The North American NBA basketball league is to make a number of regular-season games available on a new online sports platform that will be created in partnership with US pay-television broadcaster ESPN as part of its next rights cycle.
In confirming rights extensions with media companies Walt Disney and Time Warner that will allow the ABC network and cable-television broadcaster Turner Broadcasting System's TNT to show the NBA for nine years, from 2016-17 to 2024-25, the league yesterday (Monday) also announced that it would link up with ESPN to create an online channel that will be available without a pay-television subscription.
The channel could be expanded to include coverage of other sports, sources told the Associated Press news agency. In May, the broadcaster said that it was considering selling online access to live coverage of Major League Soccer.
ESPN executives however have insisted any programming sold directly to consumers will complement coverage available through pay-television packages.
The league will have an equity interest in the channel.
“This is the first crack in the structure of the television business that has been in place for decades,” Forrester analyst Jim Nail said.
The deals with Disney and Time Warner are worth more than $2.5bn (€2bn) per year – up from about $960m per year in the current rights cycle.
ESPN paid a bigger share than Turner because its deal includes international and radio rights, as well as Women’s NBA games, according to sources.
ABC and ESPN, both operated by Disney, will show 100 regular-season games per year. Turner Broadcasting’s TNT will broadcast 64 games.