NBA brokers 11-year media contract with Amazon, Disney, NBC

The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal, and Amazon obtained the rights to broadcast National Basketball Association games through the 2035-36, season, according to a Wednesday statement. The deal has an estimated value of $76 billion, according to Yahoo Finance. Subsidiaries authorized to stream games include ABC, ESPN, NBC, Peacock, and Prime Video. Disney will distribute 80 NBA regular games per season, NBCU will stream up to 100 games, and Amazon will stream 66 games. The contracts also include special events, like the draft, All-Star Celebrity Games, or holiday games. Fans can use the NBA App as a universal access point to direct them to every national game.

Does this include WNBA games? Disney, NBCU, and Amazon also secured the right to broadcast live WNBA games, the NBA said. The partnership will significantly increase the reach of WNBA games across broadcast, cable, and streaming and more details will be shared in a later release, the association added.

The basketball league opted to keep the contract at three companies and kicked Warner Bros. Discovery’s to the curb. Warner Bros. subsidiary TNT Sports took to social media railing against the basketball league’s decision to reject its offer. TNT matched Amazon’s offer and the NBA has no right to reject it, according to a company statement. TNT maintained a four-decade partnership with the NBA and Warner Bros. will take appropriate action against this decision, the statement added.

Dig deeper: Listen to Ray Hacke’s report on The World and Everything in It about the benefits of having Caitlin Clark in the WNBA and why players should stop targeting her.