From John Ourand at the Sports Business Journal, we learn that the NBA has made agreements in principle with TV incumbents ESPN and Turner. It gives the Association a huge payday with over $2 billion annually combined.
The new deals won’t be announced until they’re made final, probably at the beginning of this new season or even beyond, but it appears the exclusive negotiations with ESPN and Turner went so well, the NBA did not feel the need to bring in another network.
Ourand reports that ESPN and Turner are expected to each pay more than $1 billion annually to keep the status quo. It means ESPN/ABC will keep the Finals while Turner will continue to operate NBA Media assets such as NBA.com and NBA TV.
One potential sticking point is streaming rights which the NBA wants to sell separately. Both ESPN and Turner want to keep them as part of cable’s “TV Everywhere” initiative, but it appears ESPN and Turner will continue to stream their games online.
Currently, the NBA receives $485 million per year from ESPN and $445 million annually from Turner. The NBA will more than double its fee from its current TV partners.
There were reports that Fox was going to be considered as a third partner, but with these new agreements, it will once again be on the outside looking in.
NBC had expressed interest in bidding for the rights, but was never considered a true contender.
The new deal is expected to last eight years and will take effect after the. 2015-16 season.
