president and group director, investment, at media agency Canvas Worldwide, whose clients include NBA official sponsor Kia.

The NBA attracts a young audience that’s hard to find in the linear space, Tadikonda said. It also has a cool cachet that gives brands permission to do fun stuff, she said.

Kia has a multiyear deal for NBA spots, which is holding down price increases for the automaker, Tadikonda said. While Kia bought most of the commercial inventory it needed in the upfront, other clients looking to buy NBA spots now are facing challenges because of high sellout levels.

“For opening week and basically throughout the fourth quarter, we are sold out,” Jon Diament, Turner Sports executive VP, said. Sales are pacing about 20% ahead of last year.

“The ad market for the NBA has never been hotter, just due to the fact that advertisers thought this season was going to be amazing for the league because of all the trades,” Diament said.

Most of Turner’s biggest NBA sponsors have stayed in place, with NBA Tip-Off and Opening Week presented by Autotrader, halftime sponsored by American Express and State Farm presenting the NBA on TNT after opening week.

Potentially having two strong teams in Los Angeles (the other being the Clippers) hasn’t hurt NBA ad sales to the movie studios, which helps set the league’s ad market, Diament said.

Other categories buying NBA ads from Turner include autos, food and beverages, quick-service restaurants and beer. Fashion brands, including sneaker companies, also buy time. There’s some interest from gaming companies such as FanDuel and at some point, when legal gambling gets closer to a national footprint, that category could be big, he said.

Turner is also working with AT&T ad-sales arm Xandr to use data to sell more targeted and addressable ads in DirecTV households. “We’re trying to become more sophisticated in what we offer our advertisers,” Diament said.

At Disney’s ABC and ESPN, the market is hot as well.

“We’re above 90% sold out for October, November and December,” Disney Ad Sales executive vice president of revenue and yield management Jim Minnich said. “For Christmas, it’s closer to 95%.”

Scatter is very strong for those five Christmas Day games, he added, with pricing up by high double-digits over upfront rates. “We’re getting pricing in scatter that’s very similar to the NBA playoffs,” Minnich added.

After Christmas, ABC will begin airing NBA games on Saturday night. “The top matchups are sitting in those windows,” he said. “We’re really excited.”

Some advertisers, seeing the strong scatter market, are already registering budgets to buy ads during the playoffs and finals, Minnich said.

This year, ESPN and Disney will carry the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals. While the East includes big markets Boston, Philadelphia and Brooklyn, those teams aren’t nearly as compelling as those in the Western Conference, where as many as six teams are seen as championship contenders. Despite that, Minnich said conference finals are pacing ahead of last year, when Disney had the West.

Strong ad categories include personal care and men’s grooming, insurance and auto aftermarket. Tech and the movie studios are also key categories.

Film companies like to do integrations with NBA games and Paramount Pictures has one coming up with Disney for its upcoming film Terminator: Dark Fate.

Disney has also signed up 25 new advertisers that haven’t been in the NBA before, including Bacardi, Target, Nature’s Bounty and Invisalign. Beyond beer, ESPN is seeing more liquor marketers signing up, especially those aiming for upscale consumers, Minnich said.

Like the NFL, the NBA has become a year-round sport, with the NBA Draft, Summer League, free agency and trades generating social conversation and TV and digital programming that Disney can sell ads against, the executive said.

The season kicks off for TNT in Los Angeles, with a doubleheader featuring Zion Williamson and the Pelicans playing the champion Toronto Raptors. In the nightcap, the L.A. Lakers take on the Clippers. The network’s Inside the NBA will be in L.A. for the opener and in San Francisco on Oct. 24, where the Clippers will play the Warriors in the new Chase Center.

For the fourth year, Turner will present the NBA on TNT American Express Road Show, which will originate in L.A. and feature musical act Halsey. There will be on-site activities, including a 5G demonstration from AT&T.

Disney’s season starts Wednesday (Oct. 23) with the Boston Celtics playing the Philadelphia 76ers, followed by the Denver Nuggets taking on the Portland Trailblazers. Disney’s first game featuring Zion Williamson occurs Friday (Oct. 25).

On Christmas Day, the ABC/ESPN lineup will be headlined by a game matching LeBron James’s Lakers, fortified by the addition of Anthony Davis, taking on the Clippers, which added NBA Finals most valuable player Kawhi Leonard and All-Star Paul George in the off season.

The Lakers-Clippers Game will air in primetime at 8 p.m. Eastern time and simulcast on ABC and ESPN.

