Variety: Comcast Says NBC Has 11-Year Deal in Place With NBA

Story from Variety:

NBCUniversal expects to complete an 11-year rights deal that will bring the NBA to NBC and Peacock and that will transform the schedule of the broadcast network.

“Soon we will have an 11-year rights deal,” said Mike Cavanagh, president of NBCU parent Comcast, in remarks delivered during a conference call Tuesday with investors. He added: “We expect to be awarded the deal,” and noted that the company didn’t think that recent efforts by Warner Bros. Discovery to assert its right to match the terms of an agreement that is in place between the NBA and Amazon will have much of an impact on the current deal structure.

The new package, slated to go into effect for the 2025-’26 season, will include 100 NBA games during each regular season across NBC and Peacock. That, said Cavanagh, would comprise more games “than any other media partner and more regular season games than each existing partner has under the current rights deal.” According to one person familiar with recent discussions, one plan being contemplated would have NBC broadcast NBA games on Sundays following the end of “Sunday Night Football,” as well as on Tuesdays. The company’s Peacock streaming service would show two games each Monday.

Comcast executives portrayed the new NBA deal as a catalyst to boost subscriptions to the streaming service. “One of our real advantages here is the way we’re running the media business” with Peacock and NBC operating under the same roof, said Comcast CEO Brian Roberts. “Putting that together is very appealing for the reach, for the consumer access and for the innovation we’ll have in the years ahead.”

Roberts also positioned NBCU’s NBA rights deal in the context of M&A deals that are reshaping the media landscape. “Instead of engaging in a process to buy content companies, we’ve focused on organic opportunities like the NBA help drive growth for us well into the future,” he said.

NBCUniversal is expected to pay $2.5 billion per year for NBA rights, according to people familiar with recent discussions. That total would be more than it pays the NFL for its current package, according to research from media-analysis firm MoffettNathanson. Disney’s ESPN and Amazon Prime Video are also expected to unveil rights pacts with the basketball league.

Comcast appeared to pour cold water on the main impediment to consummation of the new agreements. Warner Bros. Discovery on Monday said it had notified the NBA that it intended to assert what it says are rights to match the terms of any offers by new potential rightsholders.

Warner has worked with the NBA for decades, but in recent months the relationship has become strained, as the company, now merged with the former Discovery Communications and under new management, has focused on cutting costs. Charles Barkley, the popular co-host of “Inside the NBA” on TNT, indicated he planned to retire from the program after next season.

Additional elements of NBC’s NBA package would include a broadcast each season of the annual NBA All-Star Game. a season-opening “NBA Tip-Off” doubleheader each season and a double-header on Martin Luther King Day. Select NBA games and the All-Star Game would also be shown on NBCU’s Telemundo.

NBCU’s pact with the NBA will also include rights to more than 50 WNBA regular-season and first-round playoff games starting in 2026. The games will be seen across Peacock, NBC and USA.