Comcast Says NBC Has Deal in Place With NBA

NBCUniversal expects to complete an 11-year rights deal that will bring the NBA to NBC and Peacock over an 11-year period and that will transform the schedule of the broadcast network.

“Soon we will have an 11 year rights deal,” said Mike Cavanagh, president of NBCU parent Comcast, in remarks delivered during a conference call Tuesday with investors. He added: “We expect to be awarded the deal,” and noted that the company didn’t think that recent efforts by Warner Bros. Discovery to assert its right to match the terms of an agreement that is in place between the NBA and Amazon will have much of an impact on the current deal structure.

The new package, slated to go into effect for the 2025-2026 season, will include 100 NBA games during each regular season across NBC and Peacock. That, said Cavanagh, would comprise more games “than any other media partner and more regular season games than each existing partner has under the current rights deal.” According to one person familiar with recent discussions, one plan being contemplated would have NBC broadcast NBA games on Sundays following the end of “Sunday Night Football,” as well as on Tuesdays. The company’s Peacock streaming service would show two games each Monday.

More to come….