Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

More Basketball in Bristol: ESPN Continues NBA, WNBA Partnership With Long-Term Extension; Deal Features NBA Finals for All 11 Years, WNBA Finals for Five Years

24/07/2024

More Basketball in Bristol: ESPN Continues NBA, WNBA Partnership With Long-Term Extension; Deal Features NBA Finals for All 11 Years, WNBA Finals for Five Years New deal runs through the 2035-36 NBA season and the 2036 WNBA season, respectively By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor

Wednesday, July 24, 2024 - 5:24 pm

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

In a working relationship that has held strong since 2002, The Walt Disney Company and ESPN have extended their ties to the National Basketball Association and Women's National Basketball Association for another 11-year deal that'll run through the 2035-36 NBA season and the 2036 WNBA seasons, respectively. As part of the agreement, ESPN continues its longstanding position as the primary media rights partner of the NBA and the WNBA, as well as the exclusive home of the NBA's crown jewel event, the NBA Finals.

As the media landscape continues to evolve, this forward-thinking agreement represents a significant and bold step in our mission to serve sports fans, anytime, anywhere, including opportunities to successfully navigate the global digital transition, says ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro. Through a premium collection of regular- and post-season game rights, culminating with the NBA Finals and WNBA Finals, plus studio and original content initiatives, we look forward to building upon our legacy of innovation with the NBA and continuing to play an important role in the extraordinary growth trajectory of the WNBA.

ESPN's full package of NBA and WNBA live events and programming, including the championship events, will be available on ESPN's upcoming flagship direct-to-consumer platform, launching in the fall of 2025.

ESPN will also continue its rights to robust NBA Playoffs and regular-season live event packages, including the NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC series - the marquee, national game of the week. In addition, ESPN platforms will exclusively broadcast five WNBA Finals series during the 11-year extension at a transformative time in league history.

Disney and ESPN have been part and parcel of the growth and coverage of the NBA over the past 22 years, says NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. And we are eager to build on this terrific partnership, which is one of the league's most extensive and longest-standing relationships.

In a new initiative starting with the 2025-26 NBA season, Disney's international package of NBA and WNBA games will be available to stream on its digital platforms, including on Disney+ in select markets around the world making this Disney's most significant global sports expansion.

Our partnership with Disney has been instrumental to the growth of the WNBA and women's basketball, as Disney networks have been the home of the WNBA since the league launched 28 years ago, says WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. We look forward to building on the incredible momentum we have accomplished together to enhance the visibility of the players and teams and providing more engaging experiences for our fans in the years to come.

More key WNBA highlights:

WNBA Finals exclusively for five out of 11 seasons;

Exclusive WNBA Semifinals series in eight of 11 seasons;

Extensive regular-season and postseason WNBA game packages for ESPN and ABC;

Expanded WNBA Countdown rights;

Exclusive WNBA All-Star Game broadcast annually;

Exclusive WNBA Draft and WNBA Draft Lottery broadcasts annually;

More highlight rights across platforms.

More key NBA highlights:

All 11 NBA Finals exclusively, plus 10 exclusive NBA Conference Finals series through 2035

Exclusive packages of NBA Playoffs first and second round games

Rights to launch new NBA studio show featuring whip-around coverage on game nights

NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC and NBA Sunday Showcase packages

Exclusive home of the NBA Draft, NBA Draft Lottery and NBA All-Star Celebrity Game

Wednesday and select Friday NBA games on ESPN

All five NBA Christmas Day games annually; exclusive national coverage of regular-season's final day

Widespread ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes coverage, including NBA Finals, NBA Draft, NBA Playoffs, Conference Finals and regular-season games

Development of the official The Bubble documentary - a behind-the-scenes look at the 2020 Pandemic-era NBA Playoffs and NBA Finals in quarantine at the Walt Disney World Resort

More alternate-cast opportunities that will utilize the tremendous depth and breadth of Disney's global brands and platforms

Extensive slate of G League and summer league games, including the championship games

NBA and WNBA Help Fuel ESPN BET

The new agreement provides ESPN with all necessary rights to create best-in-class sports betting experiences for NBA and WNBA fans. ESPN will have increased rights to utilize NBA and WNBA highlights and content within its sports betting coverage and to support or integrate into ESPN BET promotions. Furthermore, ESPN has secured the rights to future NBA-focused sports betting specials and series.

