NBL 2017-2019
Channel Nine will broadcast the National Basketball League (NBL) under a new three-year rights deal, ending in 2020.
ONCE again, Fox Sports Australia will be the pay tv broadcaster, with confirmation that every game of the 2018-19 season will be broadcast on the network.
Two games will air each weekend on the 9GO! multichannel, with the deal also covering digital rights.
Nine will also simulcast its live games on the 9Now online service and has secured the digital catch-up rights to show replays of all NBL games throughout the season regardless of what network they are broadcast on.
Under the deal, Nine and the NBL will work together to commercialise the advertising inventory and broadcast monetisation of all matches across the regular season and finals series.
Nine will also have first rights to negotiate for future basketball events including the Boomers v Team USA games in Melbourne next August which will feature an NBA-filled Australian team against a full-strength USA ahead of the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China.
The NBL and Nine have struck a revenue sharing arrangement as part of the deal which could prove lucrative if more advertisers and viewers tune into the free-to-air time slots.
Nine is also looking to run a weekly half-hour basketball show on Sunday mornings and may look at broadcasting 3×3 events with the game to feature at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
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