At various points over the past six months, the future of “Inside the NBA,” the studio show starring host Ernie Johnson and former players Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith, has been in talks with TNT. Things looked bleak as the broadcast rights contract was set to expire. In addition to remaining with ESPN, the 2024-25 season and the league are headed to Amazon and NBC in a new package.
But the network's beloved pregame and postgame shows will remain, along with the Wall Street Journal. Saturday report As part of a settlement stemming from a July lawsuit from Warner Bros. Discovery, ESPN will acquire the rights to “Inside the NBA” starting next season in order to keep the show.
It's unclear at this point how ESPN intends to utilize the show in conjunction with or in place of its current “NBA Countdown” coverage, but at least for now, even if Shaq signs a contract extension, The core of “Inside the NBA” will remain intact. And the show will continue to be produced by TNT. According to The Athletic.
But as of May, it didn't seem like that necessarily reflected the most likely scenario.
The 2023-24 season ended with TNT losing the “B” package. That ultimately happened when the NBA announced an 11-year, $77 billion deal with Disney, NBC, and Amazon, but the outlook only became more dire after the NBA took Amazon's offer. TNT's decision was rejected.
TNT Sports said in a statement at the time that the July lawsuit came after the NBA “unreasonably refused to match us with a third-party offer.”
From Barkley's temporary retirement announcement (he later announced he would be returning to the network despite uncertainty) to evening out the atmosphere, there are other 'Inside the NBA' endings that could be nearing along the way. There were many wrinkles that suggested. An on-air discussion during the postseason.
“Morale is terrible,” Barkley said during an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” in May. “Plain and simple. I feel really bad for the people I work with, Dan. These people have families and I feel really bad for them right now. You know, I feel bad for the people I work with. I have no idea what's going to happen, because the people who work there have obviously messed this up.”
As part of the settlement, TNT Sports will also be able to develop additional programming and will receive worldwide broadcast rights to Bleacher Report and House of Highlights for the next 11 years without paying additional rights fees. Become. According to the Associated Press.
But the most influential demographic for viewers revolves around Johnson, Barkley, Shaq (as long as he signs a contract extension), and Smith.
“Inside the NBA” ends up continuing.
