What will NBA’s new media rights deal include for Disney, NBC, Amazon?

What will NBA’s new media rights deal include for Disney, NBC, Amazon?

Shortly after announcing that it rejected TNT’s offer to match Amazon’s media rights proposal for the 11-year TV deal, expected to begin in 2025-26, the NBA officially announced that it had agreed to the media rights deal with Disney (ESPN/ABC), NBCUniversal (NBC/Peacock) and Amazon (Amazon Prime Video) that will cost $77 billion through the 2035-36 season.

“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,” Adam Silver, NBA commissioner, said via release.  “These partners will distribute our content across a wide range of platforms and help transform the fan experience over the next decade.”

The current TV deal–spanning nine years for $24 billion–began at the start of 2016-17 with only ABC/ESPN and TNT as its broadcasting partners. With streaming services becoming more popular than cable television, the league has decided to expand its wings, but what will that entail for each network?

Let’s examine below!

Disney (ABC/ESPN):

• 80 NBA regular season games
  • 60 games on ESPN, generally on Wednesday and Friday nights.
  • 20 games on ABC, generally on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons.
• ABC/ESPN will broadcast 18 games for the first two rounds and one of the two conference finals in 10 of the 11 years.
• It will remain home to the NBA Finals, which it has broadcasted since 2003.
• It will also continue to broadcast the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, NBA Draft, NBA Draft Lottery and half of all NBA Summer League Games.
• Will have WNBA Package and G-League regular season and postseason games.
• NBA on Christmas will remain on ESPN.

In essence, this is similar to the last TV deal with Disney. There’s a slight decrease in regular season games broadcasted (85 to 80) and playoff games (30 to 18) in the first two rounds, but it still holds primetime coverage for the NBA Finals, Christmas Day Games and a few other notable events, such as the NBA Draft and NBA Draft Lottery.

NBCUniversal:

• 100 regular season games
• NBC will have games on Tuesday and Sunday nights.
• There will be an opening night doubleheader with at least two games on MLK Day.
• Peacock will have a doubleheader every Monday night throughout the season and will have NBC Coverage on Tuesday nights too.
• NBC will be the new home for All-Star weekend instead of TNT, with the exception of the celebrity game.
• NBC and/or Peacock will telecast 28 games in the first two rounds of the playoffs, with at least half airing on NBC.
• NBC will telecast one of the two Conference Finals in six of the 11 years, rotating with Amazon, beginning in 2025-26.

Woah! 100 games on NBC/Peacock! That’s the most any network’s had ever–with TNT getting 64 in their current agreement. It’s fascinating how it will have coverage on Peacock during the NFL season with Monday Night Football and not NBC; If I were them, I would prefer to have the television station capture those views and not the streaming service because more people would be inclined to watch it. But alas, this is a great deal for NBCUniversal in their first year back since 2002.

Amazon Prime Video:

• 66 regular season games.
• Thursday night doubleheaders beginning in January after the NFL season
• Friday night doubleheaders, Saturday afternoon games.
• Home of the In-Season Tournament, broadcasting games from the quarterfinals, semifinals and IST championship.
• Will have approximately one-third of the playoff games from the first and second rounds each season.
• Will rotate with NBCUniversal for Conference Finals games, beginning in 2026-27.
• Will have half of all Summer League games as well as a package for WNBA and NBA G-League regular season and postseason games.
• Expanded package of games in select territories, including Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Spain, France, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

That’s not a bad shake for Amazon, all things considered. It will also have more games than TNT with this new deal while getting prime coverage for the In-Season Tournament. As I’ve outlined previously, if all things were equal, TNT wouldn’t have the juice to match one of the most popular streaming services nationwide. For being the third partner, you could do a whole lot worse, all things considered.

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