With Nine bagging the tennis, and Seven West Media and Foxtel claiming the cricket, broadcasters’ attention has now shifted to the National Basketball League (NBL).
The league’s owner, Larry Kestelman, recently confirmed in an interview with The Daily Telegraph that all five of Australia’s free-to-air TV networks are keen to air the NBL next season.
Kestelman told The Daily Telegraph he was confident of finalising a deal with one of the free-to-air commercial networks by July, but was adamant on choosing the right one.
“I will do what is right for the sport,” he said.
“Even if it is a better commercial deal for me, I still won’t do it if it doesn’t suit basketball.”
It’s been reported that Nine and Ten are leading the pack in the race for the NBL rights, which will be shared with Fox Sports.
Fox Sports owned the rights to all NBL games last season, while SBS and the ABC shared the free-to-air coverage with selected games.
Nine, Ten, SBS, and Fox Sports declined to comment when contacted by B&T, while Seven is yet to reply.
