NBA Commissioner David Stern is interviewed in an extensive
piece in INSIDE MEDIA. IM's Brockinton & Reynolds note that
during Stern's tenure, the NBA "had added six franchises,
quadrupled its revenues and opened offices in Melbourne, Hong
Kong, Geneva, Mexico City, Tokyo, London, Paris, Miami (for Latin
America) and Toronto."
TV PARTNERS: Stern was asked if the league considered
increasing the number of national TV carriers when current rights
deals expire in '97-98. Noting the league has coverage three
nights a week (Tuesday and Friday on TNT, Wednesday on TBS),
along with weekend NBC broadcasts, Stern said, "It's not so
simple to put another national package in the marketplace because
you have to factor in the impact of each on of your prospective
deals on your existing relationships. Every time we put a game
on a network, it has some impact on our local telecasts." Stern
said he has always been "reluctant" to increase the first round
of the NBA playoffs to a best-of-seven series to accommodate an
additional TV carrier. He notes the prospects of "four-zero
blowouts," plus shortening the regular-season schedule or
extending the playoffs until July. Stern: "Two-out-of-three was
too little. Three-out-of-five seems to work well."
SHOWS AND STORES: Stern said the NBA is looking to develop
an animated children's program, "both for its domestic and its
international potential." Stern said the league has discussed
the idea with ABC and hopes to have a Saturday morning kids show
up by '97. In working with ABC/ ESPN/Disney, Stern admitted
"interactivity is an area that's of great interest to us.
Location-based entertainment." Stern said the league is likely
to open a flagship retail store in New York in '97. He sees
retail "as a brand-builder, but more as a prototype for
international developments rather than domestic developments. ...
Our view of potential NBA shops is more like a Nike Town notion
of brand building and helping catalyze other retailers' sales."
WOMEN'S LEAGUE: The WNBA hopes to announce TV partners by
July 1. Stern envisions one broadcast partner for weekend
exposure and two weekday prime-time cable exposures. The deal
would likely follow the NBA's Canadian model where the league
shares marketing/media/sponsorship duties with TV partners.
Stern also sees an "interesting" global component to the WNBA,
"both for playing and TV."
ONLINE: Stern said the league is "beginning to comprehend"
the potential of the Internet and the Web. Stern called the
Internet "a global facilitator. It never sleeps. ... An NBA
broadcaster in China or Australia needs some information, they
can go on the internet. A reporter in Paris or Portugal or
Paraguay needs information, they can talk to it." Stern also
foresees a nightly studio show -- either via DBS, cable, wireless
cable, phone or computer delivery. Stern: "When channel
capacity is there, one of the channels would be the NBA studio
show for the evening." Stern adds pay-per-view is not in the
plans on a league level, but that the "future for direct-to-home
packages on a global basis is very attractive" (INSIDE MEDIA,
6/11).
