In the first year of its new national TV rights deal, the league benefited from games airing on NBC to a wide audience.

Before the start of the season, the NBA reached a new 11-year media rights deal worth more than $76 million with ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Amazon Prime Video. That deal was apparently extremely successful for the NBA. The league delivered its highest TV viewership numbers in 24 years, up 86% compared to the 2024-25 season.

The 7th-seeded Philadelphia 76ers open the NBA Playoffs in Boston on Sunday with Game 1 of a series against the No. 2 seed Celtics. The game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. ET with TV coverage on ABC and streaming on-demand.

NBA Playoffs 2026 fans can no longer watch first-round games on local RSN broadcasts as the new $77 billion media deal forces significant change.