As the NBA continues to discuss its next television rights package, it is checking out the entire TV landscape. The league’s top media executive sees mass changes on the horizon.
While speaking at the Sports Business Journal’s Media Innovators conference, Koenig said the medium will undergo drastic changes.
“What’s exciting — and a bit daunting — is I think that over the next five years, you’ll see more change than you’ve seen in the last 30 years in media,” Koenig said.
His comments came after mentioning that the league would investigate a “hybrid” television deal for individual teams’ local rights, by partnering with regional sports networks and over-the-air stations for linear distribution, while exploring nationalized digital rights for the package.
“If we can deliver scale or deliver a critical mass and maybe even include it as part of a national arrangement we’re negotiating right now, those opportunities are very intriguing,” he said.
“The definition of reach is changing,” Koenig added. “There’s a lot of opportunity that change will bring.”
Koenig added that blackouts are likely to become a thing of the past for NBA fans.
“The day will come where you’ll come to the NBA app, and you’ll click on the Wizards-Celtics game; and if you’re in Washington — and if you’re an authenticated subscriber to Monumental — you’ll go straight into that game.
“If you’re not, you’ll be prompted to subscribe for the season or for a month. … The games aren’t necessarily free, but what we like to say internally is that there’s no dead end. You can always have an option ultimately to buy and access a game. And, frankly, we want that everywhere in the world.”
