The NBA is receiving interest from streaming services Amazon and Apple as it takes part in media rights negotiations, per Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports.
As we relayed previously, the league is seeking upward of $75 billion in its next media rights package, that will begin in the 2025-26 season. NBA broadcast rights are currently held by ESPN/ABC and TNT.
“I would say that all of the leading technology companies are interested in the NBA. Amazon is just one of them. I think Apple, I think Google. All of them,” former NBA and ESPN executive John Kosner said, via McCarthy.
Kosner currently heads Kosner Media as a media adviser.
“And keep in mind the definition of what’s a ‘rights package’ going forward doesn’t have to be what we grew up with,” he said, via McCarthy. “A company like Discord (a social platform with 150 million monthly users) could become an NBA rights holder at some point, too. I think they’re all interested.”
NBA games are already streamed by Tencent Holdings in China.
“The last thing we want is to disenfranchise fans who are not watching TV in a traditional manner and therefore can’t see our games,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said at All-Star Weekend in Cleveland last season.
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