NBA Goes Desi

The National Basketball Association is slowly making inroads into India to exploit a potentially large and completely untapped fan base that it views as a major market.

The National Basketball Association is slowly making inroads into India to exploit a potentially large and completely untapped fan base that it views as a major market. The New York Times reports that the NBA has struck multi-year telecast deals with Sony Pix and Ten Sports to broadcast live games on a number of television platforms. A person privy to discussions tells Open that the association is also understood to be actively seeking basketball movie scripts. Talks began in the first half of 2010. That the NBA would seek to introduce the sport, which has a tiny following in India, through movies seems a good idea on the face of it. Chak De! India, the stand-out 2007 film, led to renewed interest in hockey and its administration, even if the attention was somewhat short-lived.