During the season, the league has eliminated games starting at 10:30 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday nights. ESPN doubleheader games will consistently start at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. or 7:30 and 10. On Fridays, games will start mostly at 8 p.m. and 10:30, with a few 7 o’clock and 9:30 starts sprinkled in.

“We worked closely with the league to try to move some of those up for the fans,” ESPN vice president of production Mike Shiffman said. “With some of the stars on the coast, it’s good to be able to possibly see the entire game.”

New Bells and Whistles to Telecasts

In terms of production, ESPN has enhanced its graphics package and will feature a skycam at more regular-season games. Last year, the skycam, which provides a view of the court similar to the video game NBA 2K, was used mainly in the playoffs.

ESPN has revamped its pregame programming. The Jump, the studio show with Rachel Nichols originating from Los Angeles, will air before the Christmas games and before ABC’s Saturday games. Richard Jefferson, Jay Williams and Adrian Wojnarowski will also have bigger roles on NBA Countdown.

The network is also expanding online basketball show Hoop Streams, hosted by Cassidy Hubbarth with analyst and former player Kendrick Perkins. The show, available via the ESPN app, Twitter and YouTube, will originate on location more often this season, throughout the regular season and during the NBA Playoffs. Hoop Streams is available on the ESPN app, Twitter and YouTube.

During games, ESPN is also looking at second- screen opportunities, including focusing cameras on a particular player such as James or Williamson.

ESPN did that in some of Williamson’s college games. “We do not have a finalized plan, but we are working towards one,” Shiffman said.

This season will also see 107 games on NBA TV, including a new marquee game, dubbed NBA TV Center Court, on Tuesday nights. NBA TV is also expanding its studio shows, including The Warmup, which is presented by Ford.

For Ernie Johnson, the 30 years he’s worked on TNT’s Inside the NBA have zipped by.

“It’s like a blink,” Johnson said. “It seems like a couple weeks ago, I walked into that building and started doing the show.”

Initially launched on CNN, Inside the NBA this season marks its 30th anniversary. Johnson was joined by former NBA players Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal, and the show grew into an unpredictable, engaging program that transcended basketball to become a pop-culture fixture and one of a handful of programs in Broadcasting & Cable’s Hall of Fame.

TNT will mark the anniversary by showing classic clips and memories from the show and asking viewers to vote on their favorites.

RELATED: Busy Offseason Has Fans, Sponsors Eager for NBA Tip-Off

During the playoffs Inside the NBA really takes off. Over the past five years, it averaged 2.3 million viewers, topping all of the broadcast networks’ late night shows among viewers and men in the key demos. There are some viewers who skip the game and watch the studio show, and there are also some advertisers who don’t advertise in games but run commercials during the post-game festivities.

Johnson said the show became fun when Smith — a two-time NBA champion with the Houston Rockets — retired as a player and joined the show full-time. “The show hit a new level when Charles came aboard,” Johnson added. “He changed the landscape for shows like that in any sports.”

The show has endured because of its chemistry in front of and behind the camera, Turner Sports executive vice president and chief content officer Craig Barry said. Early on, it was decided not to rehearse and to make the show’s discussions spontaneous.

“We don’t produce the guys,” Barry said. “The guys produce themselves.”

Now that the show is 30 years old, Barry said, it is looking to gauge what kind of impact it has had not only on sports, but on culture in general.

Barry was a production assistant on Inside the NBA 30 years ago. He helped steer the show towards including pop culture and was in favor of adding players to the on-camera mix.

His first encounter with Barkley came when he was given a company credit card and told to take the player known as the Round Mound of Rebound out to a club in Atlanta’s Bucktown neighborhood.

“Charles was the most gracious guy ever,” Barry recalled. When people would try to talk to Barkley or get his autograph, Barkley went out of his way to introduce them to “my friend Craig,” Barry said. Then Barry went to the bathroom. When he came out Barkley was gone and so was their car.

The prank-filled atmosphere is good for audiences and also good for business. “It’s not your traditional studio show,” Turner Sports senior vice president for ad sales Jon Diament said. But Inside the NBA is so entertaining, advertisers are eager to be included.

Prices for spots during Inside the NBA averaged $46,517, according to SQAD MediaCosts: National, not much less than spots in regular season NBA games, which cost $48,388.

Kia, the presenting sponsor for the past eight years, congratulated the show on its longevity. “Kia’s ‘Give It Everything’ brand mantra syncs perfectly with the show’s ‘Win or Go Home’ approach and we look forward to many years of continued future success,” said Michael Cole, chief operating officer and executive vice president of Kia Motors America.

