ESPN Inks Nine-Year Deal with NBA

Cable sports channel ESPN and the National Basketball Association (NBA) have signed a nine-year deal, starting with the 2016-17 season.

As part of the agreement, ESPN, which is partly owned by Walt Disney Co, will increase its NBA-focused programming with 750 new hours of NBA content.

The two have also established a framework to negotiate the launch of a new offering in which the league would receive equity interest, ESPN said.