ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro is willing to do business with them even if they can’t beat them.
The creative deal brings Disney, which has aired perhaps America’s most popular sports studio programming on Warner Bros. for years. Discovery’s TNT focuses on ESPN’s growing desire to take a “curated” approach to game-day concepts and content. Some of the biggest deals at ESPN in recent years have not started new formats or series, but rather made ESPN a perch for sports talent that has already proven popular elsewhere. .
The new agreement, officially announced Monday after being leaked over the weekend, will make “Inside the NBA” the property of ESPN as far as fans are concerned. Indeed, Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports will continue to produce programming in Atlanta for the duration of the agreement, which begins with the 2025-26 NBA season. But the show, led by Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and a close-knit team, will only be seen on ESPN and ABC, especially for top events.
Fans may not watch “The Show Inside” as often as they used to. Starting in 2026, it will be shown along with all NBA games aired on ABC. Covering the NBA Finals, Conference Finals, and NBA Playoffs. and Christmas Day and the first and last weeks of the season. In setting such a schedule, ESPN is emulating the “scarcity” strategy employed by Fox Sports, MSNBC, and Comedy Central. These three networks have figured out how to keep top talent on the grid without overcrowding their schedules (and perhaps without paying them enough to sign them on a more full-time basis). On MLB Studio Fox, the team of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz only appears in the league’s biggest events, like the World Series. Meanwhile, MSNBC and Comedy Central developed a concept in which Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart would appear as regulars only on Mondays.
How often viewers watch “Inside the NBA” may not matter as long as they can only watch it via ESPN.
Warner Bros. Discovery is attempting to develop a more general sports program using an “inside” team and is allowed to come up with ideas for other programs using Barkley, Shaq and others. Al. After all, the company is still in the process of signing all of the show’s talent to long-term contracts. But when it comes to hearing Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson talk basketball to the All-Star duo, Warner is giving up the opportunity to tie it solely to TNT. NBA games generate millions of dollars in advertising revenue for TNT.
ESPN may be known as the home of legendary concepts such as “SportsCenter” and, more recently, “ManningCast,” but in recent years, ESPN executives and producers have become more and more interested in competing programs. It became clear that they weren’t just keeping an eye out.
In the spring of 2022, ESPN raided rival Fox Sports, bringing top NFL announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman under the Disney umbrella and renaming it “Monday Night Football.” ESPN did so after years of trying to build its own “MNF” team and being dissatisfied with the results (even though producers came up with a mobile sideline cart called the “Boogermobile” in the process). even). In 2023, ESPN began broadcasting the decidedly unconventional “Pat McAfee Show” on YouTube and terrestrial TV, hoping to appeal to young people who prefer free-spirited, outspoken hosts. ESPN continued to support Mr. McAfee even as he addressed some of his habits in appearing on the flagship network, including on-air abuse of a former senior ESPN executive.
Certainly, ESPN has a lot of personality within it. Stephen A. Smith remains perhaps the network’s most recognizable figure, and if current contract renewal negotiations go well, he could get the chance to try out other projects. Mike Greenberg, a veteran who first gained attention on radio, is a mainstay of the morning schedule and was recently tapped to host ESPN’s Sunday “NFL Countdown.” Marika Andrews has received renewed attention on “NBA Today” and “NBA Countdown,” the latter of which she will continue to appear on during the regular season. And the company has hired standout athletes and coaches in recent months, including Jason Kelce, Nick Saban and Bill Belichick.
Still, the interest in bringing in outsiders is noteworthy.
Perhaps Pitarou and his team are looking to future-proof the business. It looks like the day will come when more and more sports fans will bundle their favorite gaming sources into one package. In fact, Disney, Warner, and Fox are waiting to launch an independent service called “Venu” as long as they can prove in court that the new business is not anticompetitive. Subscribers to that service may not have such strong feelings about ESPN vs. Fox Sports vs. TNT Sports. They just want access to their games and their favorite commentators. Disney, ESPN’s parent company, already offers bundles of Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+, and the main selling point of that package is the breadth of programming, such as events, that customers can access.
To gain access to Barkley and the team, ESPN was willing to give Warner-owned TNT Sports exclusive rights to broadcast Big 12 football and men’s basketball games starting in the 2025 season. However, these games are expected to be streamed primarily on ESPN+ and may not be the biggest viewership driver for ESPN. ESPN previously earned new cash by sublicensing TNT Sports to televise two College Football Playoff games.
It remains to be proven whether ESPN can offload other parts of its gaming inventory to secure new talent (and for other sports media entities, it’s probably unlikely). But in a time of shaky footing, when more media companies are forced to look for cost savings in-house, the sports giant’s ability to take on outside work when the time is right could come in handy. .
