After the 2024–25 season, the NBA's contracts with ESPN and TNT will expire, leaving the question of the league's next media rights deal hanging in the air. We now know that the package will include one new partner.
The Athletic's Andrew Marchand reports that the NBA and Amazon Prime Video have finalized an agreement that will establish the retail and streaming behemoth as a prominent venue for game broadcasts.
The agreement, which is anticipated to be in place for a minimum of ten years, would be initiated by Amazon during the 2025–26 season. Prime Video would include all regular season and playoff games, with future conference finals being added as a potential extra. Potentially included in the deal are the worldwide rights to NBA broadcasts.
There has been no public disclosure of the deal's financial details. According to reports, TNT paid $1.2 billion annually while ESPN paid $1.6 billion.
According to John Ourand of Puck, ESPN/ABC is also in the process of finalizing a new agreement. At least for the next decade, ABC will have the sole right to air the NBA Finals, while the network will keep airing its "A package" of games.
Still, another TV partner will likely take over ESPN's televised game broadcasts as a result of the new package. Now it's up to NBC, who lost the rights to broadcast the NBA in 2002, or TNT to decide who gets that package. NBC is likely trying to get the NBA to stock its Peacock streaming service. However, with the Amazon agreement finalized, the NBA may no longer prioritize that.
The Wall Street Journal states that any proposal can be matched by Warner Bros. Discovery, the corporate owner of TNT. There would be a huge void in the network's prime-time lineup if they lost NBA broadcasts. In 1984, TNT (and TBS) began airing NBA games on television.
Thursday nights could be when you can watch the NBA on Amazon. From September through January, you can watch Thursday Night Football on NFL Network. However, Amazon is anticipated to acquire more postseason broadcasts to compensate for the absence of those regular-season games. The NBA's out-of-market broadcast package, NBA League Pass, is reportedly being considered by Google.