The NBA and TNT Sports are parting ways again.
TNT Sports will no longer operate NBA TV and NBA.com as of October 1, CEO Luis Silberwasser said in a Friday memo obtained by Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports. NBA TV, which will continue to air live games next season, had been run by TNT Sports since 2008.
While TNT’s settlement with the NBA requires it to create content for the NBA’s digital platforms, it is unclear whether there will be any TNT-produced content on NBA TV beyond the end of the current agreement.
The decision is not a surprise, as early reporting that TNT would continue running NBA TV and NBA.com as part of its settlement was immediately walked back. While Silberwasser said Friday that TNT had been in negotiations to continue running NBA TV, it is not clear whether the league was ever receptive.
With NBA TV originating from TNT’s Atlanta studios, the league-owned channel had for all intents and purposes become a part of the TNT Sports family. Most, if not all, of its on-air regulars held other roles on TNT programming — whether the now-concluded NBA package, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, or in the case of hosts and play-by-play voices, any number of properties outside of basketball.
Prior to the TNT agreement, the network operated out of the league’s Secaucus, N.J., studios.
McCarthy initially reported that MLB Network has held early talks to potentially operate NBA TV, but that was retracted in a later update. The league instead intends to take production in-house.
