Just as the NBA Finals tip-off, the league is preparing for a massive shift in its broadcast landscape.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the National Basketball Association is on the precipice of a $76 billion, 11-year media deal that would give NBC the largest stake ($2.5 billion per year for roughly 100 games, half exclusively on Peacock). Fellow newcomer Amazon would get a $1.8 billion per year share that includes regular-season games, the in-season tournament, “play-in” postseason games and a share of the conference finals.
ESPN’s $1.5 billion per year deal shrinks the number of games it airs but allows it to show games on its new sports streaming service, Venu.
However, one of ESPN’s partners in that new streaming venture—Warner Bros. Discovery—is currently out of the mix after nearly 40 years of NBA broadcasts. WBD CEO David Zaslav forecast as much during the company’s earnings call in May but noted that the long-time rightsholder still has options.
“We’re in continuing conversations with them now, and we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to reach an agreement that makes sense for both sides,” Zaslav said on the call. “Since we are in active negotiations with the league and under our current deal with the NBA, we have matching rights that allow us to match third-party offers before the NBA enters into an agreement with them.”
Wither WBD?
Though CNBC reported in late May that “Zaslav has told colleagues he believes NBCUniversal is overspending for the NBA, based on his company’s research into ratings and potential subscriber value for a subscription streaming service,” his company shows few signs that it’s willing to relinquish rights to the league entirely.
WBD put NBA on TNT host Charles Barkley on stage at its TV upfront event while pointing out to advertisers that TNT Sports reaches more than 150 million fans. Afterward, Jon Steinlauf, chief U.S. advertising sales officer at WBD, told ADWEEK the NBA is a “very prominent” sports property and hailed the success of an NBA All-Star Game on TNT that immediately followed the Super Bowl.