More Studio Programming than Ever

ESPN has secured the rights to expand its NBA studio coverage via new whip-around programming. The rights include the ability to establish coverage on Disney nights, starting with enhanced game access, player arrivals and interviews. Additionally, rights include highlighting live action from around the league with real-time highlights and live cut-ins. In addition to whip-around coverage of the night's games, the show will also include segments focused on different aspects of basketball, including culture and fashion, player arrivals, produced features and breakdowns from ESPN's leading analysts. ESPN will continue to air its NBA Countdown pregame show and its weekday studio show NBA Today.

Disney Magic: Marvel Studios and Walt Disney World Resort

This groundbreaking deal will facilitate a forma
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2024/07/24/more-basketball-in-bristol-espn...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

13/07/2026

BravesVision GM Jeff Cravens on Launching MLB's Newest Team-Owned Network in 35 Days

The Braves opted to keep production in-house rather than hand it off to MLB...

13/07/2026

Behind The Mic: Adam Schefter Signs Multi-Year Extension with ESPN

Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, including new deals, departures, and assignments compiled from press releases and repo...

13/07/2026

Eurovision Sport and European Athletics Bring Live Athletics to More Fans with Multilingual AI Commentary Initiative

Eurovision Sport is making live athletics more accessible to fans than ever befo...

13/07/2026

Milwaukee Bucks Return to Full-Season Over-the-Air Television for First Time in 31 Years

The Milwaukee Bucks will return to full-season over-the-air television for the 2...

13/07/2026

SMPTE Expands Education Offerings with Connected Learning Path for IP Media Workflows

SMPTE has announced an expanded education pathway for media technology professio...

13/07/2026

Vizrt Graphics Power Netflix MVP MMA Event at Intuit Dome

Vizrt has announced that its graphics technology was used by broadcast design agency Girraphic for Netflix's debut MVP MMA event, broadcast live from the In...

13/07/2026

ARRI To Sell Global Rental Business to H2 Equity Partners in Management Buyout

ARRI has announced an agreement to sell its global rental activities in Europe, the United Kingdom, and North America to H2 Equity Partners through a management...

13/07/2026

DAZN and Premier Boxing Champions Announce Global Broadcasting Partnership

DAZN has announced a partnership with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) to bring PBC fight nights to DAZN subscribers globally. The partnership begins Saturday, Ju...

13/07/2026

TikTok and WSC Sports Partner To Connect Sports Rightsholders With Content Creators

TikTok and WSC Sports have announced a strategic partnership that gives sports r...

13/07/2026

Ross Video Powers MLB All-Star In-Venue Production for Seventh Consecutive Year

Two new Ross products -Brushback: Full Count and CapGo - are debuting at Citizens Bank Park All-Star festivities...

13/07/2026

MSG Networks Jackie Lyons on Knicks Title Run Coverage, XR Studio Launch, and RSN Production Strategy

MSG Networks' was given exclusive access during the Knicks' unforgettabl...

13/07/2026

Sundance Institute Announces 2026 Producers Labs Fellows

LOS ANGELES, July 13, 2026 - Sundance Institute today announced the 10 producers selected to participate in its annual Producers Labs taking place July 13-18 fo...

13/07/2026

Techivation release M-Compressor 2

Adds new intelligent Mix Assistant feature With their product range now featuring numerous processors across two distinct line-ups, the M-Series and T-Serie...

13/07/2026

Avalanche Tones release Chainsaw Suite

Plug-ins for heavy music Avalanche Tones is the brainchild of Ava Toton, a 17-year-old musician and developer who says her goal is to make the lives of gui...

13/07/2026

Gamechanger Audio launch the Plus Pedal II

Popular sustain effect overhauled Latvia-based innovators Gamechanger Audio have just launched a new and improved version of their popular sustainer unit. B...

13/07/2026

Millions tuned in for quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2026 on SBS

Millions tuned in for quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2026 on SBS 13 July, 2026 Media releases Norway v England attracted a Total TV reach of 3.7 mil...

13/07/2026

SMPTE Expands Free IP for Media Training Resources

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/07/2026

Composer Andy Dollerson Transforms Independent Film Sound...

Composer and Producer Andy Dollerson has built a career by blending his electroacoustic training with hands on production work for independent artists and filmm...

13/07/2026

SipRadius-maintained libRIST enables full RIST support in...

The next release of the widely used video player VLC 3.0.24 will incorporate full support for RIST, including main profile and some support for advanced profile...

13/07/2026

ARRI Divests Rental Business

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/07/2026

Sound Reinforcement for a Live TV Casting Show_An Invisib...

Providing sound reinforcement for a live televised casting show ranks among the most demanding tasks in event technology: the house sound and the broadcast feed...