“They’re not your average studio guys,” added Madhavi Tadikonda, senior vice president and group director, investment, at media agency Canvas, which handles Kia. “They have fun, they make it relevant not just to sports fans, but to pop culture in general. It’s a ton of everything you could ever want in a sports show, and there are a lot of non-sports watchers watching the show. So it’s a great property for us to associate ourselves with.”

Kia is looking at opportunities to participate in the anniversary celebration, Tadikonda said. Among the options is creating branded content with the hosts.

Last year, fans were invited to take shots at a basket on the back of a Kia driven by O’Neal. “The show knows the brand so well that they come up with a lot of creative things with the Kia team and they get executed flawlessly,” Tadikonda said.

No Nostalgia Overload

Barry said TNT won’t be overdoing its 30th anniversary celebration. “We’re not going to paste it all over,” he said.

The show also plans to put together the 30 greatest Inside the NBA moments and have fans vote on them.

Many of those best moments live on YouTube: Ernie running down Kenny as Kenny tries to duplicate Kobe Bryant’s leap over a car; a diaper-changing contest between Barkley and new father Kenny; the set being turned into a champion’s lounge and Barkley being excluded; Shaq knocking down the set while running to the video board.

How much longer will Inside the NBA go on? “I can go on as long as you want me to,” said Johnson, noting that they’ve been fortunate that other job offers never came to pull the cast apart.

After 30 years, Johnson doesn’t expect the show to change much this season. “I think we’re very fortunate to be in that situation where the folks at Turner look at us and say, hey, let’s not mess with it,” he said. “Let’s let those guys do their thing.”

Recently named WarnerMedia news and sports chairman Jeff Zucker said Tuesday that Turner Sports is in "terrific" shape and that he views both news and sports as similar with regards to his programming approach.

“I think news and sports are very much the same in the sense that they’re both about human beings and drama and stories,” Zucker, who oversees CNN, told reporters attending CBS and Turner’s annual NCAA 'March Madness' college basketball tournament press breakfast. “I’ve personally gone back and forth between the two, and I think that’s why I’ve always tried to bring the same approach to both. It’s about telling a great story.”

Zucker, who was named to the new post last week amid the recent departures of Turner president David Levy — who previously oversaw Turner Sports — and HBO chairman Richard Plepler, said that Turner Sports is well positioned with its combination of strong linear cable network outlets such as TNT and TBS, marquee sports packages including deals with the NBA and Major League Baseball, and its digital streaming presence with Bleacher Report Live.

Related: WarnerMedia Plots OTT Plan Amid Departures 

“It's the combination of the three that will continue to be the strategy, and we want to make sure we’re playing in all three [areas].” he added.

Zucker also wouldn’t rule out partnering with CBS to go after more high-profile league sports packages in the future, something that CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus also endorsed.

“We partnered with Turner on the PGA championship for a number of years and that worked out really well,” McManus told reporters. “We’re open to doing partnerships if it makes sense for both partners. There’s nothing specific on the books, but I could see us teaming with Turner on other properties.”

Zucker, who said he launched his television career working as a producer on NBC’s 1988 Olympics coverage, said that he sees additional growth for Turner Sports in new, emerging sports that will require some business development. “The combination of the linear channels as well as Bleacher Report Live gives us the opportunity to foster growth there,” he said. 

Turner Sports will televise regular and postseason games from the upstart Alliance of American Football League as part of a multi-year distribution agreement between the two parties.

TNT and Turner’s Bleacher Report Live streaming service will air live games from the eight-team league -- which launches the week after Sunday’s (Feb. 3) Super Bowl. TNT will air the Feb. 16 Salt Lake Stallions vs Birmingham Iron game, part of its deal to air one regular season and one playoff game each year during the length of the agreement, according to network officials.

B/R Live will air weekly regular season games, beginning Feb. 23 with the Arizona Hotshots vs. Salt Lake Stallions contest. In addition to live game coverage, all Alliance games distributed through B/R Live will be available on demand, with highlight rights extending across B/R platforms.

Turner Sports joins CBS Sports in distributing Alliance games. CBS broadcast network will air the championship game, while CBS Sports Network will carry at least one game per week.

