Amazon said to near streaming NBA deal; TNT, NBC square off (NASDAQ:AMZN)

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Amazon Prime Video (NASDAQ:AMZN) is set to take a significant role in the National Basketball Association’s next, streaming-friendly broadcast contract, The Athletic reported.

The NBA and Amazon have a framework of a deal that would make Prime Video one of the main homes for the league’s games, and include not only significant regular-season games but also postseason games and maybe even conference finals.

Combined with Puck’s report that ESPN (NYSE:DIS) is also close to its own deal on the contract, the news is likely to put pressure on NBC Sports (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and TNT (NASDAQ:WBD) to jockey for a third and presumed last spot on the rights deal, though the NBA could still elect to work with four companies.

The NBA has long signaled that streaming would be a bigger part of its new contract, which is expected to cover the coming decade of games. The current nine-year deals with ESPN (DIS) and TNT (WBD) end after the 2024-2025 season.

As a current partner, TNT has the right to match deals made — though NBC could structure its deal in a way that would make matching difficult, The Athletic noted.

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