NBC prepared to pay big for NBA rights

[TMC]

https://deadline.com/2024/04/nba-rig...es%20in%201988.

NBCU is planning to bid $2.5 a year for rights to the games, according to the Wall Street Journal. If the offer is successful, the company would supplant media rival Warner Bros. Discovery, whose TBS and TNT cable networks began carrying NBA games in 1988.

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Charles Barkley could become the richest free agent in sports TV history

The Inside the NBA star confirmed that he has an out clause if TNT loses NBA media rights, which Front Office Sports says could lead to a big payday for the NBA hall of famer. "As a free agent, Barkley, at 61, could draw offers of $18 million to $20 million annually, my sources predict," reports Front Office Sports' Michael McCarthy. "It’s a smart bet that ESPN, Amazon, and NBC would all vie for his services." Barkley is currently in the midst of a 10-year deal with TNT worth $100 million, or $10 million per year.

• Ernie Johnson could reportedly stay at TNT Sports, no matter NBA rights outcome
  
• Bill Simmons predicts TNT will be left out of NBA media rights deal
  
• Comcast's huge NBA offer, can TNT match, and what it means for the marketplace

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Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is "hopeful" about retaining NBA rights, reveals that TNT could retain NBA rights by matching Amazon's offer

Speaking to analysts this morning, Zaslav said that Warner Bros. Discovery has the rights to match third-party offers. So if NBC outbids Warner Bros. Discovery, TNT could maintain NBA rights by matching Amazon's offer. Zaslav said he is “hopeful we will be able to reach an agreement that makes sense for both sides.”

[Hawkee]

When it came to sports NBC was always sports king and when they aired NBA games it became their most watched sporting event every weekend. But why I think NBA games were a huge moneymaker for NBC was because I think NBA had a contract with NBC and when NBC lost the NBA rights it hurt NBA badly. Because when you get the general picture NBC makes huge money in their sports division because they had NBA games and also the Kentucky Derby every year. But I think why NBC wants to get NBA rights to the games back is they think that with NBA games they can be number one in sports second to CBS Sports and ABC Sports but I think they will also have NBA games exclusive to Peacock only and seeing that Amazon Prime and Paramount+ are doing the same thing with sports NBC is hoping to do the same with the NBA as well

[TMC]

TNT lose NBA media rights to NBC, report states

NBC will take over the NBA broadcasting rights from TNT. As such, the crew of the famous Inside the NBA on TNT show will dissolve.

Bill Simmons Says NBC Has Secured NBA Television Rights

Bill Simmons says NBC secured the rights to broadcast NBA games by beating TNT in a bidding war that marks the end of "Inside the NBA."

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John Tesh says NBC has contacted him about re-recording "Roundball Rock" for the NBA — and the Paris Olympics

"At the end of June, we're heading to Nashville, we've got a full orchestra on hold and we're going to re-record it," Tesh said of his iconic NBA on NBC theme this morning on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz. Tesh's comments don't mean that NBC has won back NBA rights, according to CNBC's Alex Sherman, who adds: "But I’m told it does mean someone from the NBC licensing department (someone who has nothing to do with the sports rights) has contacted Tesh and told him to be on standby."

[TMC]

NBA salary cap expected to skyrocket with new TV deals

Who will be the NBA's first $400 million man?

Charles Barkley believes Ernie Johnson will retire ‘sooner than later’

"I don't think he would go to another network."

NBA reportedly formalizing deals with Disney, Amazon and NBC

"Sources said the NBA is prepping its lawyers for a possible inquisition or lawsuit."

• Win or lose, David Zaslav has bungled WBD’s NBA rights negotiation
  
• Charles Barkley says next season will be ‘tough lame duck year’ if TNT loses NBA rights
  
• [Sports Business Journal] NBA formalizing deals with Disney, Amazon, NBC

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Warner Bros. Discovery is now reportedly going after the NBA package earmarked for Amazon

"Warner Bros. Discovery is considering matching an offer for the media rights to a package of National Basketball Association games as the league looks to finalize terms — but its focus could be on a potential Amazon package rather than games slated for Comcast’s NBCUniversal," reports CNBC's Alex Sherman, who adds: "The league is close to signing agreements with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon for three different packages of games, the people said. If that happens without a side agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery, its CEO, David Zaslav, will have a chance to leverage matching rights that were secured — and paid for — as part of its previous deal with the league."

