So the new media deal is coming together. ESPN staying. Amazon close. NBC back

The ESPN part is settled but how much of a raise it is has not been released. Amazon wants something that I think will be the in season tournament. The big change is that NBC is offering 2.5 billion a year to push out Turner. Turner currently pays 1 billion a year and it’s unlikely they match.

my first thought is that we’re back….

[video=youtube_share;XkvD4NlouPs]https://youtu.be/XkvD4NlouPs?si=uOdmgNzfFaol78Gr[/video]


My second was “Is someone gonna pay to take inside the nba? Amazon does shit like that”

but the third?


They are absolutely going to put games on Peacock and not broadcasting anywhere on TV just to grow the app like they did with the NFL playoff.

The shitty series, the magic Cavs series? That yearly one nobody really watches? It’s probably going to Peacock from here on out.

Sucks but the owners will take anyone’s money to run up the team values and the players union won’t argue with an extra 750 million or so(they get about half)of increased revenue over what tnt paid.

I gave in and watched the Chiefs dolphins peacock game which is all they needed to know they can get away with it so I acknowledge I’m part of the problem. But still.

So the athletic says Amazon is taking a big chunk. It’s been described as a significant number of regular season and playoff games going to Prime Video for at least 10 years but it’s looking like it’s gonna go to 2040.

So it’ll be ESPN and ABC with Amazon and NBC splitting the rest. Turner has the right to match but the parent company has been cutting money and shelving movies for tax breaks so I don’t see it. The streaming era begins. It’s gonna be all Peacock and Amazon after next year.


I guess it’s not that big a deal. I watch a lot of playoff games on Max already. It streams higher-quality than my TV for some reason.

[QUOTE=Kblaze8855;14905636]So the athletic says Amazon is taking a big chunk. It’s been described as a significant number of regular season and playoff games going to Prime Video for at least 10 years but it’s looking like it’s gonna go to 2040.

So it’ll be ESPN and ABC with Amazon and NBC splitting the rest. Turner has the right to match but the parent company has been cutting money and shelving movies for tax breaks so I don’t see it. The streaming era begins. It’s gonna be all Peacock and Amazon after next year.


I guess it’s not that big a deal. I watch a lot of playoff games on Max already. It streams higher-quality than my TV for some reason.[/QUOTE]

MAX upscales the feed to 4k and Dolby Vision. So you should be getting a slightly sharper picture from the upscaling (even though it's not true 4k) and better contrast via Dolby Vision or HDR depending on your devices.

I'm hoping that Amazon / Peacock figure out a way to provide true 4K HDR for games within the next couple years...it would make the games much more enjoyable to watch. NBC already is built out to do this as they do soccer and Notre Dame football in great quality so hopefully they carry that over.

Makes sense. I had someone watching with me to confirm I wasn’t losing my mind. It does look a little bit better streaming.

A lot of the old people who are the type to still sit down and watch a game start to finish are going to be alienated I bet. I guess the NBA is just deciding they don’t need old people anymore. Ratings obviously aren’t the priority now.

Amazon and Peacock just want subscribers. They don’t give a shit what you watch once you subscribe. I’m sure they’ll find a way to incorporate more ads anyway.

I know prime started with commercials, but I don’t remember if Peacock has them or not.

[QUOTE=Kblaze8855;14905660]Makes sense. I had someone watching with me to confirm I wasn’t losing my mind. It does look a little bit better streaming.

A lot of the old people who are the type to still sit down and watch a game start to finish are going to be alienated I bet. I guess the NBA is just deciding they don’t need old people anymore. Ratings obviously aren’t the priority now.

Amazon and Peacock just want subscribers. [B]They don’t give a shit what you watch once you subscribe[/B]. I’m sure they’ll find a way to incorporate more ads anyway.

I know prime started with commercials, but I don’t remember if Peacock has them or not.[/QUOTE]

I'm sure they know the exact numbers and will continue to track. That is used to determine how much they are willing to spend.

