NBC’s Bid on NBA Package May Include 2 Primetime Games Per Week (Report)
Coming soon to NBC primetime: Chicago… Bulls?
NBCUniversal’s reported bid on a package of NBA games could include two games airing during NBC primetime each week.
With TNT owner Warner Bros. Discovery’s current NBA deal due to expire after the 2024-25 NBA season — and after WBD was unable to renew its pact during its exclusive negotiating window this month — NBC, the Wall Street Journal reports, has stepped forth with a $2.5 billion-a-year bid that dwarfs the $1.2 billion that WBD was shelling out each season.
NBCUniversal’s bid is for a package that includes regular season as well as playoff games, to air on NBC and stream on Peacock. The WSJ says that NBCU’s discussions with the NBA have included the possible airing two primetime games a week during the pro basketball season, which usually runs late October through mid April.
And keep in mind, NBC’s primetime Sunday slate is already occupied in the fall by NFL football.
Any new deal for the NBA package currently claimed by Warner Bros. Discovery/TNT would last about a decade. WBD will have the opportunity to match any rival offers, sources tell the WSJ reports.
Among the NBA’s other partners, ABC/ESPN owner Disney is expected to renew its own deal to the tune of $2.6 billion per year (up sharply from its current pact), while both Prime Video and YouTube are vying to lock down a new NBA streaming package.
TVLine has reached out to NBCU for comment on the Journal‘s reporting.
I want NBC to win the bid, just to bring back the greatest sports jingle ever
Love the jingle, but 2 primetime games a week? Which probably means scripted shows will get bumped out or cancelled. That would mean 3 nights of sports in the fall on NBC counting Sunday Night Football. Also, it’s not like the NBA gets huge ratings like the NFL.
True.
The NBA ratings haven’t been good for the past several years.
That won’t bother me. I’ve realized that, with Quantum Leap being cancelled, that there isn’t a single NBC primetime show that I watch anymore. (No, I wouldn’t be watching the NBA games either.)
I don’t want them to win the bid. How many more Peacock streaming service price increases do you want?
Sports is what causes all of the price increases.
NBC must win the bid so John Tesh’s Roundball Rock can make its triumphant return! Greatest basketball anthem ever!
Great, first giving the 10pm hour back to the network’s affiliates, now this. This is nothing more than a rumor to solely get people riled up before anything even becomes official. I’m just so resistant to anything that involves cutting back too many scripted primetime hours on an American broadcast network. Why can’t those NBA games be on USA Network? They’re losing WWE Raw to Netflix next season.