Stern on NBA TV

["Michael J.King Sr." <kingpin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Stern: Ops to Carry NBA TV by Labor Day

By R. Thomas Umstead
Multichannel News
4/10/2003 7:16:00 PM
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National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern said Thursday that 
the league will have carriage deals for its 24-hour NBA TV network by Labor 
Day 2003.

During a pre-NBA playoffs media conference call, Stern said hes close to 
reaching agreements with several MSOs, although he would not reveal 
specific names.

He added that the advent of MSO sports tiers has made NBA TV -- which 
offers four live, weekly regular-season games and which will carry at least 
seven playoff games beginning next week -- a more attractive proposition to 
operators.

Currently, only DirecTV Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp. have 
carriage deals for the service, which also offers live high-definition-TV 
games, vintage NBA games and movies.

The NBA initially trotted out a 25-cent-per-subscriber, per-month rate card 
to operators, but Stern said operators are 'reluctant' to pay fees. 
"Someplace in the middle, you will see a deal that satisfies both parties," 
he added.
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