TuneIn Partners with National Basketball Association to Broadcast Live Audio of NBA Games to Fans Worldwide


This section of SportTechie, “Sports Tech Wire”, contains original press releases issued by various companies and industry organizations. The releases are reviewed by the SportTechie editorial staff to ensure relevancy to the sports technology industry.  For information and access, send your name and email address to info@SportTechie.comScreen-Shot-2015-10-16-at-8.16.21-AM1
TuneIn Partners with National Basketball Association to Broadcast Live Audio of NBA Games to Fans Worldwide

World’s Largest Audio Network Expands Reach of NBA Content

SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK – March 7, 2016 – TuneIn, the world’s largest audio network, today announced a multiyear partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA), which will include live play-by-play of NBA preseason, regular season and postseason games in the United States beginning with the 2016-17 season on TuneIn Premium.

The partnership will provide TuneIn Premium users with access to all 1,230 NBA 2016-17 regular-season games, the entire NBA Playoffs and The Finals, as well as marquee events like the NBA All-Star Game, State Farm All-Star Saturday Night, and the NBA Draft presented by State Farm.

Starting today, fans outside of the United States, Canada and China can access live play-by-play of all remaining NBA games of the 2015-16 season.  In May, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) regular season and playoff games will be available as the league celebrates its 20th season, and fans can also listen to action from the NBA’s official minor league, the NBA Development League, to stay up-to-date on star prospects.

“We’re excited to announce this new partnership with the NBA,” said Kevin Straley, Chief Content Officer for TuneIn.  “The combination of our platform with a global reach in 230 countries and territories, and the NBA’s international fan base makes this a perfect fit to extend TuneIn’s growing sports content portfolio.  The NBA is the worldwide leader for sports leagues in terms of engaging fans in both social and mobile distribution.”

TuneIn’s global audio network provides a host of high-quality digital sports content to more than 60 million active monthly users worldwide.

“NBA fans worldwide are passionate about the game and consume our content in numerous ways from television and radio, to mobile and social media,” said David Denenberg, NBA Senior Vice President, Global Media Distribution and Business Affairs. “TuneIn’s global platform is another unique way for our fans to experience the excitement of our game.”

TuneIn will also work with the NBA to create and launch original content alongside the game broadcasts, including daily talk, analysis and fantasy shows during the regular season. Other content will include:

·         On-Demand Content – Users will be able to listen to replays of the most recent 10 games for each team on a rolling basis if they can’t catch the live broadcasts

·         24/7 NBA Channel – TuneIn plans to launch a live 24/7 channel consisting of a mix of NBA TV content and original programming so users can listen to live and on-demand basketball programming year-round

Fans can subscribe to TuneIn Premium or sign up for a free trial via TuneIn.com, iOS and Android apps.

About TuneIn

TuneIn is the most popular way to listen to streaming audio from around the world. With more than 60 million monthly active users, TuneIn lets people listen to the world’s sports, news, talk, and music from wherever they are. TuneIn has over 100,000 radio stations and more than 5.7 million on-demand programs stemming from every continent, and is available for free across many connected devices. TuneIn Premium lets subscribers listen to the NBA, NFL, MLB, over 40k audiobooks, and commercial-free music stations. TuneIn has venture funding from IVP, Sequoia Capital, Google Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, and Icon Ventures, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About the NBA

The NBA is a global sports and media business built around three professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, and the NBA Development League.  The league has established a major international presence with games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 49 languages, and NBA merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on 6 continents.  NBA rosters at the start of the 2015-16 season featured 100 international players from 37 countries and territories.  NBA Digital’s assets include NBA.com and the NBA app, which achieved record traffic during the 2014-15 season, as well as NBA TV.  The NBA has created one of the largest social media communities in the world, with more than one billion likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms.  Through NBA Cares, the league addresses important social issues by working with internationally recognized youth-serving organizations that support education, youth and family development, and health-related causes.

Media Contacts:

NBA
Michael Wade
MWade@nba.com
212-407-8690

TuneIn
Brenna Webb
bwebb@tunein.com
217- 377-2553