NBA splits early rounds across networks

The 2026 National Basketball Association playoffs are the first under the league’s new media-rights setup, and fans now need to track three different national partners before the Finals. (nba.com) (sportingnews.com) The National Basketball Association said its 2025-26 season began an 11-year agreement with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon that runs through the 2035-36 season. ABC and ESPN, NBC and Peacock, and Prime Video now all carry national games. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) For the postseason, Prime Video is the exclusive home of all six SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament games, according to the league and Amazon. The NBA said Prime also carries about one-third of first- and second-round playoff games. (nba.com) (aboutamazon.com) ABC and ESPN remain the home of the NBA Finals, and the league said ESPN and ABC will show about 18 games in the first two rounds. Disney’s rights extension also keeps the Finals on its platforms throughout the deal. (nba.com) (thewaltdisneycompany.com) NBC and Peacock, back in the league’s rotation for the first time since 2002, are carrying about 28 games in the first two rounds. NBCUniversal said its broader package also includes playoff coverage and the new home of NBA All-Star weekend. (nba.com) (nbcuniversal.com) That means the old habit of finding every big playoff game on one or two familiar channels no longer works. Sporting News’ day-by-day 2026 bracket shows games split across ABC, ESPN and NBC, with streaming access tied to Peacock, Prime Video and the ESPN app. (sportingnews.com) The league says every national game is also available on a broadly distributed streaming service, and the NBA App is supposed to steer users to the right platform. The NBA calls that feature “Tap to Watch.” (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) The practical result for viewers is simple: the Finals still end on ABC, but the road there now runs through ESPN, NBC, Peacock and Prime Video depending on the night. (thewaltdisneycompany.com) (sportingnews.com)