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The League signed a contract withDuMont in its8th season (1953–54), marking the first year the NBA had a national television broadcaster. Similar toNFL, the lack oftelevision stations led to NBC taking over the rights beginning thevery next season until April 7, 1962 - NBC's first tenure with the NBA.
The contract had the DuMont Television Network televising 13 Saturday afternoon games. According to the bookTall Tales, NBA owners wanted the presumably "worst" game of the week to be shown on DuMont, because they were afraid if the "best" games were shown, it would negatively affect the gate for that game. Also, even though DuMont wanted the games on Saturday afternoons, a number of owners resisted because they feared that Saturday matinees would not draw as many people as a night game.
The DuMont Network would televise 20 Saturday afternoon games the following season, paying$39,000 for the rights. DuMont's first game aired on December 12, 1953, with theBoston Celtics defeating theBaltimore Bullets 106–75. This was the only year of NBA coverage on DuMont; the Saturday afternoon package moved toNBC for the1954–55 season, mainly because NBC could clear the games on far morestations thatDuMont could.
Games on DuMont were usuallyblacked out in the cities they were played in; for example, the threeBoston Celtics home games included in the 1953-54 package were blacked-out in Boston, however,WJAR-TV in nearby Providence (whose signal covers most of the metropolitan Boston area) did carry the two regular-season Celtics' home games that were part of the DuMont package.[1][2]
| Date | Teams | Commentators |
|---|---|---|
| 12/12/53[3][4] | Baltimore @Boston | Marty Glickman andCurt Gowdy |
| 12/19/53[5] | Syracuse @ Boston | Marty Glickman andCurt Gowdy |
| 12/26/53 | Boston @Milwaukee | Marty Glickman andJohn Reddy |
| 1/2/54[6] | Philadelphia @ Syracuse | Marty Glickman andDick Grossman |
| 1/9/54 | Minneapolis @ Milwaukee | Marty Glickman andJohn Reddy |
| 1/16/54 | Philadelphia @ Baltimore | Marty Glickman |
| 1/23/54 | Philadelphia @Rochester | Marty Glickman |
| 1/30/54 | Milwaukee @ Minneapolis | Marty Glickman |
| 2/6/54 | Fort Wayne @ Syracuse | Marty Glickman andDick Grossman |
| 2/13/54 | Syracuse @ Rochester | Marty Glickman |
| 2/20/54 | Fort Wayne @ Baltimore | Marty Glickman |
| 2/27/54 | Milwaukee @ Philadelphia | Marty Glickman |
| 3/6/54 | Philadelphia @ Syracuse | Marty Glickman andDick Grossman |
| 3/13/54 | New York @ Syracuse | Marty Glickman andDick Grossman |
| 3/20/54[7] | New York @ Boston | Marty Glickman |
| 3/27/54 | Minneapolis @ Rochester | Marty Glickman |
| 4/3/54 | Syracuse @ Minneapolis | Marty Glickman |
| 4/10/54 | Minneapolis @ Syracuse | Marty Glickman |
Marty Glickman and Lindsay Nelsoncalled Games 2 and 5 of the1954 NBA Finals for DuMont.
NBC's first tenure with the National Basketball Association began on October 30, 1954, and lasted until April 7, 1962. On November 9, 1989, the NBA reached an agreement with the network worth US$600 million contract to broadcast the league's games for four years, beginning with the1990–91 season. On April 28, 1993, NBC extended its exclusive broadcast rights to the NBA with a four-year, $750 million contract.[8]
The announcers during this period[9] included:
The1959 NBA All-Star Game marked the first time that the All-Star Game was nationally televised. However, NBC only broadcast the second half at 10 p.m.Eastern Time, in lieu of itsFriday Night Fights telecast. The 1959 All-Star Game was announced byDon Dunphy per Dick Barhold, who shared this fact withDavid J. Halberstam.