NBA's new TV deal, maybe not smooth sailing

WuTang_OG · Post #181 » by **WuTang_OG** » Mon Apr 22, 2024 1:23 pm

i can see amazon getting regular season games. alreeady doing it for NFL
but conference and finals? dont see it

durden_tyler · Post #182 » by **durden_tyler** » Mon Apr 22, 2024 1:43 pm

Disney won’t allow the NBA to move homes, the way they want to dominate media it’s a bad look if they lost the NBA to a rival network. They will pay and the NBA will get what they want.

wco81 · Post #183 » by **wco81** » Tue Apr 23, 2024 3:33 am

Thing is, most NBA games, including playoffs, are already behind a paywall.

You can't watch them without a cable or pay TV subscription of some kind.

They will put the Finals on ABC but that's it.

NFL by contrast, NBC, CBS, Fox and ABC/ESPN are all in on it so they will have games on the broadcast networks, at least until the next NFL TV contract.

So whatever set of packages NBA negotiates with Disney, WBD and the tech streamers, most of the games will be behind a paywall again.

If Amazon or Apple is willing to bid the most, they will get the Finals on streaming. It will be up to them to figure out how to get people to subscribe but obviously Disney and WBD wasn't willing to pay enough for the NBA and now, other parties can bid, potentially driving up the price.

Mamba81p · Post #184 » by **Mamba81p** » Tue Apr 23, 2024 3:52 am

The hope for nba is that they will have more than 2 partners. NFL has 5, 6 if you count Sunday ticket
ESPN and TNT might not want to pay double but they could pay the current amount for less games, or less than current deal for even less games while NBC Amazon and Apple could pay the rest.
ESPN and TNT lose ad money but at least they keep the cable/bundle money
I am 90% sure we will have at least 3 providers carrying the games.

The problem with YouTube is that they never produced any games. At most I can see them paying for NBA league pass exclusive games similar to the deal for NFL Sunday ticket.

wco81 · Post #185 » by **wco81** » Wed Apr 24, 2024 4:03 am

Wonder which is getting higher ratings tonight, first-round NBA playoffs games on TNT and NBA-TV or first-round NHL playoffs games on ESPN?

Mamba81p · Post #186 » by **Mamba81p** » Fri Apr 26, 2024 9:01 pm

It looks like Amazon will join ESPN. I think they still have place for a third partner. What will TNT do with Inside NBA crew if they lose the tv rights?
I assume they have a buyout clause for things like this.

wco81 · Post #187 » by **wco81** » Fri Apr 26, 2024 10:18 pm

Mamba81p wrote:It looks like Amazon will join ESPN. I think they still have place for a third partner. What will TNT do with Inside NBA crew if they lose the tv rights?
I assume they have a buyout clause for things like this.

Barkley signed a deal which included some provision about him doing something else if WBD didn't retain NBA broadcasting rights.

But they tried that King Charles show on CNN and they ended it. Said they needed him to be have more availability so several shows a week instead of once a week. But what are they going to do, have Charles talk about politics almost daily?

Amazon could try to hire the Inside the NBA crew. Otherwise ESPN may try to sign someone like Barkley.

But it's interesting, ESPN may broadcast fewer games during a season than they're doing currently? So maybe they don't want to pay as much.

The other thing is supposedly ESPN and TNT had a right to match offers from other bidders. So maybe WBD is bailing. However, they're also trying to tout live sports streaming through Max. Without NBA games though, sports offerings on Max will be really thin.

ESPN/Disney almost has to keep rights. For one thing, the NBA generates a lot of content for them, like on First Take, Get Up and their other shows during the day. But during 6 months of the NBA season, they're also broadcasting at least half a dozen games a month, so that represents 15 hours of live sports and then all the discussions on their other shows.

Without the NBA, they will have a huge void. They can yak up the NFL a lot more but they already talk so much about NFL, even in the offseason.

Rainwater · Post #188 » by **Rainwater** » Fri Apr 26, 2024 10:30 pm

wco81 wrote:Wonder which is getting higher ratings tonight, first-round NBA playoffs games on TNT and NBA-TV or first-round NHL playoffs games on ESPN?

Pretty certain the NBA will win out easily. The NBA has gotten 3x the viewership so far.

Rainwater · Post #189 » by **Rainwater** » Fri Apr 26, 2024 10:31 pm

Mamba81p wrote:It looks like Amazon will join ESPN. I think they still have place for a third partner. What will TNT do with Inside NBA crew if they lose the tv rights?
I assume they have a buyout clause for things like this.

I think TNT will retain the NBA and they do have matching power. No need to worry.

GSWFan1994 · Post #190 » by **GSWFan1994** » Fri Apr 26, 2024 10:54 pm

Why do the NBA need to have only 3 partners? Why can't they add a 4th, 5th and so on?

Chuck Everett · Post #191 » by **Chuck Everett** » Fri Apr 26, 2024 10:57 pm

GSWFan1994 wrote:Why do the NBA need to have only 3 partners? Why can't they add a 4th, 5th and so on?

