Turner Sports’ theme for the NBA season is NBA Planet, an idea that will be supported by new programming that focuses mainly on the league’s expanding global footprint.
The programming will include extended seven-minute interviews with 12 foreign-born players in their home countries that will run either before TNT’s NBA broadcasts as part of its “Inside The NBA” pregame show or during halftime. TNT also will air a one-hour NBA Planet program on All-Star Saturday in February and will create 27 30-second player or league features that will run in-game throughout the season. The network also will create an NBA Planet Web presence.
“The NBA has become a global game with so many [international] players that this year we wanted to put the focus on the global story,” said Jeff Behnke, TNT senior vice president and coordinating producer. “We wrap the theme into our season and we also want to humanize the players.”
The first installment of the NBA Planet programming will be a feature on San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, interviewed in his native Argentina by TNT analyst John Thompson. It will run before TNT’s Nov. 1 opening night game between the Spurs and the Denver Nuggets.
Turner has dispatched its other analysts overseas for the new programming. Craig Sager interviewed Yao Ming in China, Cheryl Miller interviewed Milwaukee Bucks center and NBA top draft pick Andrew Bogut in Australia and Jim Huber interviewed Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng in London. An interview with Detroit Pistons guard Rip Hamilton from Pennsylvania also will be featured.
“It’s about NBA stories worldwide,” Behnke said, “not just outside the U.S.”
