LOS ANGELES TIMES — Walt Disney Co.'s ABC and ESPN and Time Warner Inc.'s TNT agreed Wednesday to pay the National Basketball Association $7.4 billion over eight years for rights to televise the games and, in one of the first deals of its kind, stream game-related action on the Internet and mobile devices. The new deal, which begins in 2008 and runs through the 2015-2016 season, works out to an average of about $930 million a year. That's a 22 percent increase from the $765 million annual average under the current agreement, industry sources said. The expanded digital rights contributed to the increase, along with the continuing rise in the cost of television rights.
11 hours ago
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.