NBA on TBS

The NBA on TBS was a presentation of NBA regular season and playoff game telecasts that aired on the American cable and satellite network TBS. The games were produced by Turner Sports, the sports division of the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, TBS's corporate parent.

The network obtained rights to air NBA games beginning with the 1984-1985 season (replacing the ESPN and USA Network as the National Basketball Association's national cable partners) under a four-year contract, in which TBS shared the NBA television package along with CBS.

Coverage

Atlanta Hawks

For many years beginning when the station assumed rights to the team's game telecasts in the late 1970s, WTBS (channel 17) in Atlanta – which served as the originating feed of the national TBS cable channel from December 1976 to October 2007 – aired some regular season games from the Atlanta Hawks (which was also owned by Ted Turner at the time), which also aired nationally on WTBS's superstation feed; TBS aired the games nationwide until the telecasts became subjected to NBA blackout restrictions within 35 miles of the home team's arena, resulting in many Hawks away games televised by the network being unavailable to cable providers within the designated market area of the opposing team (this restriction was dropped when TNT gained the right to be the exclusive broadcaster of any game that it chose to carry).