SBS Takes Broadcast Rights to Australia’s National Basketball League

SBS has inked a broadcast agreement with the National Basketball League (NBL) to become the exclusive free-to-air home of Australian basketball.

Per the two-year deal, the entire 2019-20 Hungry Jack’s NBL season will be available for free, with 67 games broadcast on SBS VICELAND and all 126 games streaming live and free on the SBS On Demand platform. The 2019-20 NBL season will tip-off with a game between Melbourne United and South East Melbourne Phoenix on October 3.

Further, from August 16, the International Basketball Series will also be exclusively available to watch in Australia on SBS VICELAND and can be streamed live and free via SBS On Demand. These seven pre-FIBA World Cup internationals, delivered by TEG Live in partnership with Basketball Australia, feature games with the Australian Boomers, Canada, New Zealand and USA Basketball.

SBS Managing Director James Taylor said: “SBS has a strong heritage of championing sports Australia’s diverse communities are passionate about, and we are thrilled to be partnering with the NBL to become the exclusive free-to-air home of Australian basketball, offering more free coverage than ever before, and in HD. With around one million Australians playing basketball, it’s one of the nation’s leading team sports for participation and we look forward to bringing fans every memorable minute of one of the country’s fastest-growing leagues.”

NBL Owner and Executive Chairman Larry Kestelman added: “This broadcast agreement is a huge leap forward in the coverage of the NBL and basketball across Australia. It maintains our commitment to make the game available to more people to watch when and how they choose across different platforms and will continue to grow our audience across Australia. The agreement sees the number of games broadcast on free-to-air television almost double, making our national league accessible to more Australians, with SBS VICELAND becoming the new free-to-air home of the NBL along with more coverage available on SBS On Demand.”