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B&C

NBA Inks Massive TV Deals

Oct 6, 2014  •  Post A Comment

The NBA announced today that it has signed new deals for media rights to its games. B&C reports that the league inked multiyear agreements extending its partnerships with ESPN and Turner.

The pacts, valued at an estimated $2 billion per year, extend the partnerships through the 2024-25 season. The valuation is more than double what the two networks have been paying. The current agreements were set to run out at the end of the 2015-16 season.

“Along with Turner’s TNT and Disney’s ESPN and ABC maintaining their TV rights, the NBA will also work with ESPN to create an over-the-top network that will air live games,” B&C reports. “Turner said that its new nine-year deal gives it 12 more live regular season games on TNT each year, plus expanded digital rights.”

The TNT lineup will feature 64 regular season games each year, the report notes.

“In addition to its Thursday night doubleheaders, TNT will air the 12 additional live games on another night of the week during the second half of the season,” the article reports. “Turner will have NBA Opening Night, exclusive coverage of the NBA All-Star Weekend and more playoff games than any other network. Turner plans to create a new NBA Awards show and additional programming around the beginning of the season and the start of the playoffs.”

In a statement, Turner Broadcasting President David Levy said: “This is a significant deal for our company and we are pleased to continue our long-standing partnership with the NBA, its fans, owners and players. The agreement locks in some of the most valuable, original, premium live sports programming that we’ll continue to monetize across TNT and all other platforms within our extensive portfolio and will help further grow our businesses into the next decade.”

ESPN adds 10 games to its lineup, along with 10 new exclusive windows, with the games to appear on either ESPN or ABC. The company’s roster of regular season games expands to 100. ABC will continue to have exclusive rights to the NBA Finals, the report notes.

Fox had hoped to pick up an NBA package for Fox Sports 1, but that deal now appears unlikely.

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