Peacock continues to build its sports line-up with the addition of Big 12 men’s basketball games.
NBC Sports announced Tuesday that it has reached a multi-year deal to carry 20 Big 12 men’s basketball games per year on its Peacock streaming service starting this fall. The games, which will include both intra-conference and non-conference matchups, will be produced by NBC Sports.
According to Ben Portnoy of Sports Business Journal, NBC acquired the Big 12 games in a sublicensing agreement with Fox Sports.
The other Big 12 rights partner, ESPN, is already sublicensing a separate 20-game men’s basketball package to CBS Sports Network — on top of a previous six-game package for the CBS broadcast network — plus a package of 15 men’s basketball and 13 football games to TNT Sports in exchange for the right to license “Inside the NBA” starting this NBA season.
As a result of the sub-licensing deals, more than 60 Big 12 men’s basketball games will air on platforms other than the conference’s main partners ESPN and Fox Sports. Big 12 men’s games could air on as many as eight outlets — ESPN, ABC, FOX, FS1, CBS, CBSSN, TNT and Peacock.
The Big 12 joins the Big East and Big Ten on Peacock. Between NBC and Peacock, NBC Sports said it will carry nearly 200 men’s and women’s basketball games this coming season.
Peacock, which is raising its price by $3/mo, is also debuting a new NBA package this season that will include at least 50 regular season and 14 playoff games per year, and will again carry an exclusive NFL game. The streamer is also available for no additional charge through at least one cable package (Charter’s Spectrum TV Select) and per a report last month, its exclusive game inventory could be available to watch via a new NBC sports cable network as soon as this fall.
