New York, NY, November 12, 2002? The NBA has renewed television agreements with many long-time international partners including NHK (Japan), TV Azteca (Mexico), Canal + (Spain), Canal + (France), CCTV (China) and ESPN Star Sports (Asia). This season, NBA games and programming are televised to a record 212 countries in 42 languages via 148 different telecasters. A record 12 telecasters from China will provide unprecedented NBA coverage to their region.
For the first time ever the NBA will be seen on NTV (Turkey), Deportes 13 (Puerto Rico), Telesport (Romania), Lider TV (Azerbaijan), Channel 31 (Kazakhstan), TVM (Mozambique), Saudi Sports Channel (Saudi Arabia) and
Telemundo (United States). The league has also renewed deals with many prominent international telecasters this season, including CTV (Taiwan), ATV (Hong Kong), PPVJ (Japan), Sport TV (Portugal), Deportes en La Cumbre
(Dominican Republic) and Channel 2 (Iceland).
The NBA has its broadest distribution of Free TV coverage this season, as the league has entered agreements with broadcasters including France Television (France), TV3, Antena 3 and TeleCinco (Spain), ARD and ZDF(Germany) and RAI 3 (Italy).
‘With the renewals with long term partners and the addition of several new telecasters, we are pleased to continue to bring the excitement of the NBA to all parts of the world,’ said Heidi Ueberroth, Executive Vice President of the NBA.
NBA TV, the 24-hour television network of the NBA, which launched internationally during the 2000-01 NBA Season, will be distributed to a record number of fans overseas this season. NBA TV will be on-air in 28 countries, including Spain, Israel, the Philippines, Turkey, and throughout the Middle East.
This season, the NBA will co-produce a record number of 16 customized programs with international TV partners including, NBA Jam (BTV, China); NBA Dei Di (ATV, Hong Kong); Above the Rim (7TV, Russia); and NBA Max (Telemundo, United States). Among the other broadcasters carrying co-productions are, NHK (Japan), IBC (Philippines), TV Azteca (Mexico), Deportes 13 (Puerto Rico) and NTV (Turkey).
Since its founding in 1946, the NBA has truly become a global phenomenon that transcends national boundaries. With 29 teams in the United States and Canada, NBA games and related programming are broadcast to 212 countries in 42 languages, and is one of the largest suppliers of sports television and Internet programming in the world. Through NBA Entertainment, the league’s award-winning production and programming division, the league produces NBA TV, a 24-hour television network, weekly television shows, and exclusive content for each of the NBA’s team web sites, and the league’s official sites, NBA.com, WNBA.com and NBDL.com reaching a global audience on a daily basis. Among English-Language sports league Web sites, NBA.com draws the greatest number of users outside the United States with more than 40% of traffic to the site coming from international locations.
With 67 international players from 35 countries and territories on team rosters for the 2002-03 NBA season, basketball fans around the world will be closer to the NBA than ever before. The NBA, a recognized leader in sports marketing with 13 offices around the world, maintains a strong roster of fully integrated domestic and global marketing partnerships with the most recognizable global brands. The league is one of the most popular and profitable sports or entertainment properties in the licensing world with NBA league and team products in stores worldwide, on The NBA Store on NBA.com, The NBA Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City, and NBA City in Orlando.
The NBA also helps its international marketing partners grow
their brands as the game of basketball strives to become the world’s most popular sport and has a roster of international licensees that provide NBA licensed products to many countries around the world. For more information
on the NBA, visit www.NBA.com.
For more details contact:
Laura Traynham, NBA – 212-407-8095 or ltraynham@nba.com