NBA Finalizes Deals With NBC, Amazon, ESPN, Setting Up Possible Warner Showdown
variety.comBrian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The biggest drama in sports came one step closer to a conclusion Wednesday after the NBA finalized its next set of rights deals with Disney’s ESPN, NBCUniversal‘s NBC Sports and Amazon‘s Prime Video, setting up a new troika of game purveyors for the next several years –and, potentially, a legal conflagration with one-time media ally Warner Bros.
Discovery. The finalized terms, reported Wednesday by The Athletic, are not being announced immediately, according to a person familiar with the matter, but all the parties have come to terms on pacts that will spread NBA games to NBC and Peacock as well as Prime Video — new roosts for the sport — as well as ESPN and its associated properties.
The NBA did not immediately respond to a query seeking comment and NBCU, Amazon and ESPN declined to make executives available for comment.
The agreements will have to be approved by the league’s board of governors, this person says, but the ratification at this point appears nearly certain.
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