NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Believes This Is ‘a Golden Age for Sports Broadcasting’
The Commish spoke before a packed room at the 2016 SVG Summit
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NBA Commissioner Adam Silver marvels at the current state of high-definition sports-television production and live-streaming technology. During a keynote conversation at the SVG Summit in New York City on Tuesday, he stated that he believes we are “in a golden age for sports broadcasting.”
The commissioner spoke with SVG’s Ken Kerschbaumer about how, despite challenges across general media, sports programming has continued to excel, adding that he feels the business is extremely healthy. He also advised his colleagues to not take that fact for granted.
Meanwhile, as the linear-television industry struggles to cope with falling subscription numbers and cord-cutting, top sports leagues are enjoying strong ratings, but new-media companies (Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix) appear ready to shake up the traditional model. Silver discussed the state of his relationship with his current media partners and how the evolving media landscape could shape the future.
The sports-media industry also faces the challenge that younger audiences don’t appear to be taking to live sports as fervently as previous generations did. The NBA happens to be one of the more popular sports leagues among younger fans, and Silver shared a few thoughts as to why.
Digital media has also dramatically accelerated the globalization of sports. Silver sees this as a huge opportunity and broke down how streaming and international rights deals are changing the game for both the importing and exporting of the NBA brand.
The NBA has also made bold technology moves over its history, including making key in-arena choices to make the league a better television product. Silver discussed why the league has made such a commitment to staying on the cutting edge of video-technology developments.
Watch the full conversation:
For more video coverage from the 2016 SVG Summit and the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame, visit SVG On Demand.