“We’re looking forward to this exciting partnership with The Alliance – including working closely with its leadership team of Charlie Ebersol, Bill Polian, Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu – and share the enthusiasm and forward-thinking vision being applied to this newly-formed league,” said Lenny Daniels, President of Turner Sports in a statement. “This is a true partnership and The Alliance will have our full support in the distribution of its live game coverage and content across the Turner Sports portfolio.”

The Alliance of American Football will play a 10-week regular season schedule, with a four-team playoff format and a championship game to determine the league’s top team. The league’s inaugural eight teams include: Atlanta Legends, Birmingham Iron, Memphis Express, Orlando Apollos, Arizona Hotshots, Salt Lake Stallions, San Antonio Commanders, and San Diego Fleet. 

The NBA and Turner Sports will team with Yahoo Sports to launch a new nightly, mobile-targeted studio show on the Yahoo Sports App beginning Jan. 21, according to the league.

The Bounce live show will feature rotating analysis including former NBA stars Gary Payton and Jason Terry, along with WNBA legend Swin Cash discussing the evening’s games, according to the league. The show will also feature in-progress highlights, a live scoreboard, social media integrations and behind-the-scenes footage.

“The Bounce will offer a new way for our passionate fans to experience NBA content on their mobile devices, as both a standalone show or as companion programming to live games, so viewers have the option to tune in to the national and locally televised games that are profiled on the show,” said David Denenberg, senior vice president of Global Media Distribution and Business Affairs, NBA in a statement. “The Bounce builds on Yahoo Sports’ comprehensive NBA programming that already includes editorial coverage, traditional highlights and the league’s official Fantasy Game.”

The now infamous technical glitches that ultimately made the Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson Black Friday pay-per-view golf event a free-per-view event weren't a total bogey for the industry.

Yes, the match failed to deliver reported millions of dollars from PPV buys for the category after most PPV distributors offered refunds to viewers purchasing the event due to OTT streaming service Bleacher Report Live's decision to put the $19.95 event in the clear for its subscribers after suffering through technical issues delivering the live golf match. 

But the silver lining for the Turner Sports-distributed event-- which pitted two of the most popular and successful golfers of this generation against one another -- is that it ended up generating better than expected PPV orders from both the traditional cable and digital streaming side, according to sources close to the situation. No official PPV buy tally for the event was available at press time. 

While the PPV numbers for Tiger vs Phil will not come anywhere near that of 2015's industry record- setting Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight, industry observers say the performance does bodes well for the much-needed expansion of the PPV event category beyond boxing and mixed martial arts in terms of the category's ability to attract viewers to a non-ring sports event.

Traditional cable, satellite and telco distributors did not report any technical glitches offering the event, in which Mickelson defeated Woods in 22 holes of golf competition. Nevertheless, most distributors provided rebates to consumers after Turner Sports’ upstart Bleacher Report Live streamed the event free to its subscribers due to technical glitches that kept paying viewers from watching the golf competition.

The streaming of live pay-per-view sports events is still in an infancy stage, so inevitably technical problems can and will occur. PPV event distributors say a small percentage of overall PPV buys for big events are generated from streaming services, but when technological issues pop up during marquee events like Tiger vs. Phil or last year’s Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor mega fight, the category’s growing pains are magnified.

Unfortunately, Bleacher Report Live’s glitch and Turner’s decision to pull the event from behind B/R Live’s pay wall -- and the subsequent refunds offered by cable, satellite and telco distributors -- all but wiped out any chance of the event generating significant revenue from PPV transactions.

Once the smoke clears however, the PPV industry might eventually view the Tiger vs Phil PPV event as a success in bringing new viewers to category. That will hopefully encourage Turner Sports and other content producers to consider offering unique and potentially attractive sports events to the PPV category. 

Turner Sports Thursday released a new video showcasing its upcoming Nov. 23 Capital One’s The Match: Tiger vs. Phil pay-per-view golf event.

The “Destiny” video short features golf legends Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson as they discuss their storied careers and on-course meetings over the past three decades through a mashup of highlights. The PPV event will feature the two golfers as they face off against each other in an 18-hole golf match.

Tiger vs. Phil will be available on PPV through Turner’s digital SVOD sports service Bleacher Report Live as well as to MVPD providers through through In Demand and Vubiquity, according to Turner.

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."

Turner Sports said it has signed a multi-year deal to use Intel’s technology to deliver live NBA games in virtual reality, starting with All-Star weekend.

The games will be available to cable and satellite subscribers for free via an authenticated NBA on TNT VR App powered by Intel.