I just hate it being spread across different apps. Unless if you have NBA season ticket or iptv subscription, you will be switching apps for different games

so, Amazon is Old Navy, ESPN is GAP, and NBC is Banana Republic. but if there is some type of quality control on analyst, then it's all the same.

this got legacy enterprises written all over it, kids with tiny weiners spending parents inheritance to try and boost up on some margin.


either way, it's like being treated as a VIP guest at a strip club into the backroom, only find out VIP means you're sharing one chick with other dudes at the same time.


to be fair, I'd accept the explanation that the work load has been split into 3 shifts.

[QUOTE=Kblaze8855;14905625]The ESPN part is settled but how much of a raise it is has not been released. Amazon wants something that I think will be the in season tournament. The big change is that NBC is offering 2.5 billion a year to push out Turner. Turner currently pays 1 billion a year and it’s unlikely they match.

my first thought is that we’re back….

[video=youtube_share;XkvD4NlouPs]https://youtu.be/XkvD4NlouPs?si=uOdmgNzfFaol78Gr[/video]


My second was “Is someone gonna pay to take inside the nba? Amazon does shit like that”

but the third?


They are absolutely going to put games on Peacock and not broadcasting anywhere on TV just to grow the app like they did with the NFL playoff.

The shitty series, the magic Cavs series? That yearly one nobody really watches? It’s probably going to Peacock from here on out.

Sucks but the owners will take anyone’s money to run up the team values and the players union won’t argue with an extra 750 million or so(they get about half)of increased revenue over what tnt paid.

I gave in and watched the Chiefs dolphins peacock game which is all they needed to know they can get away with it so I acknowledge I’m part of the problem. But still.[/QUOTE]

If they want subscribers, they will not put Cleveland and Orlando they'd put a Warriors or Lakers game there. Guys people wanna see. A network like ESPN would get that game.

Also, what happens to NBA TV? I think they're in partnership with Turner.
It's crazy to not have Turner and the NBA. I was actually gonna make a thread about the All-Star game needing to make a return to network TV. It's crazy it's on cable.

Ok so it’s gonna be about $76 billion up from 24 billion. They wanted to triple it and they did better than that. I can’t even imagine where the salary cap is going to be soon. The early projections show a max contract will be about $400 million at the start of it. Either SGA or Jokic will get 400 million summer after next. Jokic will have the ten years in to get the super super max.

Somewhere in the near future players are going to make 85 million a season.

Oh, and Amazon officially has the rights to both the in season tournament, which will be known as the NBA cup and the play in.

All play in Games for 10 years are gonna be on Amazon only.

A former cap “expert” GM was consulted in an article and apparently I’m off. We’re going to have $100 million player in 2032. Cap goes up about 5 million this summer then about 14 then 15 then 17 and so on. I’ve been thinking for years they will use expansion to spread the money across more players, but they probably need bigger rosters as well. Maybe allow 15 active players and a few two way? I feel like after this 10 year run, it might start creeping downward. The streaming platforms will be more established by then. Of course with inflation who knows but the real value of the next deal might drop. I read that Mark Cuban was thinking that was Possible.

There are too few people on an NBA team for revenue to go up to like 15 billion And not give somebody a five-year half billion deal.

I doubt it’s a long-term concern of most owners though. This deal makes the value of the teams rise. You’ll probably see a few of them cash out.

So turns out Warner was bluffing trying to keep the price down thinking NBC would never pay what they agreed to pay. Now silver is basically extorting them knowing they don’t want to lose it and gonna make them pay 300 million a year more than NBC is offering.

