Twitter signs exclusive NBA content deal

The social media co will begin streaming exclusive content and a weekly pre-game show next season.

Twitter has launched a flurry of live broadcast deals, announcing it will stream content from Bloomberg, the Republican National Convention and the NFL.

While the NFL deal doesn’t include the Canadian market, its most recent one does. This morning the NBA and Twitter announced that the social media co will be streaming exclusive original live programming on Twitter, Vine and Periscope.

The NBA, through its NBA Digital partnership with Turner, and Twitter will deliver a stream of a new weekly NBA pregame show, which will include pieces created specifically for integration into the social media platform. The show will air exclusively on Twitter for users on the platform. A second show, which will stream exclusively on Twitter, will be announced ahead of the 2016-17 season, according to an NBA release.

“Our new NBA partnership has aims of giving Canadian hoops fans new ways of connecting with their favourite players and teams on Twitter” says Christopher Doyle, head of media, Twitter Canada. “Live video has become a big focus for our business in recent months and we look forward to giving our users a fresh type of NBA content during 2016 season.”

Unlike Twitter’s deal with the NFL, the partnership with the NBA doesn’t extend to include live streaming of games.

This morning’s announcement also extends the NBA’s deal with Twitter Amplify, doubling the content the league creates on Twitter, Vine and Periscope. That content includes #NBARapidReplay highlights, #NBAVine highlights and Periscope live streams of press conferences and interviews.

 

Update: This article previously stated that Bloomberg’s Twitter live stream was unavailable in Canada, but it will be seen here.

 

 

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