NBC, TNT Sports to broadcast Big East basketball

Big East men’s and women’s college basketball is on the verge of adding new television partners as NBC Sports and TNT Sports are expected to join Fox Sports in presenting games beginning this season, sources briefed on the negotiations told The Athletic.

While Fox Sports will remain the top partner, both NBC, which will feature most of its games on Peacock, and TNT Sports, which operates the streaming service Max, are anticipated to add a large number of games.

The financial terms of the expected new agreements are not yet known. The agreement is not yet formalized and the other incumbent, CBS Sports — which does a smaller package of games — is still holding discussions.

NBC Sports, TNT Sports and Fox Sports all declined to comment. A Big East spokesperson didn’t immediately return messages.

The potential moves by NBC Sports and TNT Sports continue their buying sprees, that are centered around the competition over the rights to the NBA. NBC is joining ESPN and Amazon Prime Video in completing legal paperwork to make it partners with the NBA on 11-year deals.

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TNT Sports, which has owned NBA rights for nearly four decades, is still trying to hang on to the league with either a smaller regular-season and postseason package or it may try to invoke matching rights that potentially could lead to a legal confrontation with the league. TNT Sports has one season remaining on its current NBA rights agreement. TNT shares rights to the NCAA’s Men’s Tournament with CBS.

TNT Sports recently added sublicensed college football playoff games from ESPN that begin this season, as well as the French Open. The Athletic reported last week that throughout the 10-year agreement for the two-week French Open, TNT Sports will pay on average $65 million a year.

NBC just concluded a 12-year contract averaging $12 million a year with it peaking this just concluded tournament at around $18 million, while Tennis Channel was outlaying $7 million for this year.

Fox Sports is expected to retain the Big East Tournament championship and games, though NBC/Peacock could have some tournament games, according to sources briefed on the deal. Peacock and NBC already have rights to Big Ten basketball, as does Fox Sports.

TNT Sports has previously added the Hall of Fame college basketball tipoff games with the defending national championship South Carolina women facing Michigan and Texas facing Ohio State on the men’s side.

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