The streaming landscape is undergoing a shift as industry titans battle over the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) coveted broadcasting rights. According to reports, Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD), Amazon (AMZN), and Comcast’s NBCUniversal (CMCSA) are actively vying for the opportunity to secure the rights to broadcast NBA games on their respective platforms.
Catalysts Anchors Alexandra Canal and Seana Smith break down the details, providing insights into the rise of sports streaming and the far-reaching implications for both the sports industry and the streaming platforms themselves.
For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Catalysts.
This post was written by Angel Smith
Video Transcript
The battle over sports.
Well, it’s heating up for the big streaming companies.
The latest is the fight over the NBA Warner Brothers.
Discovery reportedly considering matching NB C’s offer for the media rights to package NBA games.
But his biggest competition, it actually might be Amazon, not NBC.
And we’ve talked about this time and time again just as focus here, Ali from the streaming companies on sports.
We have the news not too long ago about Netflix when it comes to the NFL games that they will be broadcasting on Christmas Day over the next three years.
But what does all this say just about, I guess how this is reshaping the entire media landscape and also reshaping how many of us are watching these games and what we’re paying for to get access to.
It is very complicated to watch sports.
It’s obviously not great for the consumer that’s now more and more confused about where to watch their favorite games.
And now they’re having to pay more to subscribe to all of these services because now we’re seeing these leagues really have one off games and exclusive games for playoffs for even regular season games.
We’re seeing that with the NFL, you were just talking about the NBA.
That’s a possible streaming package there with Amazon.
And this is all coming as there are more streamers entering the space, there’s a lot of disruption and these leagues, they’re realizing that they can get a lot more money, not just from the linear and traditional cable providers and broadcast partners, but also from the streaming companies.
So we’re seeing this A LA carte is a, is what I’m calling it of sport.
It’s at large as the leagues seek diversification and as these streaming companies, they want a sticky and loyal subscriber sports is on demand viewing.
That’s how you can get there.
But I guess at what point though does the consumer start to push back?
Right?
Because, and, and then at what point is that going to ultimately drive some of those decisions that the leagues are making in terms of their content deals or their media partnerships, right?
Because they want eyeballs at the end of the day, they need that fan base in order to grow these leagues.
So you have to think that at some point, people aren’t going to be willing to subscribe to XYZ just to get access to a couple of games.
Right now, Peacock did have that exclusive NFL playoff game.
They did report a surge of subscribers after that.
The big question though is how long did those subscribers stay on the Peacock platform?
So I think we have to see more experimentation within this.
We’re already seeing increased bundling.
We’re seeing increased sports packages.
We have that Warner Brothers, a Fox ESPN Sports Bundle coming out later this fall ESPN over the top coming out in 2025.
So there’s going to be more options for consumers.
But I do think to your point, we’re going to have to see increased consolidation more M and A in the space as a result of this because there is a certain point where consumers are just gonna say, I don’t wanna watch it at the same time though.
If you’re a die hard sports fan, you’re gonna find a way to watch it and maybe it’s going to be going to bars and going to watch it there.
If you don’t subscribe to some of these partner, like I’ve already reached that point with all my, it’s very