[quote]“NBC has made their bid, and they're not budging,’’ a media industry source said. “So it's over, right? And Warner Bros. is saying, ‘We'll match it,’ and (Commissioner Adam Silver) is probably saying: ‘It's not matched.’ ’’Sources say Adam Silver is trying to figure out a way to sever the relationship with TNT in a "gentle way."
“There's no mystery to this," the source said. “It's pretty blatant what's happening. David Zaslav realizes he has to have this and doesn't want to pay more than $2.5B. And Adam's saying, honestly, it's not matched at $2.5. And [Zaslav] goes, ‘Yes, it is,’ and they're going back and forth.’ And so that's where we are. How do you let [WBD] down? Is there a way? Or does Zaslav come up with more money? Because then it doesn't have to be matching because David's paid more.
“And that's where we are. Adam's trying to be nice to David right now until David backs off his dogs. He’s trying to help David save face.’’
NBC’s package is expected to include Sunday Night games following the NFL season, while perhaps taking over ESPN’s Friday night slate and TNT’s second-round playoff and conference final package. Amazon would likely have one weekday night (Tuesday or Thursday) and Saturday nights, as well as the Play-in tournament, the In-Season Tournament, first-round playoff games and likely some international rights.
ESPN will continue to be the exclusive home of The Finals.
“ESPN did not want to alternate the finals, which I think Adam wanted to do,’’ a source said. “Adam wanted to make a package for NBC and alternate the finals with ESPN. ESPN fought it, fought, fought it, and finally said fine, ‘We'll pay the $2.6B, but no alternating the finals.’ And WB thought the league would never get that [$2.5] price from NBC. They said, ‘Sure, go shopping.’ They shopped it, they got the price. And now David Zaslav goes, ‘We’re screwed.


[/QUOTE]

Crazy not seeing NBA on Turner.
People talk about NBA on NBC nostalgia. That was only a 12 season relationship. Basically David Robinsons career.

RIP NBA on Turner Sports (1984-2025)
Turner and NBA have been partners since the mid 80s.

[QUOTE=L.Kizzle;14908579]Crazy not seeing NBA on Turner.
People talk about NBA on NBC nostalgia. That was only a 12 season relationship. Basically David Robinsons career.

RIP NBA on Turner Sports (1984-2025)
Turner and NBA have been partners since the mid 80s.[/QUOTE]

NBA on NBC was short but it was the pinnacle of combined growth and competition. If this comes to fruition I am ecstatic.

[QUOTE=bladefd;14905772]I'm sure they know the exact numbers and will continue to track. That is used to determine how much they are willing to spend.

I just hate it being spread across different apps. Unless if you have NBA season ticket or iptv subscription, you will be switching apps for different games[/QUOTE]

I don't know about prices for US subscribers but from Europe an NBA League Pass was like USD70 for a year. With the benefit of being able to select multiple streams in HD and to watch all the games all season long it's a very affordable deal.

I honestly Don’t even know what I’m paying for league pass. I only access it through Amazon now and I’m sure its one of those random Amazon charges I get every month. But I have no idea which.

[QUOTE=L.Kizzle;14908579]Crazy not seeing NBA on Turner.
People talk about NBA on NBC nostalgia. That was only a 12 season relationship. Basically David Robinsons career.

RIP NBA on Turner Sports (1984-2025)
Turner and NBA have been partners since the mid 80s.[/QUOTE]


they can keep it they just overplay their hand. Silver told them somebody would pay what they were asking and they didn’t believe it. I don’t know how. I’ve been saying on here for years The people with streaming services are going to try to steal live sports by any means. They had to know that. They might’ve been thinking like the clueless fans who actually believed ratings were the deciding factor. I figured that shit out years ago and felt dumb for taking that long.

It was mentioned that the NBA was looking at having potentially more than 3 partners so maybe NBC and TNT can get in.

[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1cr2hru/simmons_the_nba_media_deal_talks_are_over_tnt/?rdt=54856[/url]

Barkley says they’re worried as hell over there.


[IMG]https://i.ibb.co/QKPTcrS/IMG-8685.jpg[/IMG]


Could Turner executives really been as clueless as ish posters thinking ratings determined value And nobody would beat their offer?

We’ve been talking about streamers getting in the game for two or three years. They don’t give a **** if ratings are down. They pay for the NBA just for the credibility.

[QUOTE=Kblaze8855;14910526]Barkley says they’re worried as hell over there.


[IMG]https://i.ibb.co/QKPTcrS/IMG-8685.jpg[/IMG]


Could Turner executives really been as clueless as ish posters thinking ratings determined value And nobody would beat their offer?

We’ve been talking about streamers getting in the game for two or three years. They don’t give a **** if ratings are down. They pay for the NBA just for the credibility.][/QUOTE]

If their plan is just to leverage the popularity of the game now, to get more people to subscribe, with the eventual plan of a bait and switch where they stop concerning themselves with the NBA’s product quality and hope by then NBA fans have gotten hooked on whatever original programming Amazon or Netflix or whoever provides… I mean I guess it’s an interesting strategy. I hadnt really considered that angle before, but it may have some merit to it.

