US cable TV heavyweight DirecTV has announced a new multi-year distribution agreement with global sports streaming service DAZN to provide regional coverage for five NBA basketball franchises.
The broadcaster will provide local telecasts of Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, and San Antonio Spurs games for DirecTV streaming, satellite, and U-verse customers in each team’s respective NBA-designated home territories.
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The DAZN telecasts will be available to DirecTV customers who subscribe to the Choice or higher packages and to U-verse TV customers who subscribe to the U200 or higher package. Each of DAZN’s team services provides live pregame, postgame, and in-game coverage for the respective team.
This agreement also provides distribution rights to each of the five NBA teams to all of DirecTV For Business’ thousands of sports bars, restaurants, fitness clubs, and other commercial venues located within each team’s respective region.
DirecTV recently obtained regional or local rights to 76 of the 81 US-based NBA, NHL (ice hockey), or MLB (baseball) franchises, including multi-year agreements for 23 US-based hockey teams.
Rob Thun, chief content officer at DirecTV, said: “Our goal is to bring together more of the live sports that local fans enjoy most, all in one place, with greater choice, flexibility, and control over how they watch and what they pay.
“DirecTV has earned its reputation as a sports leader through decades of investment and innovation, and we’re committed to building on that leadership to benefit all sports fans.”
DAZN secured local streaming rights to the five NBA teams in recent months, bolstering its presence in the US market through regional deals.
The platform has partnered with several of the 13 NBA teams whose rights were on the market after Main Street Sports Group (MSSG), owner of the now-defunct regional broadcast network FanDuel Sports Network, announced it was winding down operations earlier this year.
At the beginning of 2026, DAZN was in talks to acquire MSSG, and with it a wide swathe of local MLB, NBA, and NHL rights, but that deal never came to fruition, with MSSG then falling into insolvency following the 2025-26 NHL campaign.
DAZN made its long-awaited entry into the US local broadcast market earlier this year, sweeping up the local rights to New York’s NBA, MLB, and NHL teams through a pair of new carriage agreements with MSG Networks (MSGN) and YES Network.
As part of that deal, DAZN is now the exclusive direct-to-consumer streaming home of seven elite New York-area (city and state) sports teams, including the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets.
Shay Segev, CEO of DAZN Group, said: “We’ve built an extensive roster of NBA team media rights in the US, and partnerships like this one with DirecTV are one of the ways we get games in front of the widest possible audience.”
The deal with DAZN comes soon after DirecTV agreed to a distribution deal with the NHL to carry the new regional channels of the Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Minnesota Wild, and St. Louis Blues.
