ADDS MORE INFORMATION ON DEALS
By Ovunc Kutlu
ISTANBUL (AA) - The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced Wednesday that it has signed new 11-year media rights agreements with Walt Disney, NBC and Amazon.
While the partnership with The Walt Disney Company was renewed, new agreements were made with NBCUniversal and Amazon under which ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Amazon Prime Video will telecast NBA games beginning with the 2025-26 season and running through the 2035-36 season.
"The NBA App will be a universal access point – seamlessly directing fans to every national game on Disney, NBCU and Amazon platforms," the men's professional basketball league in North America said in a statement.
The new deals will expand the reach of NBA telecasts, with all national games available on broadly distributed streaming services, as approximately 75 regular-season games will be on broadcast TV each season, up from the minimum of 15 games under the current agreement, it added.
"Our new global media agreements with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon will maximize the reach and accessibility of NBA games for fans in the United States and around the world,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
“These partners will distribute our content across a wide range of platforms and help transform the fan experience over the next decade."
The association, in addition, said Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon also secured the right to distribute live game telecasts of the WNBA -- the women's professional basketball league in the US.
The new media rights agreements are expected to bring the league around $76 billion over 11 years, according to multiple media reports.
The NBA said in a separate statement that Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent proposal, which was reported as $1.8 billion per year, did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer.
"Throughout these negotiations, our primary objective has been to maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for our fans. Our new arrangement with Amazon supports this goal by complementing the broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal arrangements. All three partners have also committed substantial resources to promote the league and enhance the fan experience," it said.
NBA's current nine-year deal worth $24 billion provides national game coverage on ESPN/ABC and TNT, while it expires at the end of the 2024-25 season.
- ESPN to continue as exclusive home of NBA Finals
The Walt Disney Company said in a separate statement that its subsidiary cable sports channel ESPN will continue its long-standing position as the primary media rights partner of the NBA and the WNBA, as well as the exclusive home of the NBA Finals.
"ESPN’s full package of NBA and WNBA live events and programming, including the championship events, will be available on ESPN’s upcoming flagship direct-to-consumer platform, launching in the fall of 2025," it added.
In addition, ESPN will also continue its rights to robust NBA Playoffs and regular-season live event packages, including the NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC series – the marquee, national game of the week, while ESPN platforms will exclusively broadcast five WNBA Finals series during the 11-year agreement.
Walt Disney’s international package of NBA and WNBA games, in a new initiative starting with the 2025-26 NBA season, will be available to stream on its digital platforms, including on Disney+, in select markets around the world, according to the statement.
- Amazon to present 66 regular-season games
Amazon said in its own statement that Prime Video, its subscription video on-demand, streaming and rental service, will present exclusive global coverage of 66 regular-season NBA games.
Its deal with the league includes an opening week doubleheader, a new Black Friday NBA game, and all games from the Knockout Rounds of the Emirates NBA Cup, and the in-season tournament’s Semifinals and Finals.
"Prime Video also acquires rights to exclusive coverage of every game of the postseason SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament, first and second-round playoff games, and Conference Finals in six of the 11 years of the deal," it said.
Amazon said Prime Video will distribute its package of games in the US and internationally, with an expanded package of games in select territories that include Mexico, Brazil, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the UK and Ireland.
The expanded package includes a minimum of 20 additional prime-time regular season games each year, a Conference Finals series each year, and the NBA Finals in six of the 11 years, according to the statement.
- NBA All-Star Game to be available on NBC, Peacock
NBCUniversal said in its statement that the 11-year partnership includes 100 NBA national games each regular season across NBC and its video streaming service Peacock.
Its deal also includes approximately 50 Peacock-exclusive national regular-season and postseason NBA games, including national Monday night games and doubleheaders.
Six NBA Conference Finals series every other year beginning with the 2025-26 season, the "NBA Tip-Off" doubleheader each season, NBA All-Star Game and star-studded competitions of All-Star Saturday Night each season will be available on NBC and Peacock.
First-round NBA playoff games will be presented by NBCUniversal, exclusive in all markets both national and local, according to the statement.
NBCUniversal noted that its deal will offer "more NBA Playoff games each season on average than any other NBA media partner."