The world of sports has just made a big change as the National Basketball Association, aka the NBA, has signed an 11 year deal worth $77 Billion for the rights to carry NBA games with Disney (through ESPN), Comcast (through NBCUniversal), and Amazon.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had this to say regarding the announcement:
“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. These partners will distribute our content across a wide range of platforms and help transform the fan experience over the next decade.”
Disney will carry 80 regular-season games along with 20 contests, and ABC will have the exclusive rights to the NBA finals. NBCUniversal will carry 100 regular-season games, which will air on NBC and stream on Peacock. Amazon will carry 66 regular-season games with at least one game on Black Friday. NBCUniversal and Amazon will alternate the two conference finals.
The deal comes after the NBA ended their four decade long time partnership with TNT Sports, a division of Warner Bros. Discovery. WBD had attempted to renew the deal but their offer came up short of what the others offered. WBD CEO David Zaslav was reportedly hopeful that a deal could be reached to keep the NBA on TNT Sports and Max. 
The loss of the NBA on TNT Sports has raised some concerns about the upcoming joint sports streaming service announced earlier this year. The joint venture would be a combined service with TNT Sports, Fox Sports, and, funny enough, ESPN. The shift of the NBA from TNT to ESPN may have some potential negative effects on the partnership.
Emarketer television and streaming analyst Ross Benes had this to say on a potential lawsuit over the situation:
“A lawsuit could follow but it’d be risky. Even if WBD won a hypothetical suit to get the NBA back, it’d be stuck working with an angry NBA who it just sued. Such action could also spook other leagues from striking deals with them.“
Are you excited to see the NBA available on more platforms? Or would you prefer it to be all available in one place and not require you to own multiple streaming services to watch a full season? Let us know your thoughts.
Source: Star Advertiser
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