• Colin Cowherd predicts NBC’s new NBA package will be ‘not a good deal’
  
• Pat McAfee encourages ‘Inside the NBA’ to go independent: ‘That is the move’
  
• Charles Barkley floats idea of taking ‘Inside the NBA’ independent
  
• Charles Barkley believes David Zaslav’s ‘We don’t have to have the NBA’ pissed off Adam Silver

Charles Barkley says he may reboot Inside the NBA as he calls out Warner Bros. Discovery for having "screwed this thing up"

“Morale sucks, plain and simple. You know, I just feel so bad for the people I work with Dan,” Barkley said on The Dan Patrick Show this morning, before criticizing his corporate bosses at Warner Bros. Discovery. “These people I work with, they’ve screwed this thing up clearly. And we don’t have zero idea what’s going to happen. I don’t feel good. I’m not gonna lie, especially when they came out yesterday and said we bought college football (playoff games). I was like, well damn, they could have used that money to buy the NBA.” Barkley said that he’s discussed reconstituting the popular NBA studio show at his own production company, should TNT lose NBA rights. Barkley also said he believes Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s “We don’t have to have the NBA” angered NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

[TMC]

WBD’s David Zaslav ‘content’ to lose NBA after CFP, NASCAR deals

"Zaslav has told colleagues he believes NBCUniversal is overspending for the NBA."

NBA on TNT may be ending over $200 million dispute

"They’ve screwed this thing up" is putting it mildly.

• Handicapping Charles Barkley’s landing spot if TNT loses the NBA
  
• Kevin Harlan addresses future if TNT loses NBA: ‘I’d be lying if I said that the NBA didn’t have a very special place...

[TMC]

NBC’s NBA deal reportedly includes 100 games annually, half on Peacock

The NBA's deal with NBC will paywall half the games on Peacock.

WSJ: Peacock to air “about half” of Comcast’s NBA games in new deal

by Jon Lewis 8 hours ago

Peacock will reportedly be a significant component of Comcast’s expected rights deal with the NBA.

Comcast is set to carry about 100 games per season in its looming rights deal with the NBA, of which “about half” will air exclusively on its Peacock streaming service, according to Joe Flint, Amol Sharma and Isabella Simonetti of The Wall Street Journal. It was not clear whether the 100 game total is just for the regular season or includes playoffs.

The remaining games would air on NBC Tuesday and Sunday nights, with the Sunday games scheduled around NBC’s Sunday Night Football commitments. The Tuesday games would mark the first time the NBA has ever had a regular slate of weeknight games on broadcast television.

Comcast’s USA cable network was not mentioned in the piece, though previous reporting has indicated that it will carry games.

No NBA game has ever aired exclusively on a streaming service, but that is about to change significantly in the new rights deal. Beyond the 50 or so games on Peacock, Amazon is set to acquire the league’s new “C” package and ESPN’s “A” package is said to include the right to put exclusive games on ESPN+.

After two decades in which the overwhelming majority of NBA games aired on basic cable, the league is poised in its new deal to distribute a plurality of its games via streaming services. Assuming Warner Bros. Discovery is unable to secure a fourth package of games — a faint possibility that has nonetheless been mentioned in the recent reporting — ESPN is the only linear cable network that is a lock to carry games. It does not appear likely that ESPN alone will carry more games than the combination of Amazon and Peacock.

[Wall Street Journal] NBA Nears $76 Billion TV Deal, a Defining Moment for Media and Sports

NBC is near an accord with the league to pay an average of $2.5 billion a year, people familiar with the deal talks said. It would show around 100 games per season, with about half airing exclusively on the Peacock streaming service, reflecting a major bet on the future of streaming.

