Twitter, Inc.’s plans to turn itself into a sports live-streaming service has received a boost, with news Tuesday that it has signed an original content deal with the National Basketball Association (NBA).

The deal, which will include live programming and video to Twitter-owned properties Vine and Periscope as well as Twitter itself, will comprise of two exclusive shows, the first of which will be an NBA pregame show featuring “first-of-its-kind” elements created “specifically for integration with Twitter conversations.”

A second show under the deal is simply described as a “to-be-determined” show, be it that it will naturally be basketball related.

The deal for video includes NBA clips such as #NBARapidReplay highlights, #NBAVine highlights and behind-the-scenes footage, #PhantomCam player arrivals, plays of the game, animated GIFs, #NBAmixtape custom edits, “Day in the Life” takeovers and Periscope live streams of press conferences and interviews, with the NBA also committing to produce more videos for Twitter and its other services from major events including NBA All-Star, NBA Playoffs, The Finals, NBA Draft and others.

News that Twitter was talking to the NBA about a content partnership first emerged June 10.

“We’re excited about bringing live content to Twitter, which has proven to be an ideal destination for real-time sports conversations,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “We’ve seen technology bring fans closer to our game, teams and players in ways we could have only imagined a decade ago. This expanded partnership will help feed our fans’ growing demand for the NBA by more deeply integrating the league across Twitter’s many platforms.”

Unexpected

While it was known that Twitter and NBA were in discussions, the format of the deal is none the less unexpected given that it would have appeared that Twitter was primarily interested in live event streaming rights following its deal for exclusive online streaming of the National Football League’s Thursday Night Football games.

That said, pre-show or highlight shows are not without precedence for Twitter, with the company having experimented with a highlights show during the Wimbledon tennis tournament in early July.

The big question for these types of shows is, will they actually attract an audience? You can see people potentially tuning into Thursday Night Football online, but will they tune in to watch talking heads discuss a forthcoming game of basketball?

It would have to be a seriously unique offering with special guests or similar draw cards to attract an audience; ultimately only time will tell if they’re able to pull it off.

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