NBA TV

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NBA TV is a television network that is dedicated to showcasing the sport of basketball in the United States. The network is financially backed by the National Basketball Association (NBA), which also used NBA TV as a way of advertising their Pay Per View programming. Like The Golf Channel, The Tennis Channel, and, during the 1980s, The Boxing Channel, NBA TV dedicates all of its programming to the sport it showcases. At houses with DirecTV and most cable television companies, the channel can be viewed twenty-four hours a day.

Started in 1999 as nba.com tv, the channel, which has its studios at NBA Entertainment in Secaucus, New Jersey, began a multi-year deal with American television companies Cox Communications, Cablevision, and Time Warner on June 28, 2003, allowing the network to expand to 45 million American homes, and 30 different countries. NBA TV replaced Time Warner's CNN/SI on many cable systems after that network shut down a year earlier.

NBA.com TV logo.

NBA TV offers basketball news every day, as well as programming showcasing basketball players' individual lifestyles, life as a basketball team during an NBA season, famous games of the past, and, four nights a week, live NBA basketball games (unlike ESPN, blackout restrictions apply on NBA TV's live NBA games, meaning games available on the local channel are blacked out on NBA TV at the local area, while ESPN does not have this restriction). NBA TV broadcasters include Andre Aldridge, Rick Kamla, Gary Apple, Fred "Mad Dog" Carter, Hall of Famer Gail Goodrich and Bruce Beck, as well as New York area journalists Peter Vecsey and Frank Isola. Spero Dedes left NBA TV to become the radio voice of the Los Angeles Lakers. On the production side, NBA TV [1] has veteran statistician's Dave Katz & Andy Renga. The channel also shows international games, typically on Saturday evenings, with special emphasis on the Euroleague and the Maccabi Tel Aviv team from Israel. In April 2005, the channel televised the Chinese Basketball Association finals for the first time. [2] NBA TV has 96 regular season games on their schedule for the 2005-06 NBA season, half of which are also available in high definition. NBA TV also broadcasts WNBA games nationally, along with ESPN2.

[edit] International presence

In 2001, Raptors NBA TV begin airing in Canada. Although quite similar to NBA TV, there is a larger focus on the Toronto Raptors basketball team, mainly due to Canadian content requirements.

In 2004, NBA TV began to be seen in Venezuela. Hungry to see American basketball players in action, many Venezuelans asked for the channel, and President Hugo Chávez obligued. Venezuelans receive the NBA TV signal on Saturday nights, and Chávez allows for one recorded game to be shown, although he has chosen two sports broadcasters to do the game's coverage, and he advised them to speak well about his presidential campaign during the transmissions of these recorded games.

As of 2006, NBA TV can be seen in 40 countries via the following partners: