Comcast is expected to announce a deal with the National Basketball Association (NBA) for a package of regular season pro basketball games that will air on its NBC network for at least a decade, a company executive confirmed this week.
During the company’s second quarter (Q2) financial earnings conference call on Tuesday, Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said the company expects to announce the deal “soon” and anticipates hosting basketball games on NBC for “decades to come.”
The NBA will likely announce the deal over the next two weeks as it works to finalize various contracts with Comcast and other media stakeholders. The agreement is expected to see Comcast and the Walt Disney Company’s ESPN share broadcast rights to nationally-televised basketball games over an 11-year period, starting with the 2025-26 season.
Comcast last offered NBA games in 2002, with games shifting over to Warner Bros Discovery (WBD)-owned TNT Sports the following year. The package of games currently offered by TNT Sports could move to Amazon’s Prime Video next year, though the broadcaster has submitted a matching bid for telecast rights. The back-and-forth between the NBA, Amazon and WBD still needs to be finalized before the league can announce its finalize deals.
Comcast’s deal for NBA games is all but locked in, with the telecom expected to offer games through NBC on Tuesday evenings. Games will also air on Sunday evenings when NBC is not broadcasting the National Football League’s (NFL) “Sunday Night Football.” Comcast’s streaming platform Peacock will offer games on Monday evenings.
The NBA Board of Governors approved the tentative deal with Comcast, Prime Video, ESPN and the league earlier this month, before WBD submitted its matching bid.
“We don’t believe that the resolution of matching rights will affect the package that we expect to be awarded,” Cavanagh said. He did not say how much the company will pay for the rights to NBA games, though media reports peg the figure around $2.5 billion per season.
Telecast rights to live sports have become increasingly important for broadcast and cable networks over the past few years, as consumers shift their television viewing toward on-demand streaming services. Sports remains appointment viewing for fans, given its live nature, which has led to a highly-competitive environment among broadcasters vying for different rights.
