Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal Volume 12 Volume XII Number 1 Volume XII Book 1 Article 3 2002 The NBA Strategy of Broadcast Television Exposure: A Legal Application John A. Fortunato University of Texas at Austin Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/iplj Part of the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons, and the Intellectual Property Law Commons Recommended Citation John A. Fortunato, The NBA Strategy of Broadcast Television Exposure: A Legal Application, 12 Fordham Intell. Prop. Media & Ent. L.J. 133 (2001). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/iplj/vol12/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal by an authorized editor of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. FINAL.FORTUN 1/10/02 5:07 PM The NBA Strategy of Broadcast Television Exposure: A Legal Application John A. Fortunato, Ph.D.* I. INTRODUCTION Sports television is a unique form of broadcasting compared to other programming genres because of the relationship between a professional sports league and a broadcast network. The most unique characteristic of sports television is that a league and a television network sign a multi-year contract for broadcasting rights. Television networks pay large sums of money1 to a sports league for the rights to broadcast a certain number of games over a certain number of years.