MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy’s View from Downunder) - New NBL Executive Director Larry Kestelman this week spoke about his hopes for a new TV deal.

Kestelman made it clear the TV deal was crucial to return "credibility and strength" to the competition, and said he is hopeful of securing a long-term agreement rather than a stop-gap deal.

Much of the subsequent discussion has centred around how much the NBL might receive for rights, how many games will be shown and in what timeslots, but I think it's vital for the league to focus on the basics - how the product will look to potential customers.

When the new deal is signed it must allow the NBL to produce something alluring to casual sports viewers.

It can't be based purely on what leagues like the NBA or AFL do, as they already have a captive audience. The NBL has to go above and beyond that in certain aspects, even if they can’t match the technology made available to those leagues.

So how do you do that?

In the past, if a casual viewer switched to the NBL they saw mostly wide-angle action, replays of fouls, coaches talking to players in time-outs and  talking heads in pre-game, half-time and post-game. 

That doesn't cut the mustard.

From the first moment of the broadcast, viewers should be bombarded with information and highlights that draw them into being NBL fans, or at the least casual followers who know about the league and its stars.

So forget a templated intro that's repeated week after week, the very first thing people should see is the story of the upcoming game.

If it's the Josh Childress v Tom Abercrombie match-up, show a highlight play from each guy and let the viewer know why this is such a great match-up.

After a brief intro from the commentators jump straight into highlights from both teams' most recent game, visually and verbally informing the viewers what to look for.

The commentators can then briefly talk about what’s coming up in the half-time show (more about that in a moment) accompanied by some exciting teaser highlights from around the league.

Then, introduce the starting fives, not with rotating shoes, not with a headshot, but with a clip of each player in action - dunking, blocking, dishing off, hitting threes - whatever their specialty is give the viewers a taste of what’s to come.

Then you're off to ads and back for tip-off. Almost non-stop action so far.

Pre-game coach interviews have value, but there's no point showing them before the action starts when disinterested folks might change the channel.

Instead, show excerpts from the interviews - in an inset box - during free throws in the opening minutes.

When it comes to time-outs, don't broadcast each and every coach's address, it ceases to be special insight, the gems get lost in the verbal fog and many people don’t understand the specific terminology anyway.

Instead, pick out the best bits which really add value to viewers' knowledge of the team, coach or players and air them during free-throw attempts.

Use early time-outs to show highlights of what happened last time these teams met - be that overall highlights or a player's dominant performance - or additional highlights from a team’s recent outing. 

As the game wears on show in-game grabs, be they athletic individual plays or highlights from a player who’s hot.

You can also use those breaks to air portions of interviews where players talk about their opponents - for example Abercrombie on Childress and vice versa. 

Just as importantly as any of that, don't replay fouls unless they are particularly controversial or in the final minutes of the game.

For so many years now, more fouls have been replayed than highlights, effectively showing viewers the ugliest parts of NBL action in preference to the best.

Worse still, a commentator like Steve Carfino, who didn't do the homework to be able to talk about what each team was doing, focused his discussion constantly on refereeing decisions.

Forget the fouls, replay some of the action, show people the game at its best.

As for commentators, get the best basketball commentators, even if that means someone else introduces the broadcast ala Dennis Katsanos in New Zealand, who then hands over to play-by-play man Andrew Mulligan.

A commentator who knows the game and makes it exciting is worth their weight in gold.

When it comes to half-time, what we’ve got in the past has been talking heads interspersed by highlights of first half.

Why not give the viewers something new? 

Produce a simple half-time show with highlights from the previous round, reactions from players and coaches, top plays for people to vote on and, if possible, even highlights from Aussies around the world.

Then, show the highlights from the first half during breaks in play or time-outs in the second half to keep the pace of the broadcast high.

After the game, of course, wrap up the key players and plays, but also have a teaser for the next game being broadcast with some great highlight clips of what people can expect, giving them a reason to tune in.

At every turn, viewers have to see things that excite, interest or inform them. They won't become NBL fans otherwise.

It doesn't require massive spend on booms and countless camera angles - although that certainly helps - but it's more important to sell the NBL via highlight action and the stories of the league.

Kestelman has talked about bulking up league HQ, well an important starting point is employing people who can create these short highlight packages and make the TV broadcast the NBL’s best friend, not a service for only the league’s most dedicated fans.

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.