Playoffs TV shuffle
This year’s Play‑In and NBA playoff broadcasts are split across a new mix of partners — including Prime, NBC, and ESPN — meaning marquee postseason games will appear on different platforms than in prior years (nytimes.com).
The National Basketball Association postseason starts this week, but the television map has changed: Prime Video gets the entire Play-In tournament, and later rounds will rotate across ESPN, ABC, NBC, Peacock and Prime Video. (nba.com) The SoFi Play-In Tournament runs April 14 through April 17, and NBA.com says all six games will stream exclusively on Prime Video. The first round of the playoffs starts April 18, and Game 1 of the NBA Finals is set for June 3 on ABC. (nba.com) This is the first season of the league’s new 11-year media deals with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon, which began with the 2025-26 season and run through 2035-36. Under those agreements, ABC and ESPN, NBC and Peacock, and Prime Video all carry national National Basketball Association games. (pr.nba.com) For the playoffs, the split is broader than fans saw in the Turner Sports era. NBA.com says ESPN and ABC will show about 18 games in the first two rounds, NBC and Peacock about 28, and Prime Video about one-third of the games in the first two rounds. (nba.com) The Finals did not move. ESPN said in its July 24, 2024 announcement that Disney platforms remain the exclusive home of the National Basketball Association Finals, and NBA.com’s 2026 schedule lists every Finals game on ABC. (espnpressroom.com) NBC is back in the league’s package for the first time since 2002. NBCUniversal says its 2025-26 slate includes 100 regular-season games, playoff coverage, and the new home of All-Star Weekend across NBC and Peacock. (nbcuniversal.com) Amazon’s role is the biggest change for postseason viewers because Prime Video now has the exclusive Play-In tournament and a conference finals in six of the 11 years of the deal. Amazon and the league announced that Prime also carries 66 regular-season games and the knockout rounds of the Emirates NBA Cup. (aboutamazon.com) The league says every national game is now available on a major streaming service tied to a rights holder: the ESPN App for ABC and ESPN games, Peacock for NBCUniversal games, and Prime Video for Amazon games. NBA.com also says Amazon becomes the primary third-party digital distributor for NBA League Pass. (nba.com) For fans, that means the postseason routine from past years no longer applies. The first games of the 2026 postseason begin on Prime Video on April 14, and the path to the Finals will jump between broadcast television and three separate streaming ecosystems before ending on ABC in June. (nba.com)
