NBA
Charles Barkley said the NBA has a ‘big problem’ with several streaming services
Zach Wolpin is an NBA and NFL expert who's been betting on the league for over three years now. Wolpin has been a fan of the NBA and has been watching for a decade and a half. He covers the latest news and stories surrounding the league daily. His passion in life is watching sports and being able to share that through his sports writing. He has written about the NBA and other sports leagues through various media outlets over the years like Sir Charles In Charge, G-Men HQ, and TAP into South Plainfield. Before he became an NBA News Writer, Wolpin attended Montclair State University where he graduated in 2021. He studied Sports Media and Writing while in school.
All posts by Zach WolpinUpdated2 hours ago on September 03, 2025
Starting in the 2025-26 season, the NBA will begin a new media rights deal. This involves three major streaming companies: Disney (ABC and ESPN), Comcast (NBA and Peacock), and Amazon.
All three will air NBA games for the next 11 seasons. Recently, Hall of Famer Charles Barkley was on Bill Simmons’ podcast. They were discussing the new media rights deal. Barkley criticized his former bosses at TNT for losing the rights to air NBA games. Additionally, Charles Barkley said the league has a “big problem” with the chaos that multiple streaming services will cause. He said the NBA doesn’t care about its fans.
Charles Barkley blasted the NBA for the new media rights deal
Charles Barkley calls out the NBA for putting games on multiple streaming services
“They don’t give a s— about the fans.” 😳
(🎥 @ringer )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 3, 2025
NBA legend Charles Barkley believes the NBA will face a dilemma starting in the 2025-26 season. Their new media rights deal is worth $76 billion over 11 years. Barkley claims the NBA took money from the three major networks and did not account for the logistics of it all. For example, Barkley said there will be games next season that air on Peacock, but not on the regular NBC station.
He believes that is an issue in the new media rights deal. According to the league, NBCUniversal will air 100+ games per season, Disney will air 80 games, and Amazon will air 66. Charles Barkley said it will be difficult for the average fan to find the game they want to watch. League insider Bill Simmons said the NBA made so much money from this deal that they’ll “wipe away their tears with cash.”
Here is where/how you can watch the NBA’s newly formatted national TV schedule this season: pic.twitter.com/Yny3L3MD7J
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) August 14, 2025
The streaming schedule starting in 2025-26 is certainly an adjustment for fans. On Sunday, NBA games will be available on ABC and NBC/Peacock. However, Monday games will exclusively be on Peacock and not NBC, as Barkley mentioned with Simmons on his podcast. Tuesday games will be on NBC/Peacock, followed by ESPN having the Wednesday slot.
Thursday’s NBA games will be exclusively available on Prime Video. On Friday, Prime Video and ESPN will air games. Finally, Saturdays will be Prime Video and ABC. That’s an incredibly difficult schedule to follow. Additionally, the league is basically forcing fans to have all three streaming services if they want to have full coverage of the league. That’s why cord-cutting has become so popular in the last decade.