Intel will also be a global provider of virtual reality and 360-degree volumetric video with Intel freeD technology for official NBA broadcast partners globally.

The NBA has jumped into the virtual reality space. Before the season started it announced that its League Pass subscribers will have access to 27 games in VR this season using NextVR technology.

Related: NBA Adds VR Subscription Package to League Pass

“We all recognize that the VR market hasn’t fully materialized, but from the NBA’s point of view, we’d really like to be ready with the best possible experience when it does materialize,” said Jeff Marsilio, vice president, global media distribution, for the NBA. “The partnership represents another opportunity to experiment with a first-class VR technology company in Intel and to work with one of our longest-standing partners in the broadcast space with Turner.”

Marsilio said the NBA sees VR as a way to give fans access they might not otherwise not be able to experience, such as sitting courtside beside big-time celebrities. He says viewing of NBA games in VR is up sharply.

“That means there must have been a lot of progress in the last few months in penetration of the market and maybe, I hope, a lot of progress in the product we’re providing,” he said.

Related: Intel Dumps 'Project Alloy'

The virtual reality games will be different from the games TNT regularly televises. The schedule will be announced closer to the All-Star game. The first arenas to install the Intel freeD technology are the American Airlines Center in Dallas, home of the Mavericks, and Quicken Loans Arena, where LeBron James and the rest of the Cleveland Cavaliers play home games.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

With the finish line in sight, British long distance runner and Olympic gold medalist Mo Farah made one final sprint at the IAAF Diamond League finals in Zurich, Switzerland, last month. It was the last race of his long and distinguished track and field career and, coming up from behind, he won the last title in his storied career to wild applause.

NBC Sports Group televised Farah’s triumph to track and field fans live via its Track and Field Pass service, a $69.99-per-year, direct-to-consumer service that’s part of an emerging category of digital streaming sports subscription offerings that could threaten to sprint past traditional linear cable sports services to super-serve sports fans across the country.

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Traditionally, live sports programming lived in cable bundles that featured national sports networks like ESPN and FS1, as well as regional sports networks and a handful of general entertainment services.

But now, subscription digital sports services can showcase a huge roster — whether it’s NBC Sports Group offering packages with sports ranging from track and field to cycling to rugby; or Turner Sports kicking up a proposed OTT service geared to UEFA Champions League European football; or ESPN planning a direct-to-consumer service featuring 10,000 live Major League Baseball, National Hockey League and Major League Soccer games.

Getting Cord-Cutters in the Game
The new services seek to provide additional revenue to help sports programmers offset the high cost of rights while giving younger cord-cutting fans an opportunity to access content that’s not typically offered on linear sports channels.

“Before, if you were a cord-cutter or cord-never, you effectively said sports aren’t important to you because the only way to access U.S. pro sports content was through the pay TV network ecosystem,” fuboTV chief financial officer Joel Armijo said. “Now, in the [internet protocol] world, we’re moving toward completely personalizing that experience for a sports fans looking for that lean-forward kind of immersive experience.”

The sports industry has already taken several swings at the multiplatform, direct-to-consumer digital subscription model — all of the major pro sports leagues offer out-of-market packages of live games — while national and regional networks have offered marquee sports via TV everywhere platforms to authenticated viewers subscribing to the traditional cable bundle. As a result, audiences are increasingly viewing live sports content on phones, laptops and computers.

At the same time, younger viewers in particular are increasingly cutting the cable cord or choosing not to subscribe to cable at all, decreasing the pool of potential viewers who watch linear sports content. Pay TV providers lost about 976,000 net video subscribers in the second quarter of 2017, continuing a disturbing trend for cable networks, according to Kagan.

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The realities of the changing marketplace have pushed several linear sports channels, which are heavily reliant on distributor license fees and advertising dollars to offset high sports-content fees, to look for opportunities to generate revenue on alternative platforms. Last month alone, three major sports-media players committed to stepping onto the direct-to-consumer field within the next year:

● ESPN, which has recently suffered subscriber losses — its subscriber total was down 3.5% in its recent third-quarter earnings report — will launch a new service in 2018 that will mostly offer content not currently available on the linear channel. Offerings would include MLB and NHL content from BAMTech, which provides the technological backbone for the two leagues’ out-of-market streaming packages, and which is now majority-owned by ESPN parent The Walt Disney Co. While details of the service are vague, Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger said during the earnings report that the launch of the direct-to-consumer service marks “an entirely new growth strategy for the company.”
● CBS Sports will launch a new OTT service later this year. It also launched a Showtime PPV app on Apple TV devices for the Aug. 26 Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor pay-per-view boxing match.
● Turner Sports — which distributes National Basketball Association games on TNT and Major League Baseball games on TBS — will launch a new streaming service based on its recent acquisition of UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League rights in 2018.

