LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- The National Basketball Association has signed a two-year, $20 million pact with Turner Broadcasting System for an exclusive national cable television package, it was announced Wednesday.
NBA Commissioner David Stern and Ted Turner told a news conference at the National Cable Television Association convention that the package would consist of 55 regular season and 20 playoff games in each of the next two seasons on Turner's Atlanta television station WTBS, which is carried by satellite on cable television systems nationwide.
'In reducing the number of games to be carried exclusively on one cable network, we are increasing dramatically the attractiveness of NBA basketball to both the viewer and advertising community,' said Stern. 'This increased value is reflected in the rights fees paid for this exclusive cable package.'
During the past season 120 NBA games were presented on WTBS, ESPN and USA cable networks, as well as games on CBS-TV, which has two years to go on a four-year, $22 million pact with the NBA.
Stern said the league earned $5.5 million from the national cable television packages this past year.
WTBS, which presented 40 Atlanta Hawks games last season, can televise no more than 10 Hawks contests in each of the next two seasons.
Turner, who also owns the Hawks, said television rights to his NBA team might be sold to another Atlanta station.
'We haven't made a decision on that,' said Turner.
WTBS, which is available in 37 percent of homes in the the United States, is expected to reach 50 percent saturation in a few months, according to Turner. He said his Atlanta station, which is beamed by satellite to cable systems, is adding about 400,000 homes monthly.
Stern said it is no accident that Turner's cable package and the CBS-TV rights expire at the same time. He said the league would be in a position to seek more money when the packages are re-negotiated.
The NBA commissioner said Turner would have first refusal rights on a new national cable package two years down the road.
Stern said the day may not be too far away when the league earns more from cable than from broadcast networks.
Turner, who said he hopes to break even during the first year of the NBA games and earn a profit in the second year, would not divulge how much WTBS will charge advertisers for 30-second commercials during the games.
WTBS will inaugurate its games Oct. 26 with the Boston Celtics visiting the Detroit Pistons.