Ive said I think it is a certainty that the NBA as we know it now will not exist in 10 years, and arguably may not last 5 more. Not due to lack of interest in basketball but due to exterior social/economic factors. So actually maybe this is the play.

I am surprised that it's NBC making the big push. Their golf coverage has been pretty half assed and I haven't heard much good about their streaming service.

The NBA is popular internationally and live sports are seen as gold to new streaming services so focusing on domestic ratings was just myopic, I just thought someone else would be making the big push.

Apple has so much cash to burn they have just been buying back their stock because they can't think of anything else to do with it. I thought they would be involved.

[QUOTE=FultzNationRISE;14910581]If their plan is just to leverage the popularity of the game now, to get more people to subscribe, with the eventual plan of a bait and switch where they stop concerning themselves with the NBA’s product quality and hope by then NBA fans have gotten hooked on whatever original programming Amazon or Netflix or whoever provides… I mean I guess it’s an interesting strategy. I hadnt really considered that angle before, but it may have some merit to it.

Ive said I think it is a certainty that the NBA as we know it now will not exist in 10 years, and arguably may not last 5 more. Not due to lack of interest in basketball but due to exterior social/economic factors. So actually maybe this is the play.[/QUOTE]

thing is you were saying that a couple years ago when I first started explaining to people like you who would talk about declining interest and ratings that nobody but you gave us shit and the real money was from rights holders, who would pay a fortune to add credibility to their streaming service. And the people pushing Disney plus/espn plus, peacock, and prime video are about to give the nba more money and for more years than even I estimated.

By the time this deal is done your initial doom predictions will already have been years past the end date. Youre gonna be like the global warming alarmists.

If the deal In like 2036 is for half of the one they’re signing now it will still be 50% more than the one that exploded the revenue and ushered in this new era of money.

and that’s before you factor in that they still have to topple California, Texas and Florida legal gambling laws which combined with other states on the path for legalization will add like 100 million potential customers to the legal gambling base which is already gone up 500% the last few years and the NBA and NFL are going to get a piece of it. They just got North Carolina. Florida has already passed it but they’re fighting off their local Native American tribes who claim sole right to in state gambling.

Theyre angling for a one percent take on all nba bets.

The low end for early added revenue is 600 million a year. That would be more than ESPN was paying in total rights fees to the league as recently as 2014.

Even without Texas and California…. Gambling alone will pay the NBA as much as an entire new media partner.

This money is going to keep going up for quite a while. When the streaming bubble bursts the gambling bubble probably won’t even be full yet.

National and international gambling rights which will be pushed even more once they expand into Vegas, which they will do in a couple years is going to blow the top off.

Just wait it out. I’m probably under estimating again.

Fans really don’t think about all the money streams available past traditional metrics like ratings or how much you and your friends personally care.

Theyre monetizing the entire web connected world and creating a pipeline directly from the accounts of gambling addicts to the league.

Its only beginning.

[QUOTE=tontoz;14910585]I am surprised that it's NBC making the big push. Their golf coverage has been pretty half assed and I haven't heard much good about their streaming service.

The NBA is popular internationally and live sports are seen as gold to new streaming services so focusing on domestic ratings was just myopic, I just thought someone else would be making the big push.

Apple has so much cash to burn they have just been buying back their stock because they can't think of anything else to do with it. I thought they would be involved.[/QUOTE]


Apple was in on it but apparently they’re going with soccer hoping the 26 World Cup in America makes it pay off.

If TNT loses, ESPN needs to pickup the Inside the NBA crew to improve their shit coverage.

ESPN's terrible coverage for 20 years has been unbearable.

The fact that they had Van Gundy and Jackson as their flagship commentary team for ages speaks volumes.

NBC made every game feel like the Super Bowl.

I doubt they would let them go. They all signed new contracts and they already use them for more than NBA coverage. They might keep them for college games just out of spite. Ernie has been there over 30 years. And Barkley has always said he was going to retire before he got too old to enjoy retirement. If they lose it, he will probably be fine just popping up a few times a year.

