NBA TV is truely the root of all evil

by Jason
(Portland, OR)

After being overseas for a while, I recently came back to the US and got back into the NBA after a long hiatus. What I found was something has changed in the years of my absence, and not for the better.

A decade ago, the NBA was everywhere on TV, whether it be broadcast TV or basic cable. Every day there was always at least one game to watch and it was this availability that contributed to the NBA's astronomical rise in popularity in the past 20 years. But today? When the lockout ended I was looking forward to seeing plenty of games, especially when I go to the exercise room of my apartment complex.

But to my horror and eternal disappointment, during half the week the only games televised at all are on NBA TV. Not all of us can afford to shell out the extra money for a premium channel, which is often part of a package of other channels that are unwanted, and the exercise center of my apartment only has basic cable. A decade ago this kind of pidgeon holing would have been unthinkable, to shut out significant portions of the market like this is essentially biting the hand that feeds it. Unfortunately it seems that hand is numb to having more money wrung out of it.

I hope someday this decision stemming from short sighted greed comes back to haunt the league, but until the average NBA fan wakes up and boycotts this nonsense I fear nothing will change.