The NBA announced a new media deal late Wednesday that would end its long-standing relationship with TNT, while adding and restarting partnerships with Amazon and NBC — expanding the reach of professional hoops but potentially posing new access issues to fans.
Starting in the 2025-2026 season, existing partner ABC and its sister network ESPN will now share broadcast rights with Amazon Prime Video, NBC and the NBCUniversal-owned Peacock. The league is seeking to wind down its 35-year tie-up with TNT, although it is now facing a lawsuit from TNT’s parent, Warner Bros. Discovery, as it does so.
Barring a dramatic last-minute change, all of this means the upcoming 2024-2025 season will be the last to feature the popular ‘NBA on TNT’ broadcast. Co-anchor and NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley said last month he would retire from TV following this 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,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “These partners will distribute our content across a wide range of platforms and help transform the fan experience over the next decade.”
Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of NBC News.
The new arrangement means that a year from now, NBA fans looking for a complete national viewing schedule will have to subscribe to two streaming platforms: Peacock and Amazon Prime Video. And if they want to avoid traditional TV entirely, they’ll need a third: ESPN’s upcoming streaming service.
Still, many games will be available through traditional broadcast channels on ABC and NBC, and through cable via ESPN. The NBA will continue to sell a separate League Pass subscription that starts at $14.99 a month.
Here’s what a sample basketball week looks like according to the new agreement:
Early-round playoff games will also be split up among the networks; ABC will remain the exclusive home of the NBA Finals.
The deal also includes expanded WNBA coverage among those networks, with 125 games slated to be televised.
The deal marks a return of the basketball league to NBC after a run from 1990 to 2002 that coincided with the game’s rise to international popularity led by stars such as Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Mike Tirico will anchor the network’s coverage, NBC Sports President Rick Cordella told Richard Deitsch of The Athletic on Wednesday.
For the past 22 years, games have been split among ABC, ESPN (both owned by Disney) and TNT. The most recent agreements with those networks generated $24 billion, according to CNBC.
With the new deal, the NBA has nearly tripled that figure to approximately $76 billion, according to The Associated Press.
Live sporting events are highly coveted by broadcast groups because of the viewership they can command. This year’s regular season averaged 1.09 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, TNT and the league-owned NBA TV. While that was up just 1% from last year, it was the highest all-network average in four years, according to Sports Media Watch.
Last year’s NBA playoffs was the most watched in 11 years, according to Nielsen.
In fact, annual ratings churn is not necessarily the most important part of the negotiations for sports broadcast rights. Rather, the slate of games themselves — known as ‘inventory’ in the industry — is valuable in itself as it ensures a consistent audience.
‘Inventory is what matters,’ said Jon Lewis, who runs SportsMediaWatch.com. ‘If you’re trying to build up a streaming service like Peacock, or Amazon sports, that inventory is a big deal. They’re clearly willing to pay a lot for it.’