“Inside The NBA” Coming To ESPN & ABC
Earlier this year, Disney was able to sign a new deal with the NBA and WNBA to become the main holder of media rights from the 2025-26 through 2035-36 NBA seasons and the 2026 through 2036 WNBA seasons. As part of the deal, the 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.
NBC Comcast also picked one of the rights to some games for one package, and Amazon won the bid for another package.
However, Warner Brothers Discovery took the NBA to court after the league did not accept the company’s matching offer for one of the packages, which it had for years, as it went to Amazon. Over the weekend, it’s been revealed that the NBA and Warner Brothers Discovery have come to a deal.
While Warner Brothers Discovery will no longer air NBA games on its networks like TNT or TBS after the 2025/26 season, it has a new eleven-year deal for NBA highlights and extended content. This deal will allow them to put this content on TNT Sports, Bleacher Report and House of Highlights. They will also have the ability to take NBA rights in Poland and Latin America, with the exceptions of Brazil and Mexico.
To tie in with this new deal, Warner Brothers Discovery has signed a deal with Disney to bring the TNT Sports-produced show “Inside The NBA,” hosted by Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson, to ESPN and ABC at key moments of the NBA season. This new deal will take effect next fall.
TNT Sports will continue to independently produce Inside the NBA from its Atlanta-based studios over the term of the agreement.
The legendary Inside the NBA studio team will appear on ESPN and ABC surrounding high-profile live events, including ESPN’s pregame, halftime and postgame coverage of the NBA Finals on ABC, Conference Finals, NBA Playoffs, all ABC games after January 1, Christmas Day, opening week, the final week of the season and other marquee live events.
Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman, ESPN said in a statement:
“Inside the NBA is universally recognized as one of the best and most culturally impactful shows in sports. We have long-admired the immensely talented team and are thrilled to add their chemistry and knowledge to our robust set of NBA studio offerings to super-serve NBA fans like never before. The addition of Inside the NBA further solidifies ESPN as the preeminent destination for sports fans.”
Luis Silberwasser, CEO & Chairman, TNT Sports added:
“At TNT Sports, we take great pride in our Inside the NBA show and know its success is both a reflection of the iconic talent on set and the incredible people behind the scenes who consistently demonstrate the creativity and craft of our great team. We are thrilled to continue to produce Inside the NBA for ESPN and ABC, ensuring fans are able to keep enjoying the magic of this show during the NBA season.”
It’s unknown if the show will also be available to stream on Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ the day after its airing, but with the ESPN hub launching on Disney+ next month and the new flagship version of ESPN set to launch in the fall, which will also be available via Disney+, the show should be available to stream via that method as well.
Roger’s Take: The deal with Warner Brothers Discovery and the NBA looks like an excellent counteroffer to allow the NBA to reach a larger audience with another media partner. Disney and Warner Brothers Discovery have been making more deals together, but I do wonder if the future of Venu Sports is looking very unlikely with all of the issues they’ve been having.
Would you watch “Inside The NBA” on ABC or ESPN? Let me know on social media!
Roger Palmer
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