According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. Discovery is planning to alter TruTV’s content to sports programming. The channel, known for comedy and reality shows, will start its’ new sports slate on Monday, March 11th.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, TruTV will feature exclusive live games and alternative broadcast for MLB, NBA and NHL games that are live on TBS and TNT along with an additional simulcast for those games. On top of the live game broadcast, studio programs including a 30-minute sports news show TNT Sports Update at 6 p.m EST, a betting show The Line at 6:30 p.m. EST, and an NBA-focused show called Handles.
Due to the change in programing, Impractical Jokers, TruTV’s biggest show, will be moving to TBS in the summer.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, in a statement about the change Luis Silberwasser (Inside the NBA, The Match), chairman and CEO of TNT Sports said, “We are constantly striving to create and deliver the best sports content and experiences to sports fans wherever they are, and this is an exciting opportunity to expand the reach of our premium TNT Sports programming with greater consistency throughout the year. By creating a primetime block of sports programming on truTV, in addition to our existing premium live sports on TNT and TBS, we are now able to deliver a more comprehensive sports offering for our fans, while generating additional growth opportunities for our sports division and strategic business and league partners.”
The network previously had a focus on comedy behind the direction of former TruTV president Chris Linn (Teen Wolf, How’s Your News?). It was under Linn’s direction that the network got rebranded from Court TV to TruTV with additional overhaul of content starting with Adam Ruins Everything, Amy Sedaris, Impractical Jokers and Tacoma FD. TruTV was going to continue having a roster of scripted series but cancelled all future plans for the change in direction towards sports.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, TruTV is following the large shift in cable TV with a massive pivot away from scripted programs towards sports entertainment.