The National Basketball League (NBL) has announced that SBS has secured exclusive free-to-air TV broadcast rights for the upcoming 2016-17 season, along with the rights to stream games live online.

The deal, which comes into effect during the first round of competition on 9 October 2016, will see the network broadcast one live game each Sunday on its SBS and SBS HD channels, as well as online via streaming.

Larry Kestelman, executive director of the NBL, said the league is excited to have a national public broadcaster on board for the upcoming season.

“It’s great a new demographic of fans who may not normally watch through either NBL TV or other broadcast partnerships [that] are able to watch our great game,” he said.

“Our goal is to reach as many Australian basketball fans as possible through our coverage and showcase the quality of the NBL to Australian audiences. Having a free-to-air broadcaster that also loves and understands the business of televising sport is of huge importance to us as we continue to grow the sport.”

SBS director of sport Ken Shipp said the network is excited to deliver the very best of men’s professional basketball to fans across the country.

“We know how sport has the ability to bring people from across Australia’s diverse communities together, and we’re proud to be building on our existing offering of premier Australian and international sport with the NBL,” he said.