Probably because additional partners don't want to pay top dollar for the worst games. The three would be fighting for the premium games, 4-5 would be getting the ones they don't want.

Unlike the NFL, there just might not be the viewership for it.

wco81 · Post #192 » by **wco81** » Fri Apr 26, 2024 11:03 pm

Most games are broadcast by regional sports networks, which is what NBA Ticket depends on.

But the health of some of these networks are precarious and cable TV keeps raising the fees to get access to these regional networks, which provide local broadcasts of NBA, NHL and MLB games.

These bigger national network games represent only a fraction of all games during the NBA season.

Mamba81p · Post #193 » by **Mamba81p** » Tue Apr 30, 2024 3:40 am

Rainwater wrote:
Mamba81p wrote:It looks like Amazon will join ESPN. I think they still have place for a third partner. What will TNT do with Inside NBA crew if they lose the tv rights?
I assume they have a buyout clause for things like this.

I think TNT will retain the NBA and they do have matching power. No need to worry.

Normally I would agree, but David zaslav knows only 1 thing: layoffs and cuts.

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/nbc-prepares-roughly-2-5-billion-a-year-offer-to-steal-nba-rights-away-from-tnt-e6e14eeb

I don't know if WBD will match that.
So if NBC pays 2.5bn and ESPN 2.6, and amazon should pay at least 1 b, but probably it will be around around 2b. Maybe NBA will get their 70b contract after all.

Shock Defeat · Post #194 » by **Shock Defeat** » Tue Apr 30, 2024 3:44 am

NBA on NBC coming back would be great but they better use the old theme song

I just don't like that TNT might be outbid. Feels like NBA on TNT is iconic. If anything I'd rather espn loses the rights.

wco81 · Post #195 » by **wco81** » Tue Apr 30, 2024 3:56 am

Shock Defeat wrote:NBA on NBC coming back would be great but they better use the old theme song

I just don't like that TNT might be outbid. Feels like NBA on TNT is iconic. If anything I'd rather espn loses the rights.

ESPN promotes the NBA a lot though through all their other shows.

TNT and NBC or Amazon wouldn’t, maybe pre and post game only.

Mamba81p · Post #196 » by **Mamba81p** » Tue Apr 30, 2024 4:11 am

Disney and Comcast have far more firepower than WBD. By market cap DIS is 10x bigger than WBD.

Chuck Everett · Post #197 » by **Chuck Everett** » Tue Apr 30, 2024 4:39 am

These articles seem like they are coming from the NBA. I'll wait until we get signed agreements and numbers.

Rainwater · Post #198 » by **Rainwater** » Tue Apr 30, 2024 5:10 am

Chuck Everett wrote:These articles seem like they are coming from the NBA. I'll wait until we get signed agreements and numbers.

The source is the wall street Journal, this is legit.

Rainwater · Post #199 » by **Rainwater** » Tue Apr 30, 2024 5:16 am

Mamba81p wrote:
Rainwater wrote:
Mamba81p wrote:It looks like Amazon will join ESPN. I think they still have place for a third partner. What will TNT do with Inside NBA crew if they lose the tv rights?
I assume they have a buyout clause for things like this.

I think TNT will retain the NBA and they do have matching power. No need to worry.

Normally I would agree, but David zaslav knows only 1 thing: layoffs and cuts.

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/nbc-prepares-roughly-2-5-billion-a-year-offer-to-steal-nba-rights-away-from-tnt-e6e14eeb

I don't know if WBD will match that.
So if NBC pays 2.5bn and ESPN 2.6, and amazon should pay at least 1 b, but probably it will be around around 2b. Maybe NBA will get their 70b contract after all.

Yeah, I am just seeing this and I will be really disappointed if this were to occur. TNT and the NBA have had a long partnership and the TNT crew is truly entertaining but the NBA seems to care more about the money.

Mamba81p · Post #200 » by **Mamba81p** » Tue Apr 30, 2024 5:59 am

Rainwater wrote:
Mamba81p wrote:
Rainwater wrote:
I think TNT will retain the NBA and they do have matching power. No need to worry.

Normally I would agree, but David zaslav knows only 1 thing: layoffs and cuts.

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/nbc-prepares-roughly-2-5-billion-a-year-offer-to-steal-nba-rights-away-from-tnt-e6e14eeb

I don't know if WBD will match that.
So if NBC pays 2.5bn and ESPN 2.6, and amazon should pay at least 1 b, but probably it will be around around 2b. Maybe NBA will get their 70b contract after all.

Yeah, I am just seeing this and I will be really disappointed if this were to occur. TNT and the NBA has had a long partnership and the crew is truly entertaining but the NBA seems to care more about the money.

I am still hoping there is enough room for a 4th partner. Maybe just a few games during regular season, plus some playoff games(2 per week), no conference finals, but enough to keep inside team intact. I don't know how many games NBA can sell nationally with the current RSN deals.

Otherwise we have to hope that amazon will buy the team and keep the show as is.

Without NBA I can see YTTV and Hulu dropping turner+discovery. They can always lower their price so that their users subscribe to max if they want NHL.

Does the NBA get the $75 billion TV money, not including streaming rights?