On October 20th, the NBA will kick off its 2026-27 season and year 2 of its new 11-year media deal with its trio of partners in NBCUniversal, Amazon Prime Video, and ESPN.[1] For this upcoming season we’ve calculated that it will cost at least $533.70 to view every game, assuming an antenna for the ABC games, including the NBA Finals. This number is down from the $549 (Tom Ziller) to $690 (Axios) figures that circulated last fall.[2] This new total equals 24 months of active subscriptions across the league’s 3 partners, plus 6 months of NBA League Pass, before factoring in potential local market blackouts.
Depending on where you may live, you will be subject to the league’s blackout restrictions. To calculate your specific costs you can use our NBA Streaming Cost Calculator to find the total you can expect to spend for the entire NBA season, or just to watch your specific team.
Breaking Down The Costs
ESPN Unlimited & Peacock: $359.84
The combined costs for ESPN Unlimited ($31.99/mo)[3] and Peacock Premium with ads ($12.99/mo)[4] would run you $44.98/mo, about $20/mo in savings from the standard price of the YouTube TV Sports Plan.[5] ESPN and Peacock will include games available by antenna, but the only real cost savings opportunity there is for the NBA Finals in June.
Prime Video: $71.92
At $8.99/mo for the lesser known streaming-only, with-ads package (versus $14.99/mo for a full Prime membership),[6] Prime Video delivers the best value at less than $1/game. As the only partner whose entire package is streaming-only, Prime Video is the primary third-party distributor for League Pass,[7] enabling the ability to link your account, or you can purchase NBA League Pass directly via Prime Video Channels as one less login and password needed to watch your games.
NBA League Pass: $101.94
NBA League Pass covers NBA TV games and out of market games (still subject to blackouts) at $16.99/mo,[8] and would only be needed for 6 months if started on 10/20. We’ve calculated the package would carry a maximum of 926 games, before local blackouts.
Accessing Games with an Antenna
A meaningful share of the national schedule airs on broadcast TV, meaning a $20–$50 antenna picks it up for free. ABC carries Saturday Primetime starting December 12th, the Christmas Day slate, and the NBA Finals in June. NBC has the opening-night tripleheader on October 20th, Tuesday doubleheaders through the season, Sunday Night Basketball from January 24th, and All-Star Weekend in February.[9] Between the two networks that’s 90 regular season games on free TV this season (21 on ABC, 69 on NBC), not counting the Finals.[12][13]
Unfortunately the antenna doesn’t let you cancel anything until June. ESPN still has its own ESPN-exclusive games every month from October through May, and 31 of NBC’s 100 games are Peacock exclusives, including most Monday nights, which also air on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN).[9][12]
Regional & Local Games: Varies By Location
While the above covers all scenarios, users should still expect to be blacked out for a number of games based on the current NBA blackout rules.[10] All the teams that spent last season on a FanDuel Sports Network have moved on to a new home, many of them using a stream-and-beam approach: a paid stream plus free over-the-air games.[11]
For insight into what it might cost you to access all of your team’s games locally, check out our research on what it costs to watch your NBA team in 2026-27.
How We Calculated $533.70
Prices are each service’s published monthly list price as of October 14, 2026: ESPN Unlimited $31.99, Peacock Premium with ads $12.99, Prime Video standalone with ads $8.99 and NBA League Pass $16.99. We use monthly billing throughout so the services compare on the same basis; several offer cheaper annual or season plans.
Months are counted from the first to the last month in which each service has a game you can’t see elsewhere, using the NBA’s 2026-27 national television schedule as published on August 13, 2026 and covering the regular season and the playoffs through the conference finals: ESPN Unlimited 8 months (October through May), Peacock 8 months (October through May), Prime Video 8 months (October through May) and League Pass 6 months (October through April; it carries no playoff games). That is 24 subscription-months across the three national partners. The NBA Finals in June air on ABC, which an antenna receives free, so no June subscription is counted; without an antenna, add one month of ESPN Unlimited ($31.99).
Game counts (the monthly table and the 926-game League Pass figure) are our tabulation of the same schedule, checked against each partner’s own published list: the NBA lists 80 regular-season games on ABC/ESPN, 100 on NBC/Peacock and 66 on Prime Video; ESPN’s schedule splits its 80 into 21 on ABC (16 Saturday Primetime games plus the five-game Christmas slate, which is simulcast) and 59 ESPN-only,[13] and NBC’s schedule splits its 100 into 69 on NBC and 31 Peacock exclusives.[12] League Pass games are everything not carried by a national partner and remain subject to local blackouts.
Not included: regional and local games (see the per-team post above), taxes, promotional first-month pricing, live TV bundles, and any price change after October 14, 2026.
Sources
- NBA.com, “How to watch games in the 2026-27 season,” August 13, 2026; NBA Communications, “NBA, The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video media agreements,” July 24, 2024.
- Tom Ziller, “NBA streaming services: Prime Video, Peacock, ESPN Unlimited,” Team Ziller, fall 2025; Axios, “Sports streaming costs for NBA and NFL fans,” September 19, 2025.
- ESPN Fan Support, “ESPN Select or Unlimited: Plans and Prices,” read October 13, 2026.
- Peacock Help Center, “Price increase,” effective August 18, 2026; read October 13, 2026.
- YouTube TV, plans and pricing, read October 13, 2026.
- Amazon, Prime Video plan selection (Prime Video Monthly, $8.99/month with ads), read October 14, 2026.
- NBA.com, “How to watch games in the 2026-27 season” (source 1); Amazon, “Stream the NBA on Prime Video.”
- NBA, NBA League Pass plans, read October 14, 2026.
- NBA Communications, “NBA announces schedule for 2026-27 regular season,” August 13, 2026.
- NBA Support, “NBA League Pass Blackout Guide,” updated October 6, 2026.
- Team and partner announcements for each of the 13 former FanDuel Sports Network clubs; listed in the Sources of our per-team post.
- NBC Insider, “The Full 2026-2027 NBA Schedule of Games on NBA on NBC and Peacock,” August 13, 2026; read October 14, 2026.
- ESPN Press Room, “ESPN & ABC’s star-studded 2026-27 NBA regular season broadcast schedule,” August 13, 2026; read October 14, 2026.
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