Amazon’s $1.8 billion-a-year package would include regular-season and playoff games, the new NBA in-season tournament, and the “play-in” games in which teams compete for the final playoff spots. It also would have a share of the conference finals, which the media partners will split in a rotation, the people familiar with the terms said.

Disney would retain an NBA package and would continue to air the NBA Finals, with payments averaging about $2.6 billion a year, people familiar with the terms say, up from $1.5 billion under the current deal. Disney would get fewer games than under its current deal. ESPN’s deal will allow the company to air games on its direct-to-consumer streaming service, which is set to launch in 2025.

Warner, led by Chief Executive David Zaslav, still has a right to match a rival package, and the league could always carve out a new package for the company in the final stretch, but its options are limited.

NBA Close to $76 Billion TV Rights Deal With NBC, Amazon and Disney | Report

The league’s deals could translate to a 2.5 times increase in annual fees to an average of nearly $7 billion

The National Basketball Association is closing in on media deals with NBC, Amazon and Disney/ESPN that could see the league score about $76 billion in revenue over 11 years, according to The Wall Street Journal.

NBCUniversal is expected to pay the NBA an average of $2.5 billion a year to show around 100 games per season – half of which that would air exclusively on Peacock, an individual familiar with the terms confirmed to TheWrap. The games would air on NBC on Tuesdays and Sundays to avoid conflicting with the network’s “Sunday Night Football.”

Amazon would pay $1.8 billion for regular season and playoff games, the new NBA in-season tournament and “play-in” games where teams compete for the final payoff spots. The tech giant would also be given a share of the conference finals, which the media partners would split in a rotation, people familiar told the Journal.

Meanwhile, Disney would pay about $2.6 billion per year to continue to air the NBA Finals, up from its current $1.5 billion. The company would get fewer games than its current deal and ESPN would air games on its upcoming direct-to-consumer service slated to launch in 2025, the Journal said.

The deals, which would also include rights to WNBA telecasts, would go into effect after the 2024-2025 season. The new agreements could translate to a 2.5 times increase in annual fees for the NBA to an average of nearly $7 billion, according to the Journal.

The outlet emphasized that owners would need to approve the deals and that any announcement could still be a few weeks away.

Representatives for NBC, Amazon and Disney declined to comment. Representatives for the NBA did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.

Warner Bros. Discovery, whose TNT network has aired NBA games since 1988, had a chance to renew its deal before an April 22 deadline.

The David Zaslav-led media giant, which reported $43.2 billion of gross debt during its first quarter of 2024, has the opportunity to match either NBC or Amazon’s bids, which could potentially result in a legal battle to enforce those rights, the Journal notes. WBD would have five days from when the deals with Amazon and NBC are formalized to match, CNBC reported.

In an April 30 research note, Citigroup analyst Jason Bazinet estimated that WBD losing the NBA could potentially cost them roughly $270 million in ad revenue per year and that TNT could see a roughly 45% decline in affiliate fees.

Without the NBA, the company could look to sublicense more sports, similar to the recent agreement it struck with ESPN for College Football Playoff games, or bid for other sports rights that come up for renewal, such as the UFC.

“We feel very comfortable and we’ve been very strategically focused on making sure that we have a robust offering of sports for each our sports channels in the U.S. and around the world,” Zaslav told Bernstein’s 40th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference.

In addition to the NBA, Warner currently has rights to NASCAR, the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball and the March Madness college basketball tournament. Warner is also currently in exclusive negotiations with All Elite Wrestling.

[TMC]

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/war...es-1236028248/

As Warner struggles for a broadcasting package, the NBA has not been pleased with their interactions in the past 2 years since Zaslav took over the combined Warner Bros-Discovery. They are dismayed with an exodus of Warner’s top sports executives and staffers as WBD trims costs

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Everything you need to know about the NBA’s new broadcast rights package

The deal is expected to be announced in advance of the Paris Olympics unless Warner Bros. Discovery mounts a hail mary challenge using its matching rights.

