NBA, ESPN deal drafts streaming-only service for cord-cutters

NBA games are poised to make a fast break out of the pay-TV package, thanks to a deal with ESPN set to give basketball diehards and cord-cutters more games to watch online. The pro basketball league and Disney’s high-value sports network signed a nine-year licensing deal that “established a framework” for the two to launch an online-only streaming offering. The NBA will be part owner of the service, but official statements from the companies provided no further details. A representative for ESPN couldn’t provide specific details about pricing, timing and content that would characterize the coming service, and the NBA didn’t respond to messages. The ESPN/NBA deal is the latest example of how businesses holding some the most valuable video content in their hands are loosening the reins for more digital offerings. For long, the live-viewing appeal of sports, lucrative fees for it and the model of “bundling” — linking the rights for the most popular networks with niche ones — made rights holders skittish about putting it online, or “over the top.” However, companies like ESPN and Comcast’s NBC have thrown increasing volumes of high-profile content onto the Web and often found it helped viewership rather than hurt it…. Read full this story

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