The NBA media deal negotiations are a fascinating insight into what the leagues are looking for in a media deal as the world continually gets more digital. Linear television and who can get the most people no longer appear to be the primary focus of these deals, especially the NBA. This article lays out why Comcast is such an important and interesting player in this battle for the final spot. Instead, the focus is now on collecting as much data on the consumer as possible. That is what streaming services provide. The NFL got tons of data from the TNF deal and will continue getting data from the wild card game on Peacock. This data is worth more than a normal person may think on the business level. Amazon and ESPN/Disney already appear to have deals in place for the next NBA media deal, so it is between WB Discovery/TNT and Comcast/NBC/Peacock. TNT is the traditional broadcaster who, while having the streaming service, does not have the financial power or the data-gathering of Comcast/NBC/Peacock. The latter, meanwhile, has a greater ability to collect data, has more money and is much more stable in terms of ownership. The results of this WB Discovery vs Comcast war will showcase where the future of sports broadcasting is heading. Keep your eyes out for what happens.
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A $60B+ sports business clock started ticking last Saturday. What is it? The exclusive negotiating window for NBA’s national broadcast rights. The current deal worth $24B, is projected to increase 1.5x-3x, with the expectation of the next deal landing in the $60B-$72B range. NBA + Turner + Disney have until April 22 to construct a new deal during this exclusive window. If not, negotiations will open to potential new broadcasters and/or new deal structures. ESPN or Turner exclusive? Amazon? Apple? NBC? . . . I'll be intrigued to see the negotiation strategy. Will the NBA hold out to see what new players like Amazon or Apple can offer? Do Turner + ESPN put such a strong offer on the table so the NBA can't say no? Will either Turner or ESPN walk away because the rising broadcast cost makes it hard to justify the economics? Get your popcorn ready for one of the most important negotiations of 2024 🍿 #sportsbiz #sportsmedia #linkedinsports
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🏀 📺 We've got ourselves a showdown in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and it's not the playoffs. After not reaching a deal during its exclusive negotiating period, Warner Bros. Discovery - parent company of Turner (Turner Broadcasting System, Inc) - is in danger of losing the NBA media rights it's held for nearly 40 years to NBCUniversal, as NBC has come in with a significant offer of $2.5 billion, nearly 120% over the current agreement. The agreement puts WBD in a Catch-22. Keeping the rights would surely mean overpaying (reports are saying they'd need to come in at $2.8 billion to have a shot), and the company is already in challenging financial times. But, if it loses the rights, it drastically weakens its cable business due to being unable to maintain its carriage rights, which are among the highest out there ($3/subscriber) and generates $2.56 billion annually for the company. Decisions, decisions. In this week’s SBP, you’ll learn (with the assistance of some memes): - How the NBA is carving up its new media rights package - The “tale of the tape” between WBD and NBC - The outcomes of either scenario (and NBC's ultimate angle) - What I think the NBA will do - The ramifications this broader deal will have on the industry as a whole Check it out below! 👇 https://lnkd.in/gtizrPdY
What's All the Hoop-la with Peacock
sportsbusinessplaybook.beehiiv.com
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The National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs are right around the corner, but basketball fans should keep a close eye on another intense competition. For the first time in about a decade, the NBA's media rights are up for grabs. Disney's ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery's TNT have had just over a month to negotiate exclusively as incumbents, but in the next few weeks, other suitors can officially challenge them for a spot in the new TV deal. Amazon, Apple, and Netflix have been closely watched contenders as technology giants aiming to strengthen their streaming services. Yet some believe NBCUniversal is the wild-card bidder that industry observers should pay closer attention to, as it could be a perfect partner for the league. Here's my latest reporting for Business Insider on the NBA's recent media rights negotiations: https://lnkd.in/eTr-MRPG
NBC could be an unlikely winner in the NBA TV rights battle, according to analysts
businessinsider.com
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ICYMI: TNT's dominate 35-year reign of NBA broadcasting rights is hanging by a thread. This includes the fan-favorite, 18 Emmy award, "NBA on TNT" broadcast headlined by Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley. So, how did it get to this point? Two main factors: ➡️ David Zaslav, the CEO of TNT went on record stating, "We don't have to have the NBA" ➡️ Other competitors have finally come to the bargaining table ready to play TNT placed a $1.2B offer on the table to retain rights, however NBC and Amazon have jumped into the mix, pushing the bid upwards of $2.6B For TNT, it just may be late in the 4th quarter with no timeouts left. If TNT does indeed lose their battle, there are several business lessons that can be learned from this including: 1. Don't get complacent. Just because you've had something for 35 years doesn't mean you aren't about to lose it. 2. Keep your mouth shut. Never go on record stating you don't need something, especially when it's a core part of your business. 3. Keep your eye on your competitors. Just like a game of basketball, never allow your opponents to get back in the game.
Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley’s Absence From “Inside the NBA” Is Due to TNT’s Uncertain Future, as Per Reports
essentiallysports.com
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TNT’s loss could be Charles Barkley’s gain The most-coveted NBA free agent in 2025 might be a man in his 60s known more for his opinions on churros than anything he did on the court. Inside the NBA stalwart Charles Barkley could command a contract worth as much as $20 million per year on the open market, per FOS, if TNT’s broadcast partnership with the NBA is not renewed after next season. That would put the man with the worst golf swing on TV in the same lucrative company as fellow athletes-turned-broadcasters Tony Romo (10 years, $180 million from CBS) and Tom Brady (10 years, $375 million from Fox). TNT isn’t benched yet. Amazon and Disney have frameworks in place for partial broadcast rights, with NBC the front-runner to be the third and final partner, bringing the total value of the 11-year deal to ~$76 billion, according to Sports Business Journal. Normally, TNT parent company Warner Bros. Discovery would be able to match NBC’s offer, but NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is requiring a higher bid from WBD, since NBC can offer more prime-time broadcast windows and boasts regional sports networks that WBD can’t equal.
TNT’s loss could be Charles Barkley’s gain
morningbrew.com
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I think every sports fan can agree that the amount services and apps needed to watch one sport has reach an extreme point of absurdity. On top of that, you can't even pay to watch all of the games for the teams you are a fan of with those services. Let the fans pick and pay for the games they want to actually watch for the teams they actual like all from ONE app instead of having us play this game of "find the needle in the haystack of services" each year. #FreeCast #NextGenStreaming #StreamingWars #NBA #NFL #NHL #MLB #MLS #NoMoreAppDiving
Originator of Streaming TV, TMT Futurist, CEO@FreeCastTV, @SelectTV, @StreamingTVKit @RabbitTV fmr MegaChannels.TV (circa 1998), 30yr Tech Entrepreneur.
Will They or Won’t They? TNT Must Match Bids or Say Goodbye to NBA - "Under the new deal, NBC is expected to pay $2.5 billion per year, and Prime $1.8 billion, to TNT’s current yearly payout of $1.4 billion. Despite his gadfly rep, Zaslav does not want to go down in sports history as the executive who “lost” the NBA. If he matches, or goes to court, Zaslav could argue he went to the mat to keep TNT in the NBA business. Still, that would hardly mollify Barkley, who ripped his bosses as “clowns” to Dan Patrick for mishandling the NBA negotiations from the jump." Sell Me My Team's Season Online! Done and 3x-4x more direct revenue. Done! #freecast #nextgenstreaming #streamingwars #NBA #sports #nomoreappdiving https://lnkd.in/eiGGGvU2
Tuned In: TNT Must Match Bids or Say Goodbye to NBA
https://frontofficesports.com
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The Varsity * Sean McManus stepped down Sunday after 28 years of running CBS Sports. What were his last minutes as CBS Sports chairman like? I detail what happened inside the network's production compound during McManus' last minutes in charge. * McManus wasn't the only longtime CBS employee to retire following The Masters. The beloved announcer Verne Lundquist called his final round at Augusta National after 40 years. The kind of announcer who knows when to talk and when to stay quiet, Lunquist has always described his style as "minimalist." * Spulu - the planned sports streaming service from Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery - likely will have to contend with an antitrust trial just before its launch. I have the latest on Fubo TV's plans to derail Spulu's launch. * Baseball fans hate MLB blackouts - the ones that don't allow, say, Oriole fans to stream the team's games from parts of Delaware and Pennsylvania all the way down to North Carolina. Slowly but surely, MLB has a plan to end these