If they actually let them go, I’m sure Amazon will put in an insane bid. They pay Al Michael’s wild money to do a shit job and hate the product just to say they have Al Michaels on Thursday night football.

They would give inside the NBA whatever they want

Barkley has an opt out in his deal if tnt loses the NBA

[url]https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/16/nba-tv-rights-deal-hinges-on-warner-bros-discovery.html[/url]

So after Talking tough about how they will not overpay for the NBA Warner finds out multiple other people are willing to more than double the price and they’re preparing to go to court to secure the right to match if the NBA doesn’t want to let them. The nba sees going back to free tv as a bonus that can’t be matched in a dollar for dollar equal contract. TNT wants to match the money and not let the nba choose. They have lost all the bass in their voice at this point. Probably trying to figure out why anyone will even need tnt without sports.

I think we can all find reruns of charmed and supernatural if we want them elsewhere. I literally never turn to the channel for anything but sports.

They should just create a 4th package, it's not like they don't have the inventory.

The third package of games for Amazon is already coming out of games that previously wouldn’t be on nationally other than the play in and in season tournament. I assume they get the nba tv games and some of of the leftover star games on the wrong days. And being NFL partners they don’t have to duck the NFL as much. They can use it.

The premier TNT game went from Thursday to Tuesday because they were ducking Thursday night football. Amazon can do a two for one and start Thursday night football at 7:30 and have a premier West Coast game at 10 that flows right from it.

They know their whole year Thursday night schedule before the NBA even finishes the playoffs. Why wouldn’t the NBA help them out? Washington plays Philly on Thursday November 14th. Schedule Philly in San Antoinio for Embiid and Wemby for after that. See how much of the Philly fanbase you hold.

One week is Cowboys and Giants at 7. Why not follow it with Knicks at Mavs?

why wouldn’t NBC use a Christmas day slot to lead in or follow their Christmas Day NFL game?

there is opportunity there.

[url]https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/new-version-roundball-rock-john-tesh-nbc-1235905603/[/url]

[QUOTE=Kblaze8855;14911056]So after Talking tough about how they will not overpay for the NBA Warner finds out multiple other people are willing to more than double the price and they’re preparing to go to court to secure the right to match if the NBA doesn’t want to let them. The nba sees going back to free tv as a bonus that can’t be matched in a dollar for dollar equal contract. TNT wants to match the money and not let the nba choose. They have lost all the bass in their voice at this point. Probably trying to figure out why anyone will even need tnt without sports.
[B]
I think we can all find reruns of charmed and supernatural if we want them elsewhere. [/B]I literally never turn to the channel for anything but sports.[/QUOTE]


:lol

Appears it’s all decided and being signed off on this week .ESPN and NBC are going to pay even more than was initially reported. Amazon is going to be paying more than TNT has been paying to get nothing but the play in tournament, in season tournament, a first round series, some WNBA games and some international rights. NBC is going to start basketball night in America every Sunday night after each NFL season. So January to April will be a big free TV primetime game or two on NBC Sunday night. They also have the right to two days of weekday games, but I’m betting they put some of that on Peacock.

All that is for TNT to take them to court over the definition of a match. Turns out they’re willing to “overpay” after all And I’m mad at the NBA might not let them. I feel like a compromise would be letting TNT keep Tuesday and a designated playoff round At the old rate.

Get that salary cap up to 250 million.

I hate that TNT is being pushed out. TNT peaked a long time ago but they still remain the most authentically basketball minded product out there. Every other network has this cold corporate presentation, or low IQ/'hot take' format (Kendrick perkins, SAS etc). ESPN/ABC's coverage is appalling. Who knows what NBC and Amazon are gonna look like but I don't have any confidence in them. All these networks are owned by DEI execs with only a casual interest in sports.

Is it just me or is Ernie kinda being selfish in staying with TNT only and basically forcing the show to end. I don't get why people are mad at NBC or Amazon.

The Inside guys have more than enough sway that they could go to NBC and insist that NBC continue the show as is and keep all the same people employed and probably even keep the show in Atlanta (maybe you can't use the same studio, but that's not the only studio in Atlanta). I'm sure NBC or Amazon or both would be happy to keep the show running more or less as is.

