nba

NBA playing ball online

Expensive sports rights are a major cost for the United States television industry. Sports also brings huge ad revenue and a male audience that is much prized by advertisers because it's so elusive.

Now the NBA has signed new TV deals that run nearly a decade. This time the buyers get significant rights to Internet distribution of games, highlights and related content. Clearly, this is just another step toward the Internet becoming a full-fledged alternative to typical TV distribution. An ESPN executive said its Web site had a million unique visitors daily during the NBA playoffs earlier this year.… Read more

NBA offering downloads of playoff games

Lately, I've been getting into basketball. I know what you're going to say. That I'm jumping on the bandwagon. (I am.) It all started because of a man, of course.

No, not Steve Nash. It's because of a man who loves Steve Nash. He hooked me with the players' back stories, his impassioned declarations about the grace of the game and, more to the point, the way he distinctly pronounces each player's name.

So I started following the Phoenix Suns and then, naturally, my hometown team: the Golden State Warriors. (The last time I attended … Read more

Oracle puts the Warriors in the playoffs

All right, so maybe the mid-season acquisition of Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington had more to do with the Bay Area's Golden State Warriors making the playoffs Wednesday night for the first time in 12 years.

But since we made fun of the team's fortunes in this space last fall, we believe it's only fair to point out that the success comes after a 10-year naming-rights deal inked by software powerhouse Oracle. The company's name and logo adorn the arena in Oakland, and will get some prime-time air during the opening round of the NBA playoffs, … Read more

NBA to broadcast All-Star game in high-def 3D

3D cinema might be considered a corny 1970s gimmick these days, but the National Basketball Association is hoping you'll be willing to shake off that attitude in time for the NBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas this Sunday. The league has partnered with digital-cinema group PACE for live 3D broadcasts of Saturday night's pre-show event as well as Sunday night's game. And, yes, you do have to wear special glasses to see it in full. Thankfully, they're a little less geeky than the red-and-blue lenses so frequently associated with 3D cinema (they're almost indistinguishable from … Read more

"Flash"-y new Sidekick 3 from T-Mobile out on Feb. 21

So the rumors are true: Dwyane Wade is adding cell-phone designer to his resume.

Already an NBA champion with the Miami Heat, a shoe designer for Converse, and currently working on a line of athletic clothing that will also bear his name, Wade is apparently the first pro athlete to have a hand in designing a piece of consumer electronics hardware.

The T-Mobile Sidekick 3, D-Wade Edition is set to hit shelves Feb. 21 for $399, or $299 with a two-year contract. That's $100 more than the other Sidekick 3 phones. Maybe that's because Wade actually picked out … Read more