ESPN NBA Multimedia Coverage
ESPN’s season-long coverage of the 2007-08 NBA season will include the debut of new multimedia content including:
- Live game simulcasts and on-demand replays of all ESPN NBA telecasts on ESPN360.com;
- Live simulcasts of all ESPN NBA game and studio telecasts on ESPN Mobile TV;
- Live and on-demand video of ESPN NBA studio programming on ESPN.com;
- Live audio of ESPN NBA telecasts and ESPN Radio NBA broadcasts on ESPN.com;
- Live, in-progress look-ins to ESPN televised NBA games on ESPN.com;
- Newly created ESPN NBA shows exclusive to digital media platforms focusing on team scouting reports, daily news and information, fantasy basketball analysis, video highlights, and more;
- In-progress NBA highlights from ESPN televised games on ESPN.com, ESPN Mobile TV and ESPN MVP (ESPN’s signature wireless application available via Verizon Wireless);
- Increased NBA integration – including highlights – into fantasy basketball applications;
- In-progress video alerts such as game highlights and breaking news on ESPN MVP;
- A comprehensive slate of widgets (digital media mini-applications), offering NBA content such as news, stats and scores;
- An opportunity for fans to add ESPN.com NBA video to their customized ESPN.com Fan Profile;
- Daily NBA podcasts (with play-by-play audio highlights).
In addition to these applications, ESPN will continue to introduce new and exciting NBA content provided across digital platforms throughout the season.
Additional Multimedia Coverage:
ESPN’s Multimedia Coverage of the NBA
ABC
ABC, the home of the NBA Finals, will broadcast 18 exclusive windows featuring the game of the week each Sunday beginning Jan. 27. ABC will also offer a special Christmas Day doubleheader Tuesday, Dec. 25, with the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James hosting Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat at 2 p.m., followed by the Phoenix Suns and two-time league MVP Steve Nash visiting the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant at 5:15 p.m. Additionally, ABC will provide weekly coverage of NBA Access with Ahmad Rashad, a 30-minute program airing Saturday or Sunday afternoons throughout the season.
ESPN
ESPN will present live coverage of 72 regular-season games – Wednesdays, Fridays and select Sundays. ESPN’s telecasts will continue to incorporate flex scheduling. For the first time since the 2004-05 season, ESPN will offer a Christmas night game, Tuesday, Dec. 25, when the Seattle SuperSonics visit the Portland Trailblazers at 8 p.m.
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio’s 2007-08 NBA regular-season broadcasts – primarily on Thursdays and Sundays – will include six doubleheaders, exclusive coverage of NBA All-Star Weekend and the Christmas Day doubleheader, Tuesday, Dec. 25 – Miami at Cleveland, followed by the Phoenix at the Los Angeles Lakers.
ESPN Deportes
Tipping off its coverage Friday, Nov. 2 at 10:30 p.m. with the Los Angeles Lakers visiting the Phoenix Suns, ESPN Deportes will offer fans the league’s most complete season-long coverage on a Spanish-language network. The network will televise 22 NBA regular-season games, primarily Wednesday and Friday night games.
ESPN International
This season, ESPN International will televise more than 60 live NBA games, including regular-season and playoff action, to more than 120 countries and territories throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific Rim. Coverage will include supporting programs such as NBA Action and NBA Shootaround. The network provides Spanish, Portuguese, and English-language commentary on its NBA telecasts. In addition, ESPN International will televise the NBA Finals and All-Star game for the ESPN Pac-Rim networks (Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and Sub-Saharan Africa).
Studio Programming
NBA studio programming includes ABC’s NBA Sunday Countdown pre-game show; ESPN’s Kia NBA Shootaround pre-game show; the nightly NBA Fastbreak highlight, news and information show; the weekly NBA Matchup program focusing on the x’s and o’s breakdown of the game; and ESPN2’s NBA Coast to Coast Tuesday night whip-around format show with live cut-ins to games plus highlights, news and analysis.
SportsCenter
ESPN’s SportsCenter will provide in-depth, up-to-the-minute NBA news, hard-hitting analysis and perspective through highlights, features, interviews and on-site reports.
Additionally, other ESPN and ESPN2 studio news, information and opinion programs such as Outside the Lines, ESPN First Take, Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn and Rome is Burning will focus on the NBA throughout the 2007-08 season.
NBA Access with Ahmad Rashad
ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 will continue to showcase NBA Access with Ahmad Rashad throughout the season, including an upcoming ABC broadcast Sunday, Nov. 4 at 12:30 p.m. In each episode, host Ahmad Rashad presents compelling NBA stories while providing fans with unique behind-the-scenes access.