I doubt Shaq, Charles, Kenny have any problem with NBC, they all came up with the NBA on NBC as players.

It's really Ernie is gonna force the whole thing to break apart because he is TNT or bust, but what is he even going to do at TNT from now on? College hoops only? I think he could even make a deal where he gets to continue to work with TNT throughout the year but can do Inside the NBA for NBC/Amazon on Tuesday/Thursday nights or something.

Just seems like a shame to me, a bunch of people are going to lose their jobs (the peeps behind the camera) sorta because Ernie doesn't want to move the show to NBC.

Ernie was on tbs and tnt doing shit like baseball in the early 90s. You can find him in Atlanta with Dominique Wilkins. Hes probably 35+ years in. Hes a lifer. He will probably do college ball and baseball again.

[QUOTE]Tim Legler explains the problem with ESPN’s coverage of small market basketball teams on the
@ryenarussillo
show:

“And I wish I had video of all the meetings I’ve been in this year at ESPN when I wanted to talk more about the Indiana Pacers. Particularly after they got Siakam…aaaand it's just not sexy enough”[/quote]

This is the kind of thing I'm talking about with ESPN. It's all hot take discussions over the standard topics: lebron, curry, lakers, knicks etc over and over, even before games that have nothing to do with those teams or players. I don't think it occurs to people that you can capture long term audience, particularly casual fans, by marketing teams rather than just a few select star players.

They don’t think long term though. They monitor is segment by segment and they know the names that get the most clicks online. I doubt it’s any more than that. They would take Charlotte Hornets all day if they saw a traffic spike from it. They don’t bother trying to create it. They follow the trend despite having the power to create them.

[QUOTE=Kblaze8855;14913753]Appears it’s all decided and being signed off on this week .ESPN and NBC are going to pay even more than was initially reported. Amazon is going to be paying more than TNT has been paying to get nothing but the play in tournament, in season tournament, a first round series, some WNBA games and some international rights. NBC is going to start basketball night in America every Sunday night after each NFL season. So January to April will be a big free TV primetime game or two on NBC Sunday night. They also have the right to two days of weekday games, but I’m betting they put some of that on Peacock.

All that is for TNT to take them to court over the definition of a match. Turns out they’re willing to “overpay” after all And I’m mad at the NBA might not let them. I feel like a compromise would be letting TNT keep Tuesday and a designated playoff round At the old rate.

Get that salary cap up to 250 million.[/QUOTE]

I don't get it. I'm going to assume all playoff games will be televised on one of ESPN, NBC or Amazon, but in terms of the regular season it sounds like less games are actually getting televised. Am I wrong here?

I don't really understand why they can't have a 4th package with TNT bidding at a lower price and at least getting less games as a result and probably very little or no playoffs at all. What am I missing here? Sounds like more $ for the NBA and also not a potential dip in interest since we know that the TNT coverage is a huge reason for the NBA's popularity (there's people that literally watch the NBA moreso for the Inside the NBA vs the actual games).

[QUOTE=Kblaze8855;14913801]They don’t think long term though. They monitor is segment by segment and they know the names that get the most clicks online. I doubt it’s any more than that. They would take Charlotte Hornets all day if they saw a traffic spike from it. They don’t bother trying to create it.[B] They follow the trend despite having the power to create them.[/B][/QUOTE]

Yeah but I dont think they really have that power like they did in the 90s, when there was basically no internet.

People have options now.

You can raise the public level by eliminating lower quality things. But if you dont eliminate them? There's gonna be a lot of people who just choose to scale down.

Like if McDonalds started serving broccoli and quinoa, their millions of customers arent gonna keep going to McDonalds and adapting to the new menu. They'll go to Burger King. Or Wendy's. Or wherever they can get the low end trash they prefer. And I say that as someone who eats at McDonalds from time to time. More often than I watch "First Take" certainly. I guess my body has more tolerance for junk than my mind. But you could only eliminate consumption of fast food by eliminating all fast food. If it's out there somewhere, people will go to it. ESPN cant make tik tok and all the gossip oriented online competitors away. They cant beat em, they have to join em.

[url]https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/05/22/nba-formalizing-media-rights-deals-disney-amazon-nbc[/url]