As NBC Plays Lowball, ABC/ESPN Making A Run At NBA TV Rights

ABC and ESPN have made a "combined, 4-year offer for the NBA's TV rights, beginning with next season," according to Rudy Martzke of USA TODAY, who reports that the league "became willing to consider" an offer from the nets "after it could not reach an agreement with longtime TV partners NBC and Turner Sports during those carriers' exclusive negotiating period." The amount of the ABC/ESPN bid was not disclosed, but it is "likely lower than the combined" $2.6B NBC and Turner are paying under separate, four-year deals, and is not an all-cash offer. NBC's offer is "regarded to be in the" $1.5B range. NBC is paying $1.75B in the current deal (USA TODAY, 12/4). In N.Y., Richard Sandomir cites sources as saying that the ABC/ESPN offer "is for a sum exceeding" the current $2.6B deal. Sandomir: "If the ABC-ESPN bid succeeds, it will mean considerable schedule shifting by ESPN and ESPN2 to equal the weight of the three weeknights of coverage Turner provides on TNT and TBS." Sandomir adds, "Given the dreadful advertising market, one wonders how ABC and ESPN could avoid huge losses," as industry execs said that NBC has "sought to cut its future [NBA] rights payments by more than" 25% (N.Y. TIMES, 12/4).

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