Basketball season began on Tuesday. To watch NBA games in the USA, fans need to jump between ABC, NBC, Peacock, ESPN and Amazon Prime Video. Sometimes, a combination of outlets will be showing the action i.e. NBC linear TV and Peacock. Other nights, a platform has the action exclusively.
I’m not denying it’s a bit fiddly. However, judging by some of the reaction, you’d think fans were never going to be able to find a match again, and everyone in America is going to stop watching basketball. The NBA even produced a Watch Guide graphic, explaining it all.
Things are a little bit more straightforward in the UK. Here, coverage is split between Sky Sports and Amazon Prime Video (with Season Pass also available through the latter). It is the first time I can recall that UK basketball coverage has not all been in one place. It has previously been on either Sky Sports or TNT.
Watch Different NBA Games on Different Services. Like Everything Else.
Much has been made of why and how the TNT lost its NBA rights. That led us to this fragmented situation. And it is, on the surface, the kind of setup that annoys fans. However, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand rightly noted that “fans need a maximum of just three subscription-based services to view its nationally televised games” in America. I’d go further and argue that, unless basketball is the only sport you follow, highly unlikely, you probably already have access to these services. The changes make a subscription better value.
Marchand also outlined that, “in the modern digital jungle, the NBA did pretty well in maximising its dollars ($76 billion over 11 seasons from ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Amazon Prime Video)”. A nice payday indeed.
Whether you want to watch the NBA basketball or your favourite drama, things were certainly simpler before. Obviously. We didn’t have all the options that we have now. The modern reality is that very few sports are on one dedicated platform. For example, to watch football here in the UK, you need two services for the Premier League – Sky and TNT Sport. In addition, while Amazon Prime Video has pulled out of the domestic football market, it still shows one Champions League match on Tuesday nights.
As I’ve written before, including in my latest book, we may well be heading back to the future, with viewers opting to pay more for a consolidated service. Sports fans are likely to be keenest to sign up.
Until then, I’m sure most can cope with coverage being split across three services they probably already have.
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