Another Voice
Charter Member of The Element
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2000
Disney has just signed a $4.6 billion dollar deal with the NBA to broadcast basketball games on ABC and ESPN.
This figure represents a 25% increase in the annual fee over the deal that NBC had with the league, a deal that NBC claimed lost them $100 million a season. During the last four years of the NBC deal, ratings for basketball dropped 35%.
Under the deal ABC will broadcast fifteen games on Sunday night and the NBA Finals. ESPN and ESPN2 will seventy-five games on Wednesday and Saturday nights.
AOL TimeWarner has signed on, with its TNT cable channel to carry 52 regular season and 45 play-off games, as well as the All Star Game. This is part of a much larger, separate deal that TimeWarner has signed with the NBA to create a new cable channel that will carry all NBA games. In effect, to create a competitor to the games being shown on ABC and ESPN.
This figure represents a 25% increase in the annual fee over the deal that NBC had with the league, a deal that NBC claimed lost them $100 million a season. During the last four years of the NBC deal, ratings for basketball dropped 35%.
Under the deal ABC will broadcast fifteen games on Sunday night and the NBA Finals. ESPN and ESPN2 will seventy-five games on Wednesday and Saturday nights.
AOL TimeWarner has signed on, with its TNT cable channel to carry 52 regular season and 45 play-off games, as well as the All Star Game. This is part of a much larger, separate deal that TimeWarner has signed with the NBA to create a new cable channel that will carry all NBA games. In effect, to create a competitor to the games being shown on ABC and ESPN.