TORONTO – Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment and Score Media have signed a two-year deal that will see MLSE’s basketball channel, Raptors NBA TV and The Score, work together.
Analog sports channel The Score will have exclusive broadcast rights to 30 Toronto Raptors games that will air nationally on The Score and The Score HD.
An additional feature of the agreement will see The Score share coverage of TNT’s Thursday night NBA double-headers with Raptors NBA TV, complete with Inside the NBA commentators, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and outspoken hall-of-famer Charles Barkley. The Score will air the first game, while Raptors NBA TV will show the second game of the double-header. In addition, a minimum of 21 NBA playoff games will air exclusively on The Score.
Since Raptors TV is a digital channel and is not carried by all operators, the deal will improve the reach of the team and channel through the promotion and carriage of the games on The Score, which is a tier III analog channel carried by all distributors in Canada.
All TNT games will be available in high definition on The Score HD and Raptors NBA TV HD.
"Basketball has a loyal fan base in Canada and we see this enhanced partnership with MLSE as giving us the opportunity to provide more substantial and in-depth coverage and analysis to Raptors and NBA fans," said The Score SVP David Errington in a release.
