NBA signs mega new TV deal with Amazon that includes regular season and playoff games in major broadcast changes

The NBA would have reached an agreement with Amazon Prime Video to make the streaming platform an important broadcaster of the league’s games.

The deal marks another milestone in Amazon’s venture into live sports.

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The Prime Video package must include regular season and playoff games, for AtléticoIt’s Andrew Marchand.

The platform could even broadcast some conference finals.

The agreement, which is not yet fully finalized, is expected to begin in the 2025-26 season and last for at least a decade.

ESPN and its Disney-owned sister company ABC have a similar deal with the NBA, according to Puck.

It would reportedly ensure that ESPN would remain the home of the NBA Finals.

The news puts TNT Sports, the league’s longtime partner, in a difficult position, according to Marchand.

The Warner Bros. network Discovery is now set to take on NBC for the “likely final package of games,” according to The Athletic’s sports media columnist.

WBD is said to have the right to combine agreements.

But NBC could reach a deal with the NBA that would make it difficult for TNT Sports to surpass its rivals.

The league’s current contracts with ESPN and TNT Sports, worth an average of $2.6 billion, expire after the end of the 2024-25 season.

TNT Sports has broadcast NBA games since 1984.

Meanwhile, NBC lost the TV rights to the league’s games in 2002.

The new packages are expected to be reduced, making room for the involvement of a third broadcast partner.

ESPN could see a cut from about 100 games to about 80, Marchand told executives briefed on the negotiations.

Amazon’s NBA venture comes after reaching an 11-year deal with the NFL to make Prime Video the home of Thursday Night Football in 2022.

And the streaming giant is expected to strengthen its ties with the NFL next season.

Amazon reportedly spent $150 million to secure the rights to a postseason game in the 2024 campaign.

In 2019, Prime Video entered the football broadcasting market and began showing Premier League games in the United Kingdom.

The platform also offers live coverage of the NWSL and WNBA in the US.

The NBA appears to be keen to increase its presence on streaming platforms, with Netflix rumored to be in a position to secure the rights to the season’s newly introduced tournament.