Kori Ellis
11-13-2004, 01:51 AM
Middle East to receive NBA games
Bloomberg News
The NBA agreed to have one game a week shown live on the U.S. government-funded Alhurra Television in the Middle East.
The Arabic-language satellite channel also will show episodes of NBA Jam, a behind-the-scenes program that focuses on teams and players.
"Alhurra is quickly becoming a very prominent and valuable source of news, information and entertainment to millions of Arabic speakers," NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement.
Alhurra, which started in February, is available in 22 Middle East countries with potential to reach 300 million people, said Norman Pattiz, chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a federal agency that funds the channel.
The commercial-free Alhurra is paid for by Congress, which in 2003 approved $60 million for the network's first year, Pattiz said. The agreement with the NBA is for this season. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
"Adding the NBA will give us a much larger audience to promote the rest of our programming," Pattiz said in a telephone interview.
Bloomberg News
The NBA agreed to have one game a week shown live on the U.S. government-funded Alhurra Television in the Middle East.
The Arabic-language satellite channel also will show episodes of NBA Jam, a behind-the-scenes program that focuses on teams and players.
"Alhurra is quickly becoming a very prominent and valuable source of news, information and entertainment to millions of Arabic speakers," NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement.
Alhurra, which started in February, is available in 22 Middle East countries with potential to reach 300 million people, said Norman Pattiz, chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a federal agency that funds the channel.
The commercial-free Alhurra is paid for by Congress, which in 2003 approved $60 million for the network's first year, Pattiz said. The agreement with the NBA is for this season. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
"Adding the NBA will give us a much larger audience to promote the rest of our programming," Pattiz said in a telephone interview.