JOB HUNT
‘We’ve been busy filling out job applications’ laughs Charles Barkley live on Inside the NBA with show set to end
Barkley gave insight into how TNT Sports staffers feel about losing rights
CHARLES Barkley has been cracking jokes on Inside the NBA about TNT losing NBA rights.
On a recent episode of Inside the NBA, Barkley made a hilarious unemployment joke.
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Ernie Johnson led a segment called Gone Fishing, and he acknowledged that the show was behind schedule.
Barkley was quick to a joke, saying they were lacking because they were job hunting.
"We’ve been busy, Kenny," Barkley said.
"We’ve been filling out job applications."
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The cast descended into laughter after Barkley's quip, as he hasn't been shy about commenting on TNT's loss of media rights.
Barkley also recently made a joke about being on LinkedIn to find another job.
He has been the most vocal of the Inside the NBA cast about the loss of media rights, candidly shared what it is like inside the building.
"We have zero idea what’s going to happen," he said.
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"We might lose it. I feel so bad for the people I work with.
"I mean, it is brutal. It is flat-out brutal, everybody’s scared to death."
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The NBA is reportedly asking TNT parent company Warner Bros Discovery for $2.8 billion to outbid NBC for the final package of games.
"It’s 50-50 that we lose our part to NBC," Barkley said.
"Am I concerned? 100%, because as much as we have been partners with the NBA for I think 40 years, you would think if it was close in a bidding war, we would get the benefit of the doubt.
"But clearly that’s not happening.
"They’re scared to death over here right now."
Inside the NBA's future?
Inside the NBA's run on TNT Sports is in major doubt due to the NBA's broadcasting deals.
The Emmy-winning sports show is a fan favorite thanks to the likes of Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley.
But TNT's broadcast deal with the NBA is up after next season and NBC looks set to take those rights in a $2.6bn deal.
If TNT loses its NBA package, it raises serious questions over the popular Inside the NBA.
One solution could be to recreate the show on another network, which snaps up the NBA rights.
The Ringer's Bill Simmons recently suggested the deal is done for NBC.
"One of the funniest things ever is that we’re all pretending that the TV deal wasn’t done like a week and a half ago," Simmons said on his podcast on Monday.
"I think it’s done. I think Warner [Bros. Discovery] already lost it.
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"And I don’t know why we’re waiting until after the playoffs, maybe that’s how they have to do it.
"But it’s a wrap. NBC’s getting it. I’m just telling you.”
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