blackouts. It's not happening fast enough for some fans. But it is happening. * The biggest sports business story right now is obviously what the NBA will do with its media rights packages. The second biggest? It could be the UFC’s media rights, which are up in December of 2025. Plus, details on Diamond Sports who has a fundamental disagreement with DirecTV and Comcast. Sure, Diamond knows that its regional sports networks will have to go on a digital tier. But Diamond wants DirecTV and Comcast to migrate those channels over a multi-year period - a "glide path." DirecTV and Comcast want to do it right away - "a cliff path." They still have a couple of weeks to work out a deal. https://lnkd.in/eqrBbnBB
Comcast Revenge Fantasies, McManus’s Farewell & Spulu Voodoo
puck.news
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If you’ve been watching the Olympics at all, you’ve probably seen the new promo, teasing that the National Basketball Association (NBA) is returning to NBCUniversal this fall. On July 24, the NBA officially finalized a new media deal, an 11-year, $76 billion agreement that keeps the NBA and The Walt Disney Company (which owns ESPN and ABC News) in business, while bringing NBC and Amazon into the fold. Shortly before the NBA announced the new deal, it issued a short statement regarding negotiations with Warner Bros. Discovery, which is the company that operates TNT Sports U.S. and was vying for a third of the NBA pie. Since the new deal is set to take effect at the start of the 2025-26 season, it is likely that there are going to be some things that drag out in court over the next few months. So, it’s not technically finalized and finished with all the T’s and I’s crossed and dotted. For now, we have to move ahead as if the new deal is the one that will stay in place. | By Sarah Todd
What you need to know about NBA’s new TV deal
deseret.com
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Brands need to stop looking at the short-term bottom-line gains and start looking at things in the long run. Here is how sports leagues disregard the needs of consumers for short-term gains, which is ironic since viewers are the ones who made them what these leagues are today. Call me crazy, but there are other ways to spend a Sunday than watching football on TV. #brand #branding #brandmanagement
It's more complicated than ever to watch sports — here's why
finance.yahoo.com
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The Varsity 1) The NBA's media negotiations are closer to being finalized with ESPN taking the "A" package and Amazon taking the "C" package. The NBA's media committee met Weds to start to paper its new deals. Don’t expect any deal to be announced within the next week, but it looks like NBC’s bid for the "B" package will be papered, leaving WBD to see if it can match or not. 2) What happens to WBD's involvement in Venu (né Spulu) if it loses the NBA? Not much, actually. My sources say there’s almost no chance that Venu would kick out WBD altogether, though the sports streamer is likely to pay less for TNT. 3) Five NFL games I have circled this season, including the Dec. 21 games up against the CFP and the Sept. 6 Friday nighter from Brazil. 4) Wouldn’t it make more sense for Diamond Sports to do a bad deal with Comcast than no deal at all? I'm told that the RSN operator could lose between $60 million and $80 million a year from Comcast’s cliff path strategy alone. 5) A former network researcher: “The narrative that sports ratings are up solely because of the nearly 4-year-old inclusion of out-of-home viewing in TV ratings is going to make my head explode...Sports ratings are up because of streaming being included in TV ratings." -- Plus, sports media executives shouldn’t be surprised that the NFL—which does whatever it wants because it can—went with Netflix for a pair of Christmas Day games. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t peeved about it. https://lnkd.in/entiaK8y
NFL-Netflix Fallout, WBD’s Matching Rights & Spulu Qs
puck.news
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