Week of: May 20

As usual, professional sports is leading the way in marketing by turning what once was considered TV-rating lemons into lemon-aide. While NBA the playoffs generally lack its past national appeal, the regional marketing of basketball between San Antonio vs. Memphis and Indiana vs. Miami is setting up niche-model programming with smaller networks like TNT and TBS. Just as HBO and FX have chipped away at mass, prime-time network audiences, the regional marketing is resonating well with the passion of each city involved deep into sports playoffs. The same is happening with the National Hockey League, which is trying to rebound from labor strife of lockout seasons. The Boston vs. New York Rangers semifinal and the Pittsburgh vs. Ottawa series provide tremendous regional drama with passionate fans getting similarly involved in real, reality TV sports.