The Sports Media Thread

[DG_YouKnowWhatThatMeans]

I read that a part of Amazon's deal is they'd immediately put the first three years costs in escrow.

 

I wonder if WBD had that kind of cash on hand; my guess is they don't and that was the breaking point.

[BBTV]

59 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

I read that a part of Amazon's deal is they'd immediately put the first three years costs in escrow.

 

I wonder if WBD had that kind of cash on hand; my guess is they don't and that was the breaking point.

 

I thought one of the articles I read said that WBD acknowledged it and said they did.  I'm super confused here.  I read Amazon was suing, saying something wasn't fair, but if it's settled now, then I'm shocked it's settled so quickly.

 

EDIT:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40633927/nba-rejects-warner-bros-discovery-tnt-offer-enters-partnership-amazon-prime-video

 

Apparently the NBA didn't think WBD truly matched the Amazon offer, though didn't go into details.  This one will go to... court (see what I did there?)

[nickp91]

David Zaslav has to go for many reasons

[who do you think]

TNT will probably ghost-produce the Amazon games anyway.

[Cujo]

Bad show likely getting replaced with something far worse.

 

[The_Admiral]

Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption have been in their time slots since before the Iraq War. Just another one of those signposts or lack thereof that make it feel like time doesn't move the way it used to.

[BBTV]

I've mostly liked PTI, but I never understood Around the Horn.  What do the buzzes and points even mean?  It's like the guy just sorta randomly clicks the button and it doesn't actually mean a thing.

 

I still remember PTI's debut and where I was in life at that time, and it blows my mind that it's still on.

[neo_prankster]

33 minutes ago, BBTV said:

I've mostly liked PTI, but I never understood Around the Horn.  What do the buzzes and points even mean?  It's like the guy just sorta randomly clicks the button and it doesn't actually mean a thing.

 

I still remember PTI's debut and where I was in life at that time, and it blows my mind that it's still on.

 

Around the Horn would've worked better as a game show related to sports history or something.

 

That said, I liked PTI better.

[neo_prankster]

On 7/24/2024 at 6:06 PM, DG_ThenNowForever said:

I read that a part of Amazon's deal is they'd immediately put the first three years costs in escrow.

 

I wonder if WBD had that kind of cash on hand; my guess is they don't and that was the breaking point.

Either way, I'm gonna miss Inside the NBA when TNT's tenure with the league comes to a close.

[Germanshepherd]

I’ll miss Inside the NBA too, but if this is the end I take solace in knowing that they went out on top. That last season was just as good as it’s always been.

 

I’d honestly be more sad if it became a shell of its former self like College GameDay is. 

 

Around the Horn should stay on forever. Switching around the panelists is par for the course, it’s so clearly made to last I don’t get why they’re cutting it. 
 

Also, the points meaning nothing is the best part. 

[DG_YouKnowWhatThatMeans]

Remember Cold Pizza and The Best Damn Sports Show Period?

 

They were pretty bad.

[The_Admiral]

Cold Pizza morphed into First Take which overtook the entire network. BDSSP was just one of many failed attempts by Fox to counter-program ESPN with national programming across RSNs, which was always doomed to fail the way Italian food at a Mexican restaurant would fail.

 

[TrueYankee26]

At least FS1 is successful but even they struck out with Fox Sports Live which is why they went the ESPN route with the debate shows

[crashcarson15]

On 7/18/2024 at 2:15 PM, TrueYankee26 said:

I don't think this was posted

 

http://espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/40587669/reports-wnba-get-200m-per-year-union-exec-concerned

 

In 2026, WNBA will stay on the Disney networks & Amazon, and NBC will replace CBS and ION

 

On 7/19/2024 at 9:34 AM, Marcos Flamengo said:

I expect the WNBA staying on the Disney family of networks and Amazon's Prime Video, whose sports division could be globally named Prime Sports, while NBCUniversal will replace CBS and ION

 

NBC isn't necessarily a replacement for CBS and ION in the WNBA deal — they have games that can be sold in a separate W-only package outside of this deal.

 

The biggest bummer for me with the WNBA media deal is Amazon getting 20 playoff series over the 11 years, including 3 finals. Maybe the landscape shifts — and I suspect there's some built-in flexibility with only NBC's finals dates ('26, '30 and '34) identified in the deal — but something like "Caitlin Clark makes her first finals and it's not even on TV" feels like it would be such an own goal for the W.

[Dynasty]

The fact that PTI is still on after all these years (now decades) is a testament to its place in sports media. Although, some of the stuff that Mike and Tony say now just comes off as "old man bickering" in my opinion, but I still appreciate what they generally bring to the table with each topic. The show probably does have a shelf life though because both of them aren't getting younger.

 

Around The Horn, while also around for quite a while, has always been a mixed bag for me because it really depends on the panelists. Plus, they don't have as much variety with their topics in what exactly is discussed. The "points" that are given out are suppose to be for when the panelists make a point about something and are able to back it up, though listening carefully it tends to be off sometimes. Really, it could also just be adding to the entertainment factor, which is kind of what the show is going for.

[BBTV]

Looks like part of the NBA's reasoning for rejecting the WBD offer is that they don't consider it a true "match" because they don't simply care about $, but they want streaming, and WBD wasn't going to put the same number of games on Max as Amazon would on Prime, and even if they did, they don't have the same subscriber base as Prime so in that sense, they couldn't ever match.

 

This will be a very interesting lawsuit.  A court could say that it wasn't made in good faith since if the NBA was also considering streaming reach, then WBD entered into an agreement that they could never match.  On the other hand, a court could say that WBD could have matched had they figured out some way to get Max into more homes, or that they could have matched Disney or NBC.  

 

I think it's safe to say the NBA will win, and could probably fall back on the "money in escrow" thing, which WBD simply can't do, but this could set some kind of precedence.

[Marcos Flamengo]

And I hope that Prime brings the entire Inside the NBA crew to their NBA broadcast team

[McCall]

43 minutes ago, Marcos Flamengo said:

And I hope that Prime brings the entire Inside the NBA crew to their NBA broadcast team

Charles Barkley's already said he's retiring.

[Gary]

On 7/26/2024 at 8:03 AM, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Remember Cold Pizza and The Best Damn Sports Show Period?

 

They were pretty bad.

The first couple years of The Best Damn Sports Show Period was pretty good. I think that’s the first time I ever seen Stephen A. Smith on television.

[Marcos Flamengo]

On 7/26/2024 at 1:03 PM, crashcarson15 said:

 

 

NBC isn't necessarily a replacement for CBS and ION in the WNBA deal — they have games that can be sold in a separate W-only package outside of this deal.

 

The biggest bummer for me with the WNBA media deal is Amazon getting 20 playoff series over the 11 years, including 3 finals. Maybe the landscape shifts — and I suspect there's some built-in flexibility with only NBC's finals dates ('26, '30 and '34) identified in the deal — but something like "Caitlin Clark makes her first finals and it's not even on TV" feels like it would be such an own goal for the W.

I wish SkyShowtime could have rights to NBA games in European countries where Sky is not available, beyond from Sky Sports having rights of the NBA in countries Sky is available. Prime Video is expected to expand the NBA rights globally with their new U.S. NBA rights deal.