According to SportTechie, WarnerMedia is considering pursuing the rights to stream NBA games on HBO Max. The current NBA broadcast rights deal with Turner Sports, which is also controlled by WarnerMedia, will expire after the 2024-25 season.
“I believe there’s no question about it being a destination down the future to put NBA games on HBO Max,” Peter Scott, WarnerMedia’s VP of emerging media and innovation, told SportTechie on Wednesday at the SportsPro OTT Summit USA at Citi Field. “I think you have to look at that as a viable spot if we can work out a deal where the cable providers are okay with us doing that.” We’ll also have to pay an additional fee to be allowed to distribute on HBO Max.”
Last week, Turner Sports secured an eight-year deal with U.S. Soccer to stream more than 20 USWNT and USMNT games annually on HBO Max starting in 2023, with about half of those matches also airing on TNT and TBS. Turner also secured rights to eventually put NHL games on HBO Max as part of its seven-year deal with the league announced in April. Internationally, HBO Max also currently streams UEFA Champions League matches in Brazil and Mexico.
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“What we want to do with HBO Max is, we want to put live sports on it,” Scott said. “There may be a scenario where we go back to our partners with the cable operators and say ‘Hey, do you mind if you put this on HBO Max?’”
Turner also has current U.S. broadcast deals with MLB and NCAA March Madness. Scott also thinks HBO Max could eventually offer multiple alternative streams for live sports, as well as on-screen betting and e-commerce integrations.
“Will there be overlays that you can turn on and off, kind of like an Amazon X-ray?” he said. “Or if LeBron [James] is streaming on our network, and he’s got an awesome pair of sneakers, I would love to just go bing-bing [and] I can buy it.”
