If you think you saw a drone on Wednesday night during the 76ers-Celtics game, relax. You’re not tripping. You definitely did.
TNT decided to use a drone to cover the broadcast of the game. Periodically, in the broadcast, it was announced that it was their drone. But it was still pretty weird to see it flying around like that.
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Warner Bros. Discovery Sports — which is the parent company of TNT — has been testing and incorporating drone technology into some of the company’s bigger broadcasts like the All-Star game and the men’s Final Four, according to The Morning Consult‘s Mark Burns.
Regarding TNT's use of drone technology for live coverage of Celtics-76ers, source familiar w/ situation says Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (TNT/TBS) has been testing in-arena drone use and recently incorporated the tech into NBA All Star along with the men's Final Four in…
— Mark J. Burns (@markjburns88) May 4, 2023
This seems like something we’ll probably see periodically throughout the NBA playoffs. The drone is providing a unique coverage angle for fans to watch from.
Here’s a look at it. Honestly, it doesn’t look too bad.
ROB WILLIAMS BLOCK ON THE DRONE CAMERA ANGLE pic.twitter.com/ptOuGy27yj
— Pull up shoot (@NElGHT_) May 4, 2023
While the footage looked cool, the drone was also in the way. The thing flies right in the middle of the regular broadcast.
There is a drone spotted in the middle of the Celtics-76ers game 👀 pic.twitter.com/fM4qRJnIq1
— Ahn Fire Digital (@AhnFireDigital) May 4, 2023
So you can see why people were so annoyed with this thing. It’s quite literally in the way of their basketball. Fans seemed to be out on the drone just as quickly as it came in.