ESPNEWS
ESPNEWS, the nation’s only 24-hour sports news network, will cover the league featuring breaking news coverage, in-depth analysis, live press conferences, interviews with NBA players and team officials. ESPNEWS shows The Hot List (weekday afternoons) and Pre-Game and Gametime (weekday evenings) will regularly include NBA segments throughout the season. ESPNEWS will open the season with a 30-minute special Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 4 p.m. Host David Lloyd will be joined by ESPN NBA analysts in offering a preview of each team and predictions. Additionally, Stephen A. Smith will contribute to a special Hot List segment each Thursday throughout the season.
ESPN Classic
As warranted, ESPN Classic will celebrate great games throughout the season by designating them as Instant Classics. In addition, a mix of weekly NBA programming will be featured throughout the season.
ESPN.com
In addition to the new elements outlined above, ESPN.com’s coverage of the 2007-08 NBA season will feature daily news, scores, stats, analysis, ESPN video, commentary from Page 2, live SportsNation chats and polls, the best in premium content from ESPN Insider, and more. Highlights include:
- The Daily Dime – a one-stop shop for news and notes, short columns, opinion, stats, quotes, photos, video, audio, trends and rumors, delivered fresh weekday mornings.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime
- ESPN Video – high-quality video clips featuring highlights from NBA action, ESPN studio analysis, and more.
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=&categoryId=2459788
- GameCast – lets fans follow along online with shot-for-shot NBA action in real-time.
http://proxy.espn.go.com/nba/gamecast?gameId=270614005
- Power Rankings: ESPN.com offers two contrasting NBA Power Rankings – senior writer Marc Stein uses his years of NBA reporting knowledge to craft his Weekly Power Rankings, which appear each Monday morning on ESPN.com, and ESPN Insider John Hollinger’s Power Rankings are based on a home-grown statistical formula and get automatically updated after each game.
Stein’s Power Rankings: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/powerranking
Hollinger’s Power Rankings: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerranking
- ESPN Fantasy Basketball – entering its 12th season, the game is available to fans with three drafting options, live scoring, private or public leagues and player news.
http://games.espn.go.com/frontpage/basketball
- ESPN FastBreak – ESPN’s free NBA salary cap style fantasy game, where fans assemble a team of five players while staying under the allotted salary.
- Multimedia projects – throughout the season, ESPN.com will produce multi-media storytelling that combines text, video, animation and photos.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/feature/featureVideo?page=77Blazers
- Hollinger’s Statistical Analysis – ESPN Insider John Hollinger has developed the basketball equivalent of Bill James’ “sabermetrics” in baseball – cutting-edge statistical categories and formulas for measuring player productivity in the NBA. ESPN Insider subscribers have access to these stats. http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/rankings
- Daily Live NBA Chats – ESPN.com’s SportsNation will host daily live chats with players, coaches, ESPN NBA experts and other notable NBA personalities.
http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=17835
- 2008 NBA Draft – NBA teams don’t wait to start researching for the 2008 NBA Draft; neither does ESPN.com. NBA Insider Chad Ford’s Top 100 charts the rise and fall of all NBA Draft prospects throughout the season. In addition, Chad Ford’s ESPN.com blog delivers Insider quality draft news and analysis throughout the season.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008/index
- TrueHoop: recognized as the best basketball blog (and one of the top sports blogs) on the internet, Henry Abbott’s TrueHoop spans and scans the globe for the best and most interesting basketball features, news, video, commentary and analysis. http://myespn.go.com/nba/truehoop
- Big Picture: a new feature diving deep into the personal stories of the people and teams in and around the league. Examples include:
Playing for Peace – http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=PeacePlayers
Jalen Rose and Jimmy Walker –
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=Rose-Walker
- Blogs: TrueHoop’s Abbott plus ESPN.com’s Chris Broussard, John Hollinger and Chad Ford will provide a steady stream of NBA news, analysis and opinion through their constantly updated NBA blogs.
http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3085562&name=broussard_chris
http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3085589&name=hollinger_john
- Interactive Applications: ESPN.com’s NBA Trade Machine, NBA Mock DraftMachine and Mock Draft Lottery applications allow ESPN.com users to be an NBA general manager by trading and drafting players.
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/trademachine; http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/lottery07/mockdraft
ESPN360.com
For the first time, ESPN360.com – ESPN’s signature live sports broadband network – will offer every ESPN and ESPN2 NBA pre-season, regular-season and playoff game live, providing fans an additional outlet for taking in their favorite NBA action. ESPN360.com, available in more than 17 million homes, offers a global lineup of more than 2,500 live sports events per year.
ESPN Mobile Properties
ESPN’s wireless publishing service will provide real-time scores, news and information via an ESPN Bottom Line application as well as deliver NBA information on all major United States carriers such as Verizon, Sprint/Nextel, Cingular, and T-Mobile.
ESPN The Magazine
ESPN The Magazine's coverage of the season will offer fans an in-depth look at the players on- and off-the-court, team analysis and season and playoff previews. The NBA Preview issue is on newsstands now.
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