NBA Finally Finalizes TV Deals with ESPN, Prime Video, NBC; TNT Expected to Try to Match Amazon Offer

The NBA is ready to sign on the dotted line. A new report from The Athletic indicates that the Association has finalized TV deals with Disney (ABC, ESPN), Comcast (NBC, Peacock), and Amazon (Prime Video), which will last for 11 seasons starting in 2025-26. The deal will pay the league $76 billion over its lifetime and is set to see NBA games depart TNT for the first time in 35 years.

Key Details:

• ESPN will keep exclusive NBA Finals rights as part of the deal.
• NBC and Prime Video will each get a package of playoff games in their respective agreements.
• Warner Bros. Discovery is still expected to try and match Prime Video’s bid for the newly-created “C” package of games.

The NBA has formally agreed to all contract language with its new broadcast partners, which means that the TV deals can now be put into place. ABC and ESPN will pay $2.6 billion per season to televise approximately 80 regular season games and will keep exclusive rights to the NBA Finals as the cornerstone of the league’s “A” broadcast package, as well as the guarantee of a conference finals series every year. During NFL season, ESPN and ABC will offer games on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

The “B” package of regular season games and playoff contests — including a conference finals every other year — will move to NBC and its sibling streamer Peacock in the new deal. That package will be held by TNT Sports until the end of the 2024-25 season. Comcast is expected to pay $2.5 billion per season for this bundle. Tuesday will be NBA night on NBC, and Peacock will gain a lineup of exclusive telecasts on Monday nights during NFL season. Once football ends, NBC will also offer a schedule of games on Sunday nights.

Prime Video is the recipient of the newly-created “C” package, which has regular season games, playoff series, and the new In-Season Tournament. The package has a price tag of $1.8 billion per season and will see Prime Video stream games primarily on Friday and Saturday nights during NFL season, and Thursday games will take over the “Thursday Night Football” slot once the football season ends. Amazon is expected to heavily pursue Ian Eagle, the voice of the NCAA Men’s Tournament Final Four on CBS and TNT to handle play-by-play duties for its NBA broadcasts.

The deal will see the NBA triple the value of its current broadcast deal with ESPN and TNT, which paid $24 billion over nine years. Many industry analysts are already predicting that the new megadeal will be the last of its kind, as future sports rights pacts will have to account for the fact that fewer and fewer people are watching live sports on linear TV.

Where Does TNT Stand in NBA Discussion?

The finalization of agreements with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon is the most dire sign yet for TNT and its ambitions to remain an NBA partner after 2024-25. TNT’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery has the contractual right to match any third-party offer for NBA rights, but it sounds as if the league is willing to get litigious over what the “right to match” really means in this circumstance.

Earlier in the process, it was thought that TNT may try to match NBC’s offer to keep the “B” package. But reports indicate that WBD CEO David Zaslav believes that $2.5 billion per season for that particular parcel of games is an overpayment and has pivoted his focus to the Prime Video package. The final decision on whether Prime Video will become an NBA partner or not could hinge on the specific wording of WBD’s matching rights agreement, and whether Amazon can offer reach or viewing windows that TNT cannot.

WBD has compiled a wide array of new sports rights as it awaited word of the NBA’s next steps. The company has added college football from the Mountain West, as well as a selection of College Football Playoff games sublicensed from ESPN. It will also add Big East basketball, NASCAR Cup Series races, and exclusive U.S. coverage of the French Open tennis tournament in 2025.

The company has sworn up and down that its pursuit of other sports rights had no bearing on the NBA proceedings, but it was a wise move to try and restock its inventory amidst the uncertainty. Now the whole sports broadcasting world will be watching to see if WBD stands down, or if it drags the NBA to court to try and enforce its matching rights.