The deal, which begins in 2008 and runs through the 2015-16 season, works out to an average of about $930 million a year, a 22 per cent increase over the $765-million average under the current agreement it is reported.
Much of the increase, despite a decline in television ratings for the recent NBA finals and overall TV viewership of the league's regular-season games, is due to the expanded digital rights. The rest is in line with the continued increase in sports rights fees.
The deal gives the NBA a TV presence every day of the week. ESPN will carry games on Wednesday and Friday, ABC will broadcast games on Sunday, TNT will continue its Thursday double-header and NBA TV will carry games on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday.
Under the deal, Time Warner and Disney will have rights to about 200 games and will be free to spin off digital feeds to any of their affiliated broadcast, cable, Internet and mobile assets. The NBA retains digital rights to the remaining 1,000 or so regular-season games.
