The NBA on NBC
| NBA on NBC | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Genre | NBA game telecasts |
| Presented by |
Marv Albert Bob Costas Bill Walton Ahmad Rashād Hannah Storm |
| Theme music composer | John Tesh |
| Opening theme | "Roundball Rock" |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 (1954–1962 version) 12 (1990–2002 version) 20 (total) |
| Production | |
| Location(s) |
Various NBA arenas (game telecasts) NBC Studios, New York City, New York (studio segments, pre-game and post-game shows) |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 150 minutes or until game ends |
| Production company(s) | NBC Sports |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Picture format |
480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original release |
|
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | NBA on CBS |
| Followed by | NBA on ABC |
The NBA on NBC is the branding formerly used for presentations of National Basketball Association (NBA) games produced by the NBC television network in the United States. NBC held broadcast rights from 1955 to 1962 and again from 1990 (when it obtained the rights from CBS) to 2002. During NBC's partnership with the NBA in the 1990s, the league rose to unprecedented popularity, with ratings surpassing the days of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the mid-1980s.
NBC's first tenure with the National Basketball Association began on October 30, 1954 and lasted until April 7, 1962. On November 9, 1989, the NBA reached an agreement with the network worth US$600 million contract to broadcast the league's games for four years, beginning with the 1990–91 season. On April 28, 1993, NBC extended its exclusive broadcast rights to the NBA with a four-year, $750 million contract.
NBC's coverage of the NBA began on Christmas Day each season, with the exception of the inaugural season in 1990 (which featured a game on November 3 between the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs), the 1998–99 season (as no Christmas games were played due to the lockout) and the final season of the network's contract in 2001–02 (which included two early season games featuring the return of Michael Jordan with the Washington Wizards). NBC aired the NBA All-Star Game every year (with the exception of 1999, when the game was canceled due to a lockout), usually at 6:00 p.m., Eastern Time. In 2002, NBC aired the game an hour earlier (at 5:00 p.m., Eastern) due to the Winter Olympics later that evening. Starting in 2000, during the NBA Playoffs, NBC would air tripleheaders on Saturdays and Sundays for the first two weeks of the playoffs. Prior to 2000, NBC would air a doubleheader on Saturday, followed by a tripleheader on Sunday.
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