Live
streaming of local games is coming to the NBA -- free to paying TV cable customers -- making it the first major U.S.-based sports league to do so.
While major sports leagues have live
streamed games nationally -- like the “Super Bowl” -- none have done so locally.
The deals will allow paying local cable customers to see games under the “TV
Everywhere” umbrella, according to
Sports Business Journal. Typical TV Everywhere deals allow paying cable TV customers to see content for free.
The NBA has nearly completed
two deals -- one with Fox Sports Media Group and another with NBC Sports Group (Comcast SportsNet).
Fox has regional TV deals with 16 NBA teams; Comcast has eight.
Other regional
sports networks such as Time Warner Cable Sports, Altitude Sports and Entertainment, Root Sports and MSG are expected to offer live in-market streaming later this season, according to
SBJ.Initially, the NBA wanted to charge around $3,500 per game for the live streaming rights to the regional sports network. But it dropped this fee entirely in order to get the local streaming
services up and running.
Live streaming deals will run through the 2015-16 season, ending at the same time as the NBA’s traditional linear TV deals with the regional sports networks
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Pay TV operators are expected to offer more freebies to ward off the growing OTT brigade..