Matt Elliott is a senior editor at CNET with a focus on laptops and streaming services. Matt has more than 20 years of experience testing and reviewing laptops. He has worked for CNET in New York and San Francisco and now lives in New Hampshire. When he's ...

In the first year of its new national TV rights deal, the league benefited from games airing on NBC to a wide audience.

Before the start of the season, the NBA reached a new 11-year media rights deal worth more than $76 million with ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Amazon Prime Video. That deal was apparently extremely successful for the NBA. The league delivered its highest TV viewership numbers in 24 years, up 86% compared to the 2024-25 season.

NBA Playoffs 2026 fans can no longer watch first-round games on local RSN broadcasts as the new $77 billion media deal forces significant change.