NBCUniversal is planning to pay an average of about $2.5 billion a year for the rights to the NBA as fees for the league’s coveted broadcasts are set to double from current levels, according to a report Monday.
If accepted, the broadcast rights to the basketball games could change hands from TNT, which has paid an average fee of $1.2 billion under its current deal, to the Peacock network, The Wall Street Journal reported.
TNT-parent Warner Bros Discovery was unable to reach a new pact with the NBA before an exclusive negotiating window expired last week.
For Warner Bros Discovery, the loss of the NBA would be a huge blow to its TNT cable network, as well as its planned sports-streaming venture that it is launching alongside Disney and Fox.
Sources told The Journal that it would have a harder time charging distributors as much for the carriage of its channels — which they estimated to be roughly $3 a month per cable customer.
The company began airing the games in 1984 under its TBS channel before it began broadcasting them on TNT three years later. Meanwhile, Disney’s ESPN sports network began broadcasting the NBA in 2002.
Disney is expected to pay an average per-year fee of about $2.6 billion to renew its deal, up from about $1.5 billion per year now. The Journal reported.
The package that NBC is bidding on would include playoff and regular season games that would appear on NBC and its streaming service Peacock.
The Journal added that NBC has discussed carrying two prime-time games a week, which Warner can’t offer because it doesn’t own a broadcast network.
According to The Journal, Warner Bros Discovery has the “ability to try to match rival offers.”
Each TV partner would air fewer games under their new deals than under the current pacts because the league set aside some games for its streaming partner, Amazon Prime Video, which already has the framework of a deal in place, according to The Athletic.
The NBA’s negotiations with its streaming and TV partners are still fluid, and the bidders are still haggling over who gets rights to air the most high-profile games and series.
The Journal reported that Amazon is likely to get a share of the Conference Finals alongside the other partners, and Disney’s ABC is on track to retain the rights to the NBA Finals.
NBCUniversal, TNT, the NBA and ESPN did not immediately comment.