NEW YORK – Fans in 215 countries and territories in 47 languages will have more ways than ever to watch when the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs tip off The Finals tonight.

More than 310 international media members from 34 countries will converge in Miami and San Antonio to cover the action.

The first-ever “NBA Finals Companion” launches today and combines television and social media to create the ultimate fan experience for international audiences.   Fans can log onto nba.com/fanwatch and play “NBA Challenge,” a real-time predictive gaming experience, view live tweets from top international commentators, and post photos of themselves with #NBAFan to Instagram or Twitter for a chance to be featured on the NBA world feed television broadcast.

The Spurs feature a record nine international players including Aron Baynes (Australia), Nando De Colo (France), Boris Diaw (France), Tim Duncan (U.S. Virgin Islands), Manu Ginobili (Argentina), Cory Joseph (Canada), Patty Mills (Australia), Tony Parker (France), and Tiago Splitter (Brazil).  The Heat feature Joel Anthony (Canada).

Highlights of Coverage in Key Regions:

 France:

• A record three French players are in The Finals (Parker, Diaw and De Colo).
• beIN Sport, L’Equipe and France Televisions will be onsite and beIN Sport will provide live commentary for the first time.
• Free to air channels France 2 and France 3 will have exceptional coverage including highlights and interviews from their onsite journalists to be included in their sports and entertainment shows, as well as their daily national news programs.
• NBA Legend Horace Grant is in Paris to tip off game 1 with several TV appearances.
• French soccer stars Thierry Henry of the New York Red Bulls and Etienne Capoue of Toulouse FC will attend The Finals and be incorporated into partner broadcasts.

China:

• CCTV will be onsite to produce a customized feed for all games with commentary and graphics in Mandarin and also capture footage for its new weekly two-hour lifestyle show NBA Primetime.
• com will stream every game live online and provide content and real-time fan interaction.
• The NBA, the number one corporate brand on social media in China, will engage its 58 million followers on Sina and Tencent in real-time.

Europe/Middle East/Africa:

• Comprehensive coverage in key markets will be provided by Canal+ in Spain, BSkyB and ESPN in the UK, Sky Italia in Italy and Sport1+ in Germany.
• D-Smart will be onsite providing live commentary for fans in Turkey with all the games airing live on Smart Spor and CNN Turk.
• Al Jazeera will be onsite providing live commentary for fans throughout the Middle East.
• SABC will provide national free-to-air coverage in South Africa.

Asia:

• For the first time, SONY SIX will provide live coverage of The Finals to fans in India.
• NHK and Wowow will be onsite providing comprehensive coverage for fans in Japan.
• Two players from Australia (Baynes and Mills) will participate in The Finals and ESPN will host a viewing party in Sydney.
• NBA Premium TV and Basketball TV will each host a viewing party in the Philippines.
• SBS ESPN will provide comprehensive live coverage of The Finals in Korea.
• Fans in Indonesia can tune in live on MNC Sports 1 and Sindo TV.

Latin America:

• Fans throughout Latin America and Caribbean can watch live on ESPN.
• In Mexico, TV Azteca will provide fans with in-depth coverage of The Finals within their weekly customized program “Rafaga NBA.”  Cinepolis Cinemas will host “NBA Nights” showing The Finals live in movie theaters in 10 Mexican cities.
• There will be strong digital coverage through enebea.com (Spanish) and NBA.com.br (Portuguese) for fans in Brazil; as well as through five in-language social media pages:  Facebook, Twitter, My Space Latino, Que Pasa and Mi Pagina.

In addition, through NBA LEAGUE PASS, fans worldwide have the chance to watch every NBA Finals game live and on demand online and on their mobile devices.