Sports media consultant Lee Berke said the recent OTT sports service announcements mark a shift in the traditional cable bundle’s virtual stranglehold on the category as viewers migrate to more multiplatform viewing.

“I don’t think the bundle or traditional cable is going away, but it’s shrinking, and the days of 80% to 90% penetration of cable services in homes are gone,” said Berke. “The key is that [sports networks] need to be in [the digital] space in an aggressive way and take a new look at their programming rights to see how best to divvy them up in an innovative range of approaches that meet the needs of new generations of viewers that may think their televisions are their phone, laptop or tablet.”

NBC’s Niche Play
Still, cable sports networks have to walk a fine line in trying to generate new digital revenue streams with direct-to-consumer services while not syphoning away cable subscribers from its linear cable channel offerings. NBC Sports Group has tried to have the best of both worlds by launching several direct-to-consumer services under its NBC Sports Gold service featuring niche content and international sports.

The company’s Cycling Pass, Pro Motocross Pass, Track and Field Pass, Rugby Pass and Premier League Pass all offer content that isn’t available on broadcaster NBC or cable sports network NBCSN, said Rick Cordella, executive vice president and general manager for Digital Media for NBC Sports Group.

While NBC Sports Group remains a big supporter of the existing cable ecosystem, the advent of new digital technology, combined with viewers’ willingness to watch content on multiple platforms (NBC’s Sunday Night Football drew an average of 600,000 unique digital viewers to NBCSports.com last year), represents a chance to deliver content to underserved groups of fans, Cordella said.

“What I think has happened is, the technology is now available to deliver these products, and the acceptance of that technology allows you create offerings like NBC Gold that weren’t possible years ago,” Cordella said. ”People are willing and open to watch content this way.”

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A huge question looming over this shift is whether enough underserved sports fans would be willing to pay anywhere from $10 to $70 to watch live sports fare on their phones and laptops. Cordella wouldn’t provide specific subscriber numbers for any of the five OTT sports services, but he said the numbers have “exceeded expectations.”

OTT provider fuboTV is one player that’s skeptical that sports alone will draw enough subscribers to change the game in a video-streaming marketplace dominated by entertainment services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video. A mix of quality sports content and entertainment-based fare will attract a broader audience and score more revenue dollars, CFO Armijo argued.

FuboTV’s 70-plus channel Fubo Premier bundle sells for $34.95 and includes 35 channels that feature sports content, including soccer-heavy beIN Sports, fuboTV Network, Eleven Sports and most recently, Pac-12 Network, to go along with FS1, Golf Channel, Olympic Channel, NBCSN, CBS Sports Network and NBA TV. Also part of the bundle are a number of news and entertainment-based channels including Lifetime, Fox News Channel, USA Network, Univision, El Rey Network, HGTV, Hallmark Channel and History.

“We will continue to work to really super-serve sports fans and that’s very core to what we do,” Ben Grad, fuboTV’s North American head of content strategy and acquisition, said. “At the same time, there’s no one-size-fits-all model out here. We’re confident with our approach of being able to very well serve a number of customers in the marketplace with both sports and entertainment programming.”

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Still, NBC’s Cordella said a sports-only OTT service is an easy sell to fans hungry to watch their favorite sport. “One of the good things about sports is the fact that this is a known entity — you’re tapping into a built-in fan base that already exists,” he said. “When you take a particular soccer game and say, ‘It’s this team versus that team,’ you know exactly what you are getting, as opposed to entertainment services where you have to explain what the content is and why it’s different and better than what your cable subscription already has.”

It could be a while before standalone OTT services replace pay TV providers, Berke said, but companies that don’t explore the direct-to-consumer marketplace do so at their own risk.

“I don’t know if it’s the end game, but it is a necessary step,” Berke said. “It doesn’t mean that that’s the only way consumers will be watching sports in the future, but it means that you need to have a substantial presence there if you’re going to keep yourself relevant for new viewing options. You have to be able to reinvent yourself for each new generation.”

Turner and the NCAA said they will offer paid access to up to six games in virtual reality during the remainder of the Division I men’s basketball tournament.

