The NBA wants to double or triple its TV rights fees and may have to look at creative coproduced broadcasts to get there.
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Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are in an exclusive negotiating window with the NBA on TV rights. But when the window ends in the spring, don’t be surprised if NBC Universal enters the race in conjunction with a current rightsholder.
WWE president and former CAA executive Nick Khan dropped that rumor during
a recent appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast.
“I would look for partnership on that,” Khan said. “Does NBC go to what is now Warner Bros. Discovery and say let’s split a package where we NBCU get Tuesday nights, you guys keep Thursday nights, and oh by the way, Warner Bros. produces all the games for us?”
“That could happen. I’m hearing some rumblings of that.”
Khan expanded on his theory by indicating that media companies exploring potential consolidation or mergers will want to keep costs low while still building out content libraries. If NBC wants back in on the NBA but doesn’t want to invest hundreds of millions in production, they could strike a coproduction or licensing agreement with WBD and its subsidiary WBD Sports.
If not NBCUniversal and WBD, Khan also threw out an ESPN/Apple partnership as another hypothetical version of such an agreement.
