NEW YORK: The NBA announced 11-year global media rights deals with The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal and Amazon on Wednesday worth a reported $76 billion and running from the 2025-26 through 2035-36 season. In addition to expanding game coverage for US and global telecast audiences as well as streaming viewers, the contracts figure to boost the value of every NBA team in addition to the salaries of basketball’s top superstars.

Even though no financial details were officially revealed, ESPN, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes magazine have reported the $76 billion combined figure for the deals. “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,” National Basketball Association commissioner Adam Silver said.

“These partners will distribute our content across a wide range of platforms and help transform the fan experience over the next decade.” The move came after the league announced it had rejected a bid by Warner Brothers Discovery to retain its rights by matching Amazon’s deal, saying the terms of the offer to remain on US telecaster Turner Sports were not sufficient.

“Warner Brothers Discovery’s most recent proposal did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer and, therefore, we have entered into a long-term arrangement with Amazon,” the NBA said in a statement. “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.” The league’s upcoming campaign will be its last for some time with US coverage on long-time partner TNT.

“We’re grateful to Turner Sports for its award-winning coverage of the NBA and look forward to another season of the NBA on TNT,” the league statement said. The new deals will keep US coverage on Disney-owned ESPN and ABC, NBC and Peacock as well as send a set of games to Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service. 

ABC and ESPN will remain the television home for US fans of the NBA Finals, Christmas Day games plus Wednesday and weekend contests. NBC will have opening night plus Sunday and Tuesday game telecasts with Peacock getting Monday games and NBA All-Star coverage.

Amazon Prime Video will have rights to the NBA Cup, the NBA Play-In Tournament to determine April’s final playoff qualifiers plus games on Thursday and Friday night as well as be a global destination for NBA League Pass telecasts.

Turner vows to fight

Turner Sports promised to fight the NBA’s decision, saying in a statement posted on social media that it will take action after NBC overstepped its power in deciding Turner’s terms didn’t match Amazon. “We have matched the Amazon offer, as we have a contractual right to do, and do not believe the NBA can reject it,” the statement said.

“We think they have grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights with respect to the 2025-26 season and beyond and we will take appropriate action.” The new deals mean more national NBA telecasts on broadcast and streaming platforms, with the NBA App serving as an access point to all.

In domestic markets, Disney will broadcast 80 regular season games on ESPN and ABC, NBCUniversal will have up to 100, and Amazon will add 66 regular season contests. Disney also will distribute games in several international markets, while NBC will distribute games in Europe through Sky Sports as well as in parts of Africa and the Caribbean.

Amazon Prime Video will provide global distribution in select areas, including Mexico, Brazil, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland. The Women’s NBA also announced an 11-year rights deal with Disney, Amazon and NBCUniversal in contracts worth a total of $2.2 billion, The Athletic and ESPN reported. – AFP