It will be expensive to watch games on TV this year.
The National Basketball Association is back at work with all 30 teams preparing for the regular season. The regular season starts on October 21st and there could be a problem for those who want to watch as many NBA games as possible but cannot afford multiple streaming services to view contests on Peacock and Amazon Prime. The NBA will also have games on ESPN, which is really a pay TV service. There will be over the air network contests on NBC and ABC. The NBA is in the business of making money and that means with new TV deals in place that some people wouldn’t be able to see certain games if they cannot afford the monthly costs of Amazon Prime and Peacock. Peacock can cost an NBA fan between $109.99 and $169.99 a year. Peacock offers more than just the NBA. Amazon Prime as a stand-alone service is $107.88 annually.
In 1988, the National Hockey League signed a deal with Sports Channel America, which did not cover much of America, to cablecast games. NH: President John Ziegler said at the time, hockey was the Rolls Royce of Major League Sports. It was not for everyone which is why hockey’s exposure on television was limited to regional pay cable and the game was stuck in the Northeast or Midwest or in Canada. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s product is global in scope. But Silver seems to have a little John Ziegler in him. Addressing the possible problem of consumer affordability paying for streaming services, ESPN and various local regional cable TV networks, Silver said, the NBA is a “highlight sport.” “There’s a huge amount of our content that people can essentially consume for free. I mean this is very much a highlights-based sport.” In other words, take the morsel out there and don’t complain.
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