Broadcasters still crave live sport. Take America’s National Basketball Association (NBA), whose new season, with a new rights deal, began on October 21st. ESPN, NBC and Amazon are paying a combined $76bn over 11 years to screen the league, smashing the old per-season rate. At that price (passed on to subscribers) the deal is also sure to maintain demand for pirated broadcasts. A study in 2021 suggested that the world’s sports leagues might bring in an extra $28bn a year if pirate sites were shut down. But data analysis and the rise of content creators are providing ways for leagues to hit back.
in Business
