In advance of the 2007 NBA Playoffs, TNT Sports has launched an NBA-centric Myspace page. The page goes live today, and will feature among other things “candid photos of the stars of Inside the NBA, including Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson on the page on a regular basis. Barkley, Smith, Johnson and others will also occasionally post blog entries on the site throughout TNT?s playoff coverage, as will members of the network?s NBA production crew.”
Going to Myspace is a sensible move for TNT; the NBA already has its own channel on YouTube (as does the National Hockey League), and this only continues the intermingling of new media with sports — for example, earlier this year, ESPN acquired sport-specific independent sites TrueHoop and Jayski.com.
Giving the product directly to the desired demographic can only work well for TNT as the network tries to maintain the high television ratings from last year’s postseason.
