Fansided

ABC to air NBA games on Saturday nights starting in January

ByCody Williams|
April 18, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; ESPN broadcaster Mark Jackson (left), broadcaster Jeff Van Gundy (center), and broadcaster Mike Breen (right) talk before game one of the first round of the NBA Playoffs between the Golden State Warriors and the New Orleans Pelicans at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
April 18, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; ESPN broadcaster Mark Jackson (left), broadcaster Jeff Van Gundy (center), and broadcaster Mike Breen (right) talk before game one of the first round of the NBA Playoffs between the Golden State Warriors and the New Orleans Pelicans at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

ABC will be broadcasting NBA games on Saturday night starting in January.

NBA fans have had the same nights on the calendar circled during the regular season for years. Wednesdays and Fridays on ESPN, Thursdays on TNT, and Sundays on ABC starting in January have been staples for the NBA fan. For the 2015-16 NBA season, there is going to be another night for NBA fans to catch games on a national broadcast.

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According to a report from ESPN Media Zone, ABC is set to broadcast eight games on Saturday nights starting in late January. These broadcasts will be complete with an NBA Countdown pre-show and the whole works that go with the other ABC and ESPN broadcasts of the NBA.

The broadcasts will take place on January 23 and 30, February 20 and 27, March 5, 12, and 18 and April 9. As of right now, the teams that will be playing in these games—all eight of which will have an 8:30 p.m. ET start time—have not yet been announced.

The news for the ABC and ESPN family is obviously big as this will give them four nights per week of broadcasting NBA games in the second half of the regular season. More intriguing is the fact that ABC is venturing into new territory as they will be directly competing with college basketball with these newly announced NBA broadcasts.

As ESPN and ABC have a major college football broadcasting deal, it’s not surprising that they are waiting until after the season is done on the gridiron. However, they also have college basketball broadcasts running on the networks well into March, with many of the marquee college matchups taking place on Saturday nights. Introducing competition to those broadcasts in the same sport but a different league is an interesting choice. The results of such a choice in terms of ratings and popularity will be interesting to see as it plays out this season.

NBA fans will certainly be pleased with the announcement, now having even more primetime professional basketball to catch this season. If this decision by ABC ultimately ends up working in favor of the network and the Saturday Night NBA broadcast does good numbers, it’ll be fascinating to see if that leads to either more Saturday games in the future or even a venture into trying to own another night of the week in the NBA. Regardless, it’s going to be much easier to get eyes on the NBA product with this new announcement.

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