Offering National Basketball Association games outside of traditional cable television packages is not an immediate risk to the league's profitability and could bring in new viewers, David Stern, NBA commissioner emeritus, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday.
Dish Network announced at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas this week that it would offer ESPN and ESPN2 as part of a $20 per month streaming service.
That plan "is appealing to an audience that either has cut their cord already, or the nevers—the never had cable [people]—so actually I think it will bring in more people and I would hope that somebody who gets to see the occasional game on ESPN or ABC will want to make sure they get to see all the games, which requires a whole different package," Stern said.