The Sports Media (Sports Radio, Podcasts, Shows, Networks, Etc.) Thread

NBC announced Tuesday that Mike Tirico, Reggie Miller and Jamal Crawford are scheduled to call the network’s first NBA game in more than 22 years, Rockets-Thunder on Opening Night October 21. Noah Eagle and Grant Hill are set to handle the second game of the Opening Night doubleheader, Warriors-Lakers.

When NBC set Miller and Crawford as co-lead analysts last year, it was unclear how often they would work together or if they would alternate between the network’s top two play-by-play voices, Tirico and Eagle. For at least one night, it will be the former.

Zora Stephenson is listed as the sideline reporter for Game 1 and Ashley ShahAhmadi for Game 2, with both games having their own separate on-site studio team — Maria Taylor, Carmelo Anthony and Vince Carter from Oklahoma City and Ahmed Fareed and Tracy McGrady from Los Angeles.

In addition to the Opening Night doubleheader, which had been previously reported last week, NBC is also scheduled to carry a Martin Luther King Day tripleheader of Thunder-Cavaliers at 2:30 PM ET, Mavericks-Knicks at 5:00 and Celtics-Pistons — opposite college football’s national championship — at 8:00. Including a Peacock game (Bucks-Hawks at 1 PM, overlapping with Thunder-Cavaliers), it will be a quadrupleheader.

NBC also announced several previously unreported details of its game packages on Monday. The network’s Tuesday games will be branded as “Coast 2 Coast Tuesday” with coverage preceded each week by a 30-minute pregame show on Peacock. (The “Coast to Coast” branding was once used on ESPN’s Friday NBA games.)

NBC’s “Sunday Night Basketball” package will debut on February 1, the weekend between the NFL conference championship games and Super Bowl, before starting in earnest on February 22. The series will run through April 5, with occasional doubleheaders during the eight week run. The one-hour pregame show that will precede the Sunday night package will be on-site.

Finally, the Monday slate of Peacock exclusive games — titled “Peacock NBA Monday” — will sometimes consist of three games, with a 30-minute pregame leading in.
 
ESPN’s advance schedule provides some insight as to how the network might schedule TNT’s “Inside the NBA.”

The TNT-produced “Inside the NBA” is scheduled to air in a half-hour timeslot following the first ESPN doubleheader of the NBA season October 22, according to the network’s advance schedule. The show would run from 12:05-12:35 AM ET, leading into a Bristol-based “SportsCenter” at 12:35.

“Inside” is not currently listed as taking place the following night, when the network’s second doubleheader of the season is scheduled to lead into a Scott Van Pelt-hosted SportsCenter.

The TNT-produced “NBA Tip-Off” is scheduled to precede ESPN’s coverage on both nights.

The advance schedule is of course subject to change, but offers some clues as to how ESPN will manage “Inside” and the Van Pelt SportsCenter, which has become the network’s postgame show of record.

After the Opening Week of the season, TNT’s NBA studio show is not set to take place again until Christmas Day.
 

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