The NBA has agreed to join Amazon, Disney, and NBCUniversal in a lucrative set of rights deals worth an estimated $76 billion over 11 years, starting from the 2026 season.
Announced Wednesday (July 24), the league stated, “Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent proposal did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer, and therefore, we have entered into a long-term arrangement with Amazon.”
Under the new agreements, Disney retains exclusive rights to the NBA Finals, Amazon acquires global rights to 66 regular-season games, including an opening-week doubleheader and a new “Black Friday” game, and NBCU will broadcast 100 national regular-season games on NBC and Peacock. These deals reinforce Disney’s sports dominance, enhance Amazon’s streaming portfolio, which already includes “Thursday Night Football,” and bolster NBC’s sports programming after it cut ties with the NHL in 2021.
Sources indicate that Disney will pay around $2.6 billion annually, Amazon about $1.8 billion annually, and NBCU approximately $2.5 billion annually. The deals include WNBA game broadcasts, with Disney, NBCU, and Amazon committing to promoting women’s sports.
Amazon will stream games globally on Prime Video; NBCU will use NBC, USA Network, and Peacock; and Disney will use ABC, ESPN, and its new streaming service. Like the NFL, the NBA seeks long-term deals to reflect the high value of live sports in the current media landscape. Advertisers and broadcasters highly value large simultaneous audiences in sports.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s exclusion from the NBA’s future rights packages leaves a significant gap in its sports portfolio, particularly affecting TNT, which relies heavily on sports programming. Analyst Robert Fishman noted, “The NBA is a significant driver of TNT’s affiliate value, and losing out on a key rights package is likely to hinder Warner’s leverage in future affiliate negotiations.”
Warner executives believed they could retain NBA rights by highlighting the familiarity of fans with TNT and the company’s streaming service, Max. They also promoted “Inside the NBA,” a popular studio show. However, industry observers feel Warner overplayed its hand.
Warner CEO David Zaslav remarked that the company does not need the NBA to succeed in the media sector. NBA officials were reportedly concerned by Warner’s recent cost-cutting measures, which included layoffs of key sports executives and staff from “Inside the NBA.” Charles Barkley, a prominent figure on the show, has announced plans to retire after Warner’s final NBA season in 2025.
As the NBA finalizes its new arrangements, Warner Bros. Discovery faces the challenge of filling the void left by the absence of NBA content on its platforms.