DAZN, the international OTT sports streaming service, is reported to be a serious contender to acquire rights in Spain to basketball’s NBA, which has a large following in the country.

The top North American league has been a fixture on Movistar Plus (formerly Canal Plus), the pay-television operator owned by Spanish telecoms giant Telefónica, since 1995.

However, the present three-year rights deal expires at the end of the 2019-20 season, and DAZN, already prominent in basketball, has been in advanced talks with the NBA, according to the Palco23 website.

DAZN launched in Spain almost a year ago armed with rights to major properties in the shape of English soccer’s Premier League, motorcycling’s MotoGP World Championship and European club basketball’s EuroLeague and EuroCup, previously shown by Movistar Plus.

DAZN has since stepped up its involvement in basketball, providing non-exclusive coverage of the 2019 Basketball World Cup held in China, and landing rights to the Basketball Champions League, the FIBA-backed European clubs competition.

DAZN now operates in nine countries, and already shows the NBA in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Spain won last year’s World Cup, and its top players in the NBA include Ricky Rubio (pictured) of the Phoenix Suns and Marc Gasol of the Toronto Raptors.

DAZN is priced at €9.99 ($10.83) in Spain and has been looking to boost its portfolio, with reports in January claiming it was mulling a bid for rights to Formula 1. Telefónica is entering the final year of its three-year rights deal to show the top motor racing series.

Sportcal