TNT’s iconic studio show “Inside the NBA” will live on after the channel loses its rights to carry live games next season.
The Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN is expected to announce this week it will license “Inside the NBA” and run it alongside its NBA coverage when its new deal with the league goes into effect next year, according to two people familiar with the plans who were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Representatives for ESPN and TNT Sports declined comment.
“Inside the NBA” with Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal, looked like it would disappear after TNT’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery lost the domestic TV rights to the NBA.
The league signed a new 11-year $77 billion deal in August that puts its games on ESPN, NBC and Amazon, cutting out TNT, which carried games since 1989.
Warner Bros. Discovery filed a lawsuit claiming the company was deprived of its contractual rights to match Amazon’s offer, which will put regular season games, the NBA Cup and playoff games on its Prime Video streaming service. Keeping “Inside the NBA” team intact is part of a settlement of the suit, which is expected to be dismissed this week.
Along with the ESPN agreement, the legal settlement keeps Warner Bros. Discovery in the NBA business.
Warner Bros. Discovery has a new 11-year pact with the league that gives it the global rights for NBA content across its digital sites Bleacher Report and House of Highlights, both of which are heavily used by younger fans.
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The rights deal also includes the international TV rights to NBA games on WBD’s channels in Nordic countries, Poland and most of Latin America. TNT Sports will continue to co-manage the NBA’s cable channel NBA TV and NBA.com for the next five years.
“Inside the NBA” will continue to be produced by TNT out of its studios in Atlanta. ESPN will air the program across its platforms and keep the ad revenue. In return, TNT Sports will get the rights to more than a dozen college football and basketball games from ESPN’s Big 12 Conference package.
ESPN Chairman James Pitaro is said to have pushed hard to get “Inside the NBA.” for the Disney unit, which has focused on bolstering the network’s studio programming. TNT will still have creative control over “Inside the NBA” and the ability to create other projects using the program’s on-air talent.
”Inside the NBA” started in 1989, the same year TNT began broadcasting NBA games. Barkley joined the program in 2000 while O’Neal came aboard during the 2011-12 season.
The candor and humor the NBA legends brought to “Inside the NBA” made it a fan favorite. Its potential demise when TNT lost the rights to the league became a major sports media story.
Starting with the 2025-26 season, “Inside the NBA” will have pregame, postgame and halftime editions during ESPN’s coverage of the NBA Finals, Conference Finals and playoff games. The program will also air during regular season games on ABC on Christmas and after Jan. 1.
ESPN will continue to produce “NBA Countdown” and “NBA Today,” which will continue to run during the network’s regular season NBA coverage. Malika Andrews will continue to host both programs.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
