The National Basketball Association has agreed a new deal with pay-television broadcaster All Media Baltics across the Baltic region (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), having previously sold rights on a country-by-country basis.
The new deal is for the next four seasons, from 2019-20 to 2022-23. The NBA had previously sold rights in the region separately; to sports broadcaster Sport 1 and internet news portal Delfi (in Lithuania), and to telco Lattelecom in Latvia and Estonia, in three-season deals, from 2016-17 to 2018-19. The league also had a deal in Estonia with media company Eesti Meedia for the 2018-19 season only.
All Media Baltics will broadcast more than 200 live NBA games per season, including 48 weekend games as part of the NBA’s new Europe primetime initiative, as well as highlights on digital and mobile platforms.
It will broadcast up to seven regular-season games per week, the Christmas Day Games, NBA All-Star, the NBA Playoffs, the Conference Finals, and The Finals on its TVPlay Sports channels. The broadcaster has said it will broadcast at least one game per week on its free-to-air channel TV6.
All Media Baltics will also be offering the leagues channel NBA TV on its pay television platforms, TVPlay Home and TVPlay Premium as well as discounted packages for the NBA’s online League Pass streaming service.
Basketball is a popular sport across the region and there are several players from both Latvia and Lithuania playing in the NBA.
All Media Baltics also hold rights across the Baltics to the International Basketball Federation men’s and women’s events in a five-year deal, from 2017 to 2021.