Boardroom breaks down how Disney, NBC Universal, and Amazon Prime Video will collectively split the blockbuster deal. Plus, we examine the intricacies of the WNBA carve out.
Updated on July 26, following the news that Warner Bros. Discovery filed suit against the NBA.
The NBA officially announced its 11-year, $77 billion media rights deal on Wednesday. The deal begins with the 2025-26 season and includes Disney’s ABC and ESPN, NBC Universal’s NBC and Peacock, and Amazon Prime Video. Concurrently, it carved out the specifics for the 11-year, $2.2 billion WNBA media rights deal with the same networks.
It marks a significant sea change in the way in which we’ll watch pro basketball, prioritizing broadcast and streaming models over cable for at least the next decade.
The league rejected Warner Bros. Discovery’s matching rights proposal for Amazon’s $1.93 billion annual package. “Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent proposal did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer,” the NBA said in a statement that nodded specifically to Prime Video’s global reach and accessibility.
WBD and TNT formalized their legal challenge to the NBA’s decision on Friday “to enforce our rights,” TNT said in a statement. “We strongly believe this is not just our contractual right, but also in the best interest of fans who want to keep watching our industry-leading NBA content with the choice and flexibility we offer them through our widely distributed WBD video-first distribution platforms – including TNT and Max.”
Exactly 71 minutes after the NBA rejected WBD’s matching rights on Wednesday, TNT issued an official statement claiming its contractual right to match Amazon’s bid and do not believe the NBA can reject it. Barring the success of this legal action, it will mark the end of TNT’s 40-year relationship with the league and put an expiration date on the iconic Inside The NBA studio show. Losing out on the NBA, one analyst estimated, could cost TNT $600 million per year in profits.
Let’s go inside the complicated numbers of the blockbuster contract.
Subscribe for the biggest stories in the business of sports and entertainment, daily.
Disney – $2.6 Billion Per Year
As part of the $2.6 billion per year “A Package,” ABC will broadcast every NBA Finals, continuing a rights agreement that began in 2003, and keep its exclusive Christmas Day coverage. ESPN will broadcast 60 regular season games a year, mainly on Wednesdays and Fridays, and ABC will broadcast 20, largely on weekends.
In the postseason, ESPN and ABC will broadcast approximately 18 first- and second-round playoff games and a conference finals in 10 of the 11 years of the deal.
ABC and ESPN maintain the rights to the NBA Draft, draft lottery, All-Star celebrity game, and half of all Summer League games. The official statement also signals broader shifts in the broadcast landscape, as it indicated that future NBA games on ABC and ESPN will be available on ESPN’s “forthcoming direct-to-consumer service.”
NBC Universal – $2.5 Billion Per Year
The NBA will return to NBC for the first time since 2002 as part of the $2.5 billion per year “B Package” negotiated by Comcast’s NBC Universal.
Cue up “Roundball Rock!” NBC and Peacock will broadcast up to 100 games per year, with more than half airing on broadcast TV, including a doubleheader every opening night. NBC will deliver Sunday Night Basketball every week after the NFL regular season, and two games per week every Tuesday throughout the regular season, with one regional broadcast tipping off at 8 p.m. eastern in the eastern and central time zones, and the second window at 11 p.m. eastern in the mountain and pacific time zones. Peacock will stream a doubleheader every Monday.
NBC will also get TNT’s All-Star weekend rights, including the game and All-Star Saturday night.
NBC and Peacock get 28 playoff games in the first two rounds, with at least half of those games going to broadcast, and six conference finals on a rotating basis with Amazon.
Amazon Prime Video – $1.93 Billion Per Year
Amazon’s streaming entry into the NBA is the biggest game-changer of the new rights deal, a new and expensive carve-out that gets Prime Video a significant package at a reported price tag of $1.93 billion annually.
Prime Video will stream 66 regular season games, including Thursday night doubleheaders after the NFL regular season, Friday night doubleheaders, at least one Black Friday game, certain Saturday afternoon games, and the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals of the Emirates NBA Cup in-season tournament.
Amazon will also distribute all six Play-In Tournament games, approximately one-third of first- and second-round playoff games, and five conference finals on a rotating basis with NBC.
Prime Video will take over from WBD as the league’s strategic partner and third-party global destination for NBA League Pass, and will also stream half of the NBA Summer League games.
WNBA Carve Out
The three NBA partners will also be the WNBA’s long-term rights holders beginning in 2026, a significant blow to current W partners like CBS and Ion.
There will be at least 125 games distributed by Disney’s ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2, NBC Universal’s NBC, USA Network, and Peacock, and Amazon’s Prime Video each season, including 25 regular season games on Disney, 50 on NBCU, and 30 on Prime. Disney will broadcast two first-round series each year, along with eight semifinal series and five Finals on a rotating basis.
NBCU and Prime Video will each get one first-round series annually, along with seven semifinal series and three Finals.
Disney will maintain the W’s All-Star festivities and the draft, while Amazon will continue to broadcast the finals of the Commissioner’s Cup and will become the global destination for WNBA League Pass.
Early reports of the deal drew criticism from those close to the women’s game. This season has demonstrated record-setting growth, which would undervalue the contract over the course of its 11-year lifespan. The final details disclose one important caveat that could lead to a short-term solution. The package reportedly includes the potential to revisit the deal after three years if the W growth outpaces the contract’s value. The league is also reportedly considering increasing the number of regular season games from 40 to 44 beginning in 2025.
What’s Next for Warner Bros. Discovery and TNT?
While the NBA and WNBA move forward into a lucrative future where both broadcast and streaming play central roles, WBD and TNT will be unceremoniously left behind, with a legal battle with their former longtime partner that could get ugly.
“We are grateful to Turner Sports for its award-winning coverage of the NBA and look forward to another season of the NBA on TNT,” the NBA said in a statement.
WBD’s filing legal action comes just two days after the NBA’s swift rejection of its matching rights claim. TNT quickly released a statement on Wednesday, indicating that it will challenge the deal on the grounds that NBA could not reject its matching offer and that the league “grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights with respect to the 2025-26 season and beyond.” That challenge is now a reality, setting up a legal battle that could run into TNT’s final NBA season for a long time.
Stay tuned to Boardroom and the Inside The Boardroom newsletter as we continue to follow this situation as it unfolds.