That coverage, offered on the NCAA March Madness Live VR App for the Oculus-powered Samsung Gear VR mobile headset, will include games from the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds for the West Region in San Jose, as well as the Final Four National Semifinals and the National Championship.

They said this will market the first time that games from the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds have been available in VR. For last year’s tournament, Turner and CBS worked together on a free VR  project around the Final Four.

The NCAA March Madness Live VR app with Intel True VR is sponsored by Intel. VR coverage will be in part powered by virtual reality systems Intel acquired last year from Voke, the company behind a sports-focused VR production platform that includes a proprietary stereoscopic capture system.

RELATED: Turner App Adds VR for Final Four

This year’s VR feeds will be made available through VR Premium Ticket at the Oculus store, and support two paid options:

-Gold: $2.99 per game, or $7.99 for all six games, for “fully-produced VR coverage” that includes access to multiple courtside cameras, sounds from inside the arena, along with dedicated game commentary from Spero Dedes along with analyst Steve Smith and reporter Lisa Byington.  That trio will call the game specifically from the perspective of fans watching the live coverage in VR.

-Silver: $1.99 per game, for access to a VR experience from a single courtside camera presentation (180-degree live stream) with the same commentary featured on the CBS broadcast with  Jim Nantz, analysts Grant Hill and Bill Raftery, along with reporter Tracy Wolfson.

The reach and adoption of VR technology has reached a point to support a premium, courtside  approach that consumers will pay for, Hania Poole, GM/VP of NCAA Digital, Turner Sports, said.

“I believe it’s a business model that very well could take off,” she said, noting that Turner and the NCAA will also provide some in-game highlights on Facebook’s 360 video platform to help promote the experience.

“I think it brings the fan closer to being there,” Poole added, noting that the VR experience around the tournament will also provide more in-arena audio than before.

Update:  Intel, Turner Sports, CBS Sports and the NCAA announced a broader, multi-year deal to provide “Intel True VR” technology for this year’s tournament.  Intel noted that Intel Tru VR is the new brand to emerge from the Voke acquisition.  Intel noted that it will use camera pods (12 cameras per pod) to deliver up to 48 cameras devoted to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games, and 84 cameras for the Final Four semifinals and National Championship.

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. 

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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. 

Boston Celtics great Kevin McHale is returning to Turner Sports as an NBA analyst.

He has struck a multi-year deal for TNT game telecasts and analysis on NBA TV's Fan Night.

McHale was with Turner in 2009-2011 before exiting to coach the Houston Rockets and work in the NBA front office. He was a guest analyst on TNT's NBA playoff coverage last season.

“Kevin is one of the most respected basketball minds in the history of the game and we’re thrilled to welcome him back to the Turner family,” said Albert “Scooter” Vertino, GM of NBA Digital and SVP of programming for Turner Sports.

McHale teamed with Larry Bird and Robert Parish in the Celtic's front court, recording three NBA championships. His jersey was retired in 1994.

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.

Turner Sports has promoted Will Funk to executive VP, sales  and property partnerships,  a new post.

Funk, who had been senior VP of sponsorship integration and business development, will continue to report to Jon Diament, executive VP of Turner Sports ad sales.

In his new position Funk will develop and manage long-term marketing partnerships built around Turner Sports properties such as NBA basketball, NCAA March Madness and the new eSports League.

“Will has played a critical role in expanding our NCAA corporate marketing program, while also developing signature marketing partnerships around high profile NBA content,” Diament said.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

RELATED:Recruiting Tips for TV's Digital Age

As the pay TV industry continues its digital transformation, the makeup of the workforce required to keep it going is taxing recruiting efforts, throwing programmers and distributors into a talent competition that rivals anything on reality TV.

In this competition, job-seekers are the judges and employers are the contestants vying to be given a chance. Social-media specialists, cross-platform content producers, app developers, network engineers, IT security pros, data jockeys and other in-demand candidates are in command of the buzzers in the big black chairs, and pay TV recruiters hit the stage with their acts:

Wanted:Content developer and TV fan passionate about our brand who can create short-form video, post it online, tweet it, put it on Facebook and then parse who’s engaging with it and why.

Wanted:Cloud architect and TV fan passionate about our brand who can create infrastructure required to support future TV Everywhere strategy and interface with Big Data system to parse who’s engaging with TVE apps and why.

TV businesses have an overwhelming need for an elusive candidate who has blended skills across multiple platforms in an environment where the traditional lines between users and IT, production and distribution, even digital and analog platforms, have blurred. Pay TV companies are no longer simply recruiting against each other, but against an insatiable demand for digital and tech pros across all industries, particularly the digital companies they’re increasingly competing against for eyeballs.

