In a big move for sports TV, the NBA and Amazon Prime Video are close to making a deal. This deal would make Amazon Prime Video a major place to watch NBA games. People who know about the talks told The Athletic about this.
It’s expected that Amazon Prime Video will show lots of regular season and playoff games, maybe even some conference finals. The deal will probably last for at least ten years, starting from the 2025-2026 season
The details aren’t all decided yet, but everyone involved thinks they will be soon. The NBA, Amazon, and ESPN didn’t want to say anything about it.
The NBA wants three companies to be part of its new deals, but they might add a fourth.
Right now, the NBA has deals with ESPN and TNT Sports, which pay about $2.6 billion on average. These deals end after the 2024-2025 season.
Amazon and ESPN are talking about their deal, leaving Warner Bros. Discovery (which owns TNT Sports) to compete with NBC (owned by Comcast) for the last set of games. Warner Bros. Discovery can try to match deals, but NBC might make it hard.
The current deals will change a bit to include the third partner. For example, ESPN might show fewer games, from about 100 to about 80.
Amazon might show games on Thursday nights, where it already has NFL games. The NBA usually doesn’t have games on Thursdays during NFL season. Amazon might also show lots of playoff games. Amazon is interested in showing games globally, which the NBA likes because it’s part of their plan to make deals worldwide.
The NBA wants to be a leader in streaming, so they’re focusing on that.
ESPN, Amazon, and the NBA think they’ll make deals soon. Now, it’s up to TNT Sports, which has shown NBA games since 1984. They’re competing with NBC, which used to be the main partner of the NBA before 2002. NBC, with its streaming service Peacock, wants to get back into the game and is competing with Warner Bros. Discovery Sports for a deal.
The Sportz Planet Desk,
Atharva Shetye.