13/07/2026

Savannah Bananas chooses Calrec to expand broadcast ambit...

Committed to its fans first guiding principle, the genre-defying Savannah Bananas baseball team has placed Calrec at the heart of its growing broadcast story. A...

13/07/2026

Intinor Showcases SMPTE ST 2110 Advancements and DVB comp...

At IBC2026, Intinor will demonstrate its latest developments and present a practical path for broadcasters transitioning to IP workflows. The showcase focuses o...

13/07/2026

Scripps, DirecTV End Blackout, Ink New Retrans Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/07/2026

20 Years On the Pitch Together

Celebrating Two Decades of ICG and League Football Education This year marks 20 years of working with League Football Education (LFE) the charity responsible ...

13/07/2026

Silver for Arvato Systems at the 2026 Service Provider Award

Silver for Arvato Systems at the 2026 Service Provider Award Award in the AI as a Service Provider category recognizes AI expertise and innovative strength ...

13/07/2026

RT News Appoints Joe Mag Raollaigh as new Managing Editor of Nuacht

RT News is pleased to announce the appointment of Joe Mag Raollaigh as the new Managing Editor of Nuacht, the Irish Language News and Current Affairs service a...

12/07/2026

Korg NTS-4: DIY analogue performance mixer

Offers six-channels and built-in effects Korg's latest release introduces a new analogue mixer that's been designed to act as a hub for live electro...

12/07/2026

COW Jobs: Video Production Specialist, Indie Game - Remote

COW Jobs: Video Production Specialist, Indie Game - Remote Brie Clayton July 12, 2026 0 Comments Video Production Specialist (Indie Game) May 29, 20...

11/07/2026

Night Nurse Is for the Sickos

(L-R) Bruce McKenzie, Mimi Rogers, Cemre Paksoy, Georgia Bernstein, El onore Hendricks, and Colleen Rose Trundy attend the Night Nurse premiere during the 202...

11/07/2026

Handcrafted Mallets from Handcrafted Audio

Promises a vividness and depth rarely found in software Switzerland-based Handcrafted Audio's latest creation is an interesting hybrid instrument that...

11/07/2026

NAB Launches Redesigned Spot Center

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/07/2026

Fujifilm Introduces Cinema Power Zoom for GFX System

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/07/2026

NEP Inks New Agreement with Wimbledon

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/07/2026

Rincon Secures Major Milwaukee Bucks Broadcast Rights Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/07/2026

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Awards Grants to Five Alumni, Supporting Work in Their Local Communities

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Awards Grants to Five Alumni, Supporting Work in ...

11/07/2026

Berklee Alumni and Faculty Recognized with 2026 Emmy Nominations

Berklee Alumni and Faculty Recognized with 2026 Emmy Nominations The 27 nominees include Trey Parker (South Park) and seven-time Emmy winner Pablo Mungu a of ...

10/07/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 23: Nashville Predators Teri Johnson - Throwing a Bash on Broadway

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

10/07/2026

Fujifilm Announces FUJINON GF19-35mmT3.5 PZ OIS WR Cinema Power Zoom Lens

FUJIFILM North America Corporation has announced the FUJINON GF19-35mmT3.5 PZ OIS WR, a cinema power zoom lens for the GFX System with native G Mount. The lens ...

10/07/2026

Dalet Releases Long-Term Supported Update to Dalet Flex

Dalet has announced a new Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex, expanding AI capabilities, workflow automation, and integration with Dalia, Dalet'...

10/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Releases Fairlight Live Audio Mixer Software

Blackmagic Design has released Fairlight Live, a free software-based broadcast audio mixer for Mac and Windows, available for download now. Simultaneously, the ...

10/07/2026

FloSports and USA South Athletic Conference Announce Exclusive Media Rights Partnership

FloSports and the USA South Athletic Conference have announced an exclusive medi...

10/07/2026

Daktronics Installs LED Video Board at Field of Dreams Ballpark in Dyersville, Iowa

Daktronics has manufactured and installed an LED video display at Field of Dream...

10/07/2026

Registration Opens for NAB Show New York 2026, October 21-22 at the Javits Center

Registration is now open for NAB Show New York 2026, taking place October 21-22 ...

10/07/2026

Sphere and Formula 1 Heineken Las Vegas Grand Prix Announce Five-Year Partnership Extension

Sphere Entertainment Co. and the Formula 1 Heineken Las Vegas Grand Prix have an...

10/07/2026

CBS Sports and Asian Football Confederation Announce U.S. Media Rights Agreement

CBS Sports and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have announced a media rights partnership covering the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 and the AFC U23 Asi...