Networks and multichannel distributors are trying to fill the same digital and technology roles, requiring the same scarce skills, as a group of companies many simply refer to as “the Googles” — Google, Apple, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon are the most commonly cited — the über-aspirational digital companies for millennials coming into the marketplace.

While pay TV’s digital transformation has been swift and impressive to industry insiders, job seekers from outside the pay TV ecosphere are harder to convince.

“There’s a perception, whether true or not, that we aren’t as far along as we should be,” Renee Hauch, executive vice president of media and entertainment industry recruiter Carlsen Resources, said. “And that has affected the recruiting.”

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Turner Sports found that an internship program originally created to give recent college grads, including student-athletes, a break into the sports media business yielded the kind of candidates it needed for wider digital initiatives.

The company designed the program in 2010 as part of its year-round partnership with the NCAA, selecting 10 recent college graduates to cover Turner’s NCAA portfolio. Six years later, the program draws 1,600 applicants, and the current class of 10 interns is working not just on content, but across product management, editorial, video production and marketing, “all with a digital focus,” Turner Sports executive vice president and general manager Matt Hong said.

“While we created the program principally as a way to help individuals break into the sports industry, something that has traditionally been tough to do, it also serves as a beneficial tool to Turner Sports to have a pool of incredible talent from which to fill permanent roles at the end of the internship year,” Hong said. About half of those who complete the program stay on with Turner Sports at the end.

Since then, Turner Sports has created a similar program to support its social media eff orts for its National Basketball Association, NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Major League Baseball, PGA and ELeague assets.

GOING OUTSIDE

“The pay TV industry is pretty small, and people maintain tight-knit relationships,” Chris Barksdale, Scripps’s vice president of human resources, said. “When you start trying to expand beyond our industry, it’s really hard to find someone with the right amount of industry knowledge and a fresh perspective.”

Add to that the tech credentials: Barksdale said Scripps is looking for cloud architects, cybersecurity specialists for “a wholly reimagined team, starting from scratch, to run and build our security going forward,” and developers. “Put anything in front of that, and we need it,” he said, citing content, apps and software developers as examples.

“Our challenge is, we have two voices,” Barksdale said. “We have strong linear TV brands, and that is really helpful in recruiting when we find people who are passionate about those. But we also have a second voice, around technology, and that is a whole brand that I am laser-focused on creating a voice for.”

He’s crafting that voice to counter any notion that an evolving traditional-TV company can’t play in the same sandbox with the Googles: “We play with cool new technologies, and we’re innovative and competitive with Silicon Valley, with great, fulfilling jobs.”

SIDEBAR: Embracing Digital to Fill Digital Jobs

As Scripps Networks Interactive copes with the fact that it’s as much a digital/technology company as a pay TV programmer, its human resources department has one overarching mission: Connect with the right candidate at the right time.

“iOS app developers are not hanging out on LinkedIn,” Chris Barksdale, SNI’s vice president of human resources, said. “You have to go find them in a place where they’re comfortable, like a forum for a technology they trust, and speak to them there. Recruiting for digital talent is a very different proposition now, vs. five to eight years ago.”

In its quest to connect with that talent, Scripps’s HR team is embracing digital tools to fill digital jobs — “technology that connects us to the places that our target candidates are and where we have a chance to define our voice,” Barksdale said.

When you’re recruiting against Google and Netflix, you can’t lose any time. Scripps HR has streamlined the way it recruits candidates, tracks applicants and fills positions by overhauling its backend HR system and giving staff mobile front-end tools.

“All of our stuff is in one system, within the same infrastructure, and it’s all current,” Barksdale said. “I can use it on my phone, my iPad, my laptop, and on each I can do all the things I need to do as an HR manager.”

With a new infrastructure and mobility in place, Barksdale is moving on to phase two: bolting on additional digital tools to maximize recruiters’ reach and efficiency.

“As jobs become harder to fill and we shift the way we look for talent, we need our recruiters to spend more time sourcing candidates and less time on tasks,” Barksdale said.

Turner Sports said it plans to launch its new Esport video-game competition show, the ELeague, on May 24.

The first tournament will be covered live over 10 days from Turner Studios in Atlanta. The first competition will feature Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the game from Valve.

Coverage will run on Turner digital platforms with a three-hour Friday-night showcase on TBS, starting at 10 p.m. ET.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.