Last year, Turner Sports came to Dennis Scott with an idea for a show for its Web site.
"They said they wanted to try a new show, be more interactive, the whole Twitter/Facebook thing. My antenna went up like this" said Scott, the former NBA and Georgia Tech star, pantomiming, well, raised antenna.
The fan-friendly and tech-savvy Scott, who sends out as many as 20 tweets a day, signed up for "The Jump," a show that embodies the NBA's investment with its Atlanta-based digital arm. The one-hour weekly show, which launched on nba.com in the fall, is a product of the league's expanding partnership with Turner Sports, a unit of Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting System.
While NBA's relationship with Turner dates to 1984, the league is in its second year of an eight-year contract with Turner Sports to operate NBA TV, nba.com and NBA League Pass, the league's subscription package, as well as other digital assets like NBA Mobile and about 50 league and team Web sites. They fall under the auspices of NBA Digital, which is based at Turner's Midtown headquarters.
"I think because of the long-term relationship, things are going even better than we would have expected, even only a year and a half into a partnership as complicated as this," NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said.
Along with NBA TV, the league's Web site has been revamped, including improved video capability. The Web site has streamed more than 515 million videos this season, a 63 percent increase over last season. The Web site also introduced NBA TV Companion, which allows fans to access real-time stats, shot charts and play-by-play from their computers.
For All-Star Weekend, nba.com booked 12 hours of live programming Friday, with TNT reporter Craig Sager interviewing players and asking questions sent in by fans via Twitter. The Web site also gave players and celebrities pocket video cameras to record footage to be posted online.
NBA TV has more than 20 hours of coverage scheduled for the weekend.
Perhaps most notably, NBA TV's distribution has gone from 15 million homes last year to 45 million this season. Silver said Turner's backing of NBA TV provided the league leverage with cable companies to increase distribution.
"Everything is trending up in significant ways," said Bryan Perez, NBA Digital senior vice president. "This is where we can really show what the Turner partnership can do."
The league, which invested heavily in the re-launched NBA TV and Web site, will continue to increase its production budget for NBA TV. The station will broadcast more than 300 games this year, including the FIBA World Basketball Championship and summer league games on top of the NBA.
Scott's show, which he shares with former NBA star Brent Barry, is the result of that investment. On "The Jump," show hosts talk basketball and interact with fans chiming in on Twitter. The weekly one-hour show, which opened on nba.com last fall, is now re-aired on NBA TV. It serves as a lead-in to the station's "Fan Night," where 100,000 fans vote every week on which game they want NBA TV to air on Tuesday nights.
"I think we're only scratching the surface on the digital side," Silver said.
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