NBA reaches agreement with Viasat Broadcasting

17 December 2012 | Posted in Broadcast, Basketball, Europe | By Michael Long

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has agreed a new deal with Modern Times Group’s (MTG) Viasat Broadcasting, which will provide coverage of North America’s top basketball league to viewers in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Georgia.

Under the terms of the agreement, described as ‘multi-year’ and which is effective immediately, the Viasat Sport East pay-TV channel will broadcast up to five regular season games per week along with marquee NBA events including the NBA All-Star Game, the complete Eastern and Western Conference Play-off series and the NBA Finals in June.

“In a region with such knowledgeable and passionate fans, our partnership with Viasat will provide broad coverage throughout the regular-season, culminating in The Finals,” said Dan Markham, NBA vice president of media distribution and emerging markets.

Irina Gofman, MTG executive vice president of Russian & CIS broadcasting, added: “The new agreement between Viasat Sport and NBA follows our successful cooperation with the NBA during the 2012 play-offs. We are delighted that Viasat Sport East subscribers will now be able to watch coverage of the NBA 2012/13 season as the NBA is the world’s premier basketball league with a large and loyal fan base across the region.”

Financial terms of the tie-up were not released.