The NBA is apparently “exploring selling a stake in its digital assets, which include its cable television network and Web site, to a media company”. Commissioner Stern was quoted in the Reuters article as saying:
“We are thinking about expanding the ownership base of our digital assets to include a media company. We anticipate a new deal will make both NBA TV and NBA.com more robust. We have made it clear that for us a discussion of all of our assets on a global scale is available.”
Selling a large stake in league owned enterprises such as NBA TV and NBA.com could be beneficial for the NBA. Anything to bring in more money and stop owners from begging for revenue sharing.
From a television standpoint, selling a large stake of NBA TV to a company like Disney or Time Warner could help the network in terms of credibility. Unlike NFL Network, NBA TV doesn’t have any real personlalities (outside of the not very well known Rick Kamla). There is no Bryant Gumbel or Cris Collinsworth on NBA TV. Come playoff time, the voice of the network’s small slate of games is Ian Eagle (previously Spero Dedes), who is far from a voice anyone outside of Jersey associates with basketball. According to a separate Reuters article, “Time Warner owns a 2 percent stake in NBA TV and Stern said the cable company and the league are discussing an increase in that stake.” Selling a large stake to Time Warner could mean an increased presence of Turner personalities; the NBA could move some of its TNT Overtime video to NBA TV. Also from Reuters:
In other words, Stern is thinking of ceding promotion and production of NBA TV and NBA.com to people who know how to do it better. Games on NBA TV are barely promoted and NBA.com finds itself behind MLB.com and NFL.com in the Alexa web search rankings. There’s nothing to lose and everything to gain.
