The NBA has a clear plan for the complicated world of sports media rights: to be everywhere, to be seen by everyone.
“Fans consume the NBA in diverse ways, so our goal as a sports league is to make sure we're there for our fans wherever they are and however they consume content, especially sports content,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum told Yahoo Finance. Interview on Monday.
Tatum's comments come as the NBA continues to engage in intense negotiations over its next media rights package, which could reportedly be worth up to $76 billion.
The league's current deals with Warner Bros.' TNT Network (WBD) and Disney's ESPN (DIS) expire at the end of next season, and rumors have circulated in recent weeks that WBD, which reportedly spends $1.2 billion a year, could lose media rights to some of its games to Comcast's NBCUniversal (CMCSA). Amazon (AMZN) is also in talks about an exclusive streaming deal through Prime Video.
“In the media industry, you have more options than ever before,” Tatum said, “so you have to partner with more people on that front: social media partners, digital media partners, streaming partners, traditional media partners.”
Tatum declined to comment on the status of rights negotiations, but noted that “sports consumption is characterized by increased fan choice and hyper-personalization,” which will result in the league taking a “more hybrid” approach to visibility.
“Traditional television still has a big role to play, and we're excited that the Finals will be broadcast on traditional network television,” he said, “but we also understand that a new generation of fans is consuming content through streaming platforms, and so we want to have our programming and content available across all channels.”
Sports content is highly attractive to media companies looking to gain access to vast audiences of loyal viewers, which allows sports leagues to command inflated rights prices in negotiations.
According to the Wall Street Journal, NBCUniversal made a bid of about $2.5 billion, more than double what WBD is currently paying. The network was close to reaching a deal with NBC to broadcast about 100 games per season, half of which would be exclusive to the streaming service Peacock.
Disney, the NBA's other major broadcast partner, has reportedly agreed to increase its annual payments of $1.5 billion to $2.6 billion for the renewal, which will see the company retain a share of the league's media rights. The company will broadcast fewer games than in its current package, but will be able to stream them on its ESPN streaming platform, which is scheduled to launch in the fall of 2025.
Meanwhile, Amazon (AMZN) is reportedly on the verge of securing a $1.8 billion streaming rights package through its Prime Video service that would include both regular season and playoff games, as well as portions of the league's play-in tournament and conference finals, and would rotate among media partners, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Of note, WBD has the ability to match third-party offers before the NBA officially signs a contract.
Alexandra Canal She is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X translator, LinkedIn, Please email me at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.
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