NBA (National Basketball Association)

National Basketball Association media rights soared in value in Hong Kong by more than 500 per cent this week as LeSports displaced incumbent rights-holder PCCW.

The National Basketball Association has more than doubled the value of its media rights in sub-Saharan Africa after securing an exclusive deal with start-up pay-television operator Kwesé TV.

The Saran Media agency’s barter deal with Turkish commercial broadcaster TV8 for National Basketball Association rights demonstrates how local interest in the NBA has waned over the last two years.

Start-up pay-television operator Kwese TV is the latest company set to challenge SuperSport in the sub-Saharan market, and its Kwese Sports channel is already battling the dominant sports broadcaster head-on for rights outside South Africa.

The National Basketball Association has finalised a string of deals outside its domestic US market in recent weeks, securing large increases in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and India, and a modest uplift in Poland.

The National Basketball Association’s exclusive digital rights deal with Chinese internet operator Tencent, agreed late last month, looks to be a landmark one for the country’s media-rights market.

The National Basketball Association secured a decent rights-fee increase in its extension with UK pay-television broadcaster BT Sport earlier this month.

There are three main reasons why the National Basketball Association secured a 180-per-cent increase in the value of its domestic media rights this month, according to US rights experts.

Dutch pay-television broadcaster Sport1 last week agreed to pay a decent percentage increase in the value of its rights to the National Basketball Association.

The renewal of the National Basketball Association’s domestic media-rights deal, expected later this year, is the most eagerly awaited in US sport and will no doubt be the biggest of the year.

Interviews with Matt Brabants, senior vice president of global media distribution and business operations, and Elsa Memmi, vice president of global media distribution across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, on the NBA’s global media rights strategy.