The exclusive media rights deal between the National Basketball Association, Disney, and Turner has begun and will last until April 22. According to Sports Business Journal’s Tom Friend via sources, the parties concerned have reached 75% of the agreement based on the preliminary discussions.
As per these sources, Turner and Disney will include the Emirates NBA Cup, which was earlier known as the In-Season Tournament. According to the report, there was initial hope that giant streaming platforms such as Netflix or Apple might try to acquire the tournament in its entirety or just the NBA Cup’s Final Four.
The insiders have also asserted that when the exclusive window closes on April 22, other giants such as Amazon or Apple might have the potential to contend. League’s national streaming rights might be tailed by Amazon. The sources suggest that Apple might move forward with the SoFi Play-In Tournament or a special league event.
Apart from two major networks, NBC is also anticipated to receive a piece of the NBA’s linear broadcast package. The NBA executives have also given estimates that the league’s media rights deal could be between $60 billion and $72 billion.
The increase in the stated amount is 2.5 to 3 times larger than the previous agreement, which was completed in 2014. One of the intricate components of the agreement is stated in the report to be how Amazon’s streaming rights and local club broadcasts will fare in the deal.
