Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Free-to-air TV on cards

Thanks to JR for pointing out the following potentially exciting news for the NBL, coverage of the league on the new One HD sports channel.

Basketball fans around the country have been loving the NBA coverage they've been getting for the last month or so on this channel and everyone has been wondering why the NBL also couldn't jump onboard. Well ... the good news is they can! Click on the title below to read the full story.

Free-to-air TV on cards if new NBL takes off : thewest.com.au

4th May 2009, 13:30 WST

The National Basketball League could return to free-to-air television next season — if there is an elite men’s competition at all in 2009-10.

Key players in Basketball Australia’s reform process are understood to have held discussions with the Ten network about having NBL games shown on the broadcaster’s dedicated sports channel, One HD.

The concept is viewed as a major boost for the league, which suffered a drop in popularity around the country once Channel 10 stopped showing matches almost a decade ago.

Although pay-TV provider Fox Sports has held the NBL rights in recent seasons, some of the competition’s more powerful clubs believe their product isn’t beamed into enough homes.

However, a new deal with Fox Sports, which included broadcasting every match live as part of a five-year, $30 million arrangement, was a sweetener from BA to convince NBL clubs to give away their control of the league to a new independent body last November.


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