The Information says that while the National Basketball Association (NBA) is shopping its media rights around, Apple is still undecided on whether it will make a bid for those rights as the NBA wants a boat load of money.
Specifically, the article says the NBA wants to sell a national streaming-only package, alongside two national TV deals. The Information says that the NBA is looking to “triple its current revenue” from TV deals, so Apple may back out of the running.
Last month CNBC reported that both Apple and Amazon, along with several other companies, had expressed interest in acquiring a NBA streaming package. The article said that NBCUniversal was preparing to make a strong bid to win back NBA broadcast rights more than 20 years after the company lost them to Disney and Turner Sports. NBC Sports purportedly wants a package that would include playoff games to air on NBC’s broadcast network.
No formal discussions can take place with non-incumbent bidders unless Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns Turner Sports, and Disney agree to waive their exclusive negotiation windows, which end in April 2024, according to CNBC.
