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The experience of viewing the NBA fans will be different this year, but there will also be a touch of nostalgia.
Last summer, Comcast / NBC Universal concluded an 11 -year agreement for the rights to NBA and regular WNBA matches and in playoffs. These games will be presented on the linear and streaming platforms of the network starting with the 2025-26 season. While viewers are preparing to adapt to their fall habits, the network has announced that a tool fueled by AI will help bring a feeling of the 1990s.
The late Jim Fagan, whose emblematic voice became synonymous with NBC programming in the 1990s, will be part of the NBA coverage in the future – thanks to artificial intelligence.
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The NBA logo adorned the field during the NBA summer league match between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Houston Rockets at Thomas & Mack Center on July 7, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
The voice generated by A-Fagan will be deployed for the coverage of the League by NBC. The recreated voice will also be understood in certain promotional elements from October.
These elements will include certain sequences of titles, the openings of shows and other promotions, NBC announced in a press release. The company will use other artists of voiceover for more traditional work.
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Fagan’s family has granted NBC Sports authorization to use vocal synthesis technology AI to recreate the voice of the famous narrator.
Fagan’s girls, Jana Silvia Joyce and Risa Silvia-Koon, published a statement saying in part: “We are deeply grateful that NBC Sports has the vision of honoring our father’s inheritance in such a significant way.”
A bullet sails through the hoop during the match between Miami Heat and the Rockets at Toyota Center in Houston, April 5, 2024. (Troy Taormina-USA today Sports)
“For many basketball fans, Jim’s unique and recognizable voice immediately evokes a deep feeling of nostalgia for a special moment in the history of the NBA,” said Rick Cordella, president of NBC sports in a statement. “His voice perfectly captured the magnitude of the matches and stars of the heavy goods vehicles he introduced. It was a joy to work with Jim’s family to recreate his voice and honor his heritage. I am delighted to be able to present his voice to a brand new generation of fans.”
An NBA basketball ball is in a rack before a match between the Pistons de Detroit and the Charlotte Hornets, on March 9, 2023, in Detroit. (AP photo / Carlos Osorio, file)
Fagan played university football in Virginia-Western. He died in 2017.
Amazon is one of the three dollar 76 billion record partners in accordance with the rights of the media with the NBA. Disney, the parent company of ESPN, will continue its partnership with the League, under the terms of the last agreement.
“NBA on NBC” took place from 1990 to 2002. TNT’s partnership with the NBA began in 1989, with its studio program “Inside The NBA” popularity over the decades. But in July 2024, the NBA rejected an offer from the mother company of TNT, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), to exercise his right to match an Amazon offer for part of the League’s media rights agreement.
In May 2024, the NBA commissioner Adam Silver expressed his confidence that at least two of the stars of “Inside The NBA” will continue to cover the NBA for the coming years, whatever the network holds the diffusion rights.
“We never lose Charles (Barkley) and Kenny (Smith),” said Silver. “They will always cover the NBA. … I can’t imagine these guys [on ‘Inside the NBA’] I will not play and announce together in the future, and we love them all. “”
The four important faces of “Inside The NBA” will finally remain together, because the program will be authorized in ESPN from the 2025-26 season.
The current media rights agreement of the League will expire in June after the NBA final.
