Media Coverage
Currently, WNBA games are televised throughout the U.S. by ABC, ESPN2 and NBA TV. In the early years two women's-oriented networks, Lifetime and Oxygen, also broadcast games including the first game of the WNBA. NBC showed games from 1997 to 2002 as part of their NBA on NBC coverage before the league transferred the rights to ABC/ESPN.
In June 2007, the WNBA signed a contract extension with ESPN. The new television deal runs from 2009 to 2016. A minimum of 18 games will be broadcast on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 each season; the rights to broadcast the first regular season game and the All-Star game are held by ABC. Additionally, a minimum of 11 postseason games will be broadcast on any of the three stations.
Along with this deal, came the first ever rights fees to be paid to a women's professional sports league. Over the eight years of the contract, "millions and millions of dollars" will be "dispersed to the league's teams."
During the 2010 season, all telecasts were shown on ESPN and ESPN2, except for Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, which was on ABC. Game 4 was also set for ABC if it had been played.
In 2011, the opening day match-up between Phoenix and Seattle, as well as the All-Star Game, were shown on ABC.
Some teams offer games on local radio, while all teams have some games broadcast on local television stations:
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Read more about this topic: Women's National Basketball Association
Famous quotes containing the word media:
“The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western World. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity—much less dissent.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)