By Brendon Kleen on 07/10/2024

The NBA has finalized its agreements with Disney, NBC Universal, and Amazon Prime Video on a new broadcast rights package that will bring in $76 billion over the next 11 years, according to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic.

Team governors are expected to vote to approve the new contracts this week at the Board of Governors meetings in Las Vegas at the NBA Summer League. The new package would go into effect for the 2025-26 season.

Disney will reportedly retain the NBA Finals on ABC and one conference finals series while NBC and Prime Video will alternate the other conference finals series. Prime Video will be the exclusive home of the league’s new In-Season Tournament, and the early rounds of the postseason will likely be spread among all three broadcast partners.

One remaining question would be which broadcaster carries the Play-In Tournament, which the NBA has sold sponsorships for and is attempting to package as a standalone product between the last weekend of the regular season and the first weekend of the playoffs.

TNT Sports will have one final opportunity to mount a legal dispute over its matching rights on the new deal, per Marchand. Once team governors approve the contracts, they will be sent to Warner Bros. Discovery, which has five days in which it “may attempt to use language in the current contract to remain involved with the NBA.”

Marchand reported the NBA hopes to formally announce the new package in advance of the Paris Olympics, which begin July 26.

NBA fans can expect national broadcasts each night of the week, especially once the football season is over. NBC will own Mondays, while its Peacock streaming service takes Tuesday nights. ESPN will retain its regular Wednesday night window in addition to Fridays after college football ends as well as Saturday and Sunday games, which typically air on ABC. Prime Video will also stream games on Fridays and Saturdays during the regular season, and slot the NBA into its big Thursday night package after its Thursday Night Football NFL package ends in January.

ESPN reduced its inventory from around 100 games to around 80 to make space for a third partner, per Marchand. Still, Disney will pay the most for NBA rights at $2.6 million annually. NBC will pay $2.5 million annually while Amazon will pay $1.8 billion. The total sum is significantly more than media analysts projected in recent years as the league’s television ratings fell.

As TNT is phased out and two partners come aboard, the NBA broadcast talent arms race will begin over the next year-plus leading up to the start of the new deals next fall. If WBD does not mount an effort to match, next season would be the last for the beloved Inside the NBA studio show and make its announcing teams free agents as well.

NBC’s return to the world of NBA rights also means we’re likely to see the return of John Tesh’s “Roundball Rock” to its original home.

[TMC]

TNT Sports to match Amazon's NBA media rights package, leading to "NBA staredown"

TNT Sports has informed the NBA it plans to use its matching rights to continue broadcasting the league games. The network is targeting the 11-year package signed by Amazon Prime Video, sources briefed on the move said.

[TMC]

NBA Rejects Warner Bros. Discovery’s Rights Proposal: “Did Not Match Terms” of Amazon Deal

From The Athletic – “Before making its official announcement, the NBA sent TNT its reasons for rejecting the broadcasters’ matching proposal, according to sources briefed on the interactions between the league and the network. The NBA told TNT Sports it was rejecting its offer for three main reasons. First, TNT wanted to put all of its games on its cable network and its streaming service, Max, whereas Amazon is just a streaming service. Second, the NBA believes that Amazon’s reach is greater. Third, Amazon offered to pay in full its first three years, while Warner Bros. Discovery, which is in debt, provided a three-year line of credit.”

[James28]

Please, please put those Tuesday NBA games on USA Network instead of NBC. This is because USA Network is losing WWE Raw to Netflix and WWE NXT to The CW, thereby creating some big empty holes on USA.

Putting those Tuesday NBA games on NBC is only going to tighten space for scripted programming worse than it already is (with the three Chicago shows on Wednesday and the two Law & Order shows on Thursday), and pretty soon there will come a broadcast season where no new series-es are launched on NBC because of this. This will also mean that The Voice will definitely have to be cut back to one night per week.