Turner Sports is exploring creative options for its post-NBA sports coverage. This includes a potential rebrand of its hit show Inside the NBA to Inside Sports. The rebranding idea would allow the network to keep its popular basketball show together. It involves the same cast discussing other sports that TNT owns the rights to, such as hockey, college football and basketball, and Major League Baseball.
TNT hopes to rebrand the popular sports show to “Inside Sports,” as reported by Joe Flint and Amol Sharma of The Wall Street Journal. This comes after Charles Barkley announced he would remain with Turner Sports despite the company losing its NBA broadcast rights. Another important aspect is that co-host Ernie Johnson also vowed never to leave TNT.
The move is a response to the NBA’s decision to award its broadcast rights to ESPN, Amazon Prime, and NBC, leaving Turner Sports without a clear direction for its sports coverage. However, the company is currently engaged in litigation with the NBA over the broadcast rights deal.
Despite the uncertainty, Turner Sports is considering ways to repurpose its successful Inside the NBA format to cover other sports. As such, they can leverage the entertaining and versatile cast to make the transition work. This move could pay off in the future by covering a variety of other sporting events.
NBA faces legal battle over TV rights as lawsuit timeline unfolds
The NBA made the decision to partner with Amazon and NBC for its TV future, rather than extending its contract with TNT Sports. It has been met with a lawsuit from Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD), the parent company of TNT Sports. WBD alleges that the NBA acted against their prior contract in making the move.
The lawsuit has been given a timeline, with the NBA required to respond to WBD’s complaint by August 23. Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic has covered the topic extensively. Recently, he highlighted what could likely happen in the coming months.
We have some sense of timing to the WBD v. NBA lawsuit. The judge overseeing the lawsuit has given the NBA until Aug. 23 to respond to Warner’s complaint. If NBA moves to dismiss the complaint, WBD will have until Sept. 20 to answer. NBA will then have until Oct. 2 to respond.
Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic wrote on X.
We have some sense of timing to the WBD v. NBA lawsuit.
The judge overseeing the lawsuit has given the NBA until Aug. 23 to respond to Warner’s complaint.
If NBA moves to dismiss the complaint, WBD will have until Sept. 20 to answer.
NBA will then have until Oct. 2 to respond pic.twitter.com/xGh5a1pUCw
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) August 7, 2024
The lawsuit’s outcome could impact the future of the popular TNT show Inside The NBA, which features Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal. Barkley, as reported, had announced that he would stay with TNT for the remainder of his contract, which extends several years into the future, potentially keeping the show on the air.
