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Athens, GA (Aug 19, 2008) - According to Sports Business Journal, the National Basketball Association (NBA) plans to allow teams to offer live internet-streaming of local games starting with the 2008-2009 season. SBJ talks about how this may cause a conflict between cable providers and regional sports networks.

It sounds like the NBA is seeking to tap into the fact that streaming broadcasts have only helped to bolster viewership across the board for this year's NCAA Basketball Tournament on CBS Sports and Summer Olympics on NBC/Universal. There may be one simple flaw in this logic though. The NCAA tournament and the Olympics offer compelling reasons to watch. The NBA "games" do not.

It is about the game, stupid! Or maybe not. Only time will be able to measure the success of this initiative.

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Sports Business Journal: NBA shoots for local streaming of live games