NBC tables $2.5bn offer for NBA rights to challenge TNT

US national network NBC is readying an offer of $2.5 billion annually to secure domestic National Basketball Association (NBA) action during the next media rights cycle, it has been reported.

This would involve the ousting of TNT Sports – owned by Warner Bros. Discovery – as a domestic NBA rights partner, according to the Wall Street Journal, with TNT currently paying $1.2 billion per year through 2024-25. A $2.5 billion tie-up with NBC would represent the annual rights fee more than doubling.

The exclusive negotiating window between incumbent TNT Sports and the NBA expired on April 22, and now Comcast-owned NBC is reportedly set to step into the breach.

The NBA is currently shown domestically by TNT and heavyweight sports broadcaster ESPN, in deals unveiled in 2014 which both run through the 2024-25 season. These are worth a combined $24 billion in total.

Now, the WSJ has reported that while ESPN (owned by Disney) is set to retain its top-tier domestic NBA rights by paying $2.6 billion each campaign, TNT could be supplanted in its position by NBC.

NBC last covered NBA action domestically in 2002, while the TNT Sports network has been airing NBA games since 1984. WBD also has the right to match any deal and retain NBA rights. Sportcal