NBA League Pass Is Moving to Amazon Prime Video: What This Means for You

My journalism spidey senses perked up when I saw NBA reporter Kevin O’Connor’s post on Threads about the big change coming to NBA League Pass.

It was a screenshot of an email he’d received from YouTube TV saying that, starting September 30, 2025, the streamer would no longer carry League Pass as an add-on due to the league’s “new agreement with Amazon” to be the service’s “exclusive channel store.” That raised some questions for me because there are several providers—both digital and analog—that allow fans to buy League Pass.

So I started asking around to other TV services to see just how far-reaching this “exclusive” Amazon deal really is. Here’s what I learned.

What is the exclusive deal between NBA League Pass and Amazon Prime Video?

The NBA’s new media deal made its biggest splash, I think, with the addition of Amazon Prime Video. It created a situation where the league expanded its already wide reach by partnering with one of the world’s largest tech companies. Simultaneously, it’s likely to cause fans more headaches on game days, and it’s currently raising questions about the increasing cost to watch NBA games.

One huge implication of the deal that’s recently reemerged is Prime Video becoming the exclusive digital carrier of NBA League Pass, the foremost option for out-of-market fans to watch their favorite teams. Jeff Kaiser, head of sports programming at Prime Video, actually addressed this change last November during the SBJ Media Innovators conference, but it got little attention at the time.

“If you want to subscribe to League Pass starting next year and watch on a digital platform, you’ll need to subscribe through Prime Video,” Kaiser said. “We have a slew of engineers and product-tech colleagues working to build out a really elevated experience for our future League Pass subscribers.”

This change is pretty cool for the estimated 180 million Amazon Prime subscribers in the U.S. But for users of any other streaming service that offers NBA League Pass, this change, in my opinion, kinda sucks. More on that later.

What TV services are affected by Prime Video’s exclusive deal?

There are a handful of streaming services that for years have had NBA League Pass as an add-on, including YouTube TV, Fubo, Sling TV, and Stream with DIRECTV. I reached out to each of these services to confirm for myself whether they’d be affected by the Amazon Prime Video deal.

YouTube TV’s customer service was the first to confirm that League Pass would be leaving its service on September 30. Fubo spokesperson Jennifer Press told me Fubo is “no longer a distributor” of League Pass due to the Amazon deal, and the streamer published an FAQ page about the change.

A spokesperson from DISH, which owns Sling TV, gave me a noncommittal statement on September 17.

“​​We’re always evaluating ways to deliver the best mix of content and value to our customers,” the spokesperson said. “While we don’t have anything to announce today regarding the upcoming season, our focus remains on giving customers choice and flexibility. Stay tuned for updates soon.”

Seeing as how Sling TV is a digital service, I fully expect League Pass not to be available there either.

DIRECTV did not respond to my request for comment. But a customer service agent told me League Pass is “only available with our satellite service.”

Speaking of which: I reached out to traditional TV providers to see if they would still carry League Pass. Erin Bradshaw, senior director of communications at Optimum, gave me the best insight into this question.

“The exclusive agreement between Amazon Prime and the NBA is specific to streaming services, or vMVPDs, and not to MSOs like Optimum or other cable TV providers,” Bradshaw said.

What does it mean for businesses like bars and restaurants?

Bars, restaurants, and other businesses offering sports to large groups of people likely won’t be affected by NBA League Pass moving to Amazon Prime Video. That’s because commercial venues generally use services like DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS or Spectrum Business for NBA games. Those companies are MSOs, which, like Bradshaw said, aren’t part of the Prime Video deal.

So if you’re a business owner who’s been thinking of showing NBA games to your customers, those traditional routes are still your best—and only—option.

How to sign up for NBA League Pass with Amazon Prime Video

Getting NBA League Pass as a Prime Video subscriber will be a piece of cake. You’ll just log into your Amazon account if you’re not already, navigate to the sign-up page, and pick whichever plan you like.

NBA League Pass offers three plans through Prime Video, and they’re the same price as they’ve been on other platforms. The base plan costs $16.99 per month for a single stream, while the Premium plan is $24.99 per month and supports up to three simultaneous streams. Each plan includes NBA TV.

If you’re a fan of just one out-of-market team, you can buy the Team Pass for $13.99 per month. This plan can be streamed on one device, but doesn’t include NBA TV.

I’d opt for the Premium plan because it also includes offline viewing, and you won’t see any commercials during stoppages in play.

Why this move could backfire for the NBA

The NBA is trying to do two things at once: make more money and reach more fans. I think it’s fair to say they’re achieving those two objectives through this Amazon deal, especially because the streamer will also air a few dozen exclusive national games every season for the foreseeable future.

But at the same time, they’re making things harder for longtime fans. Therein lies the problem.

YouTube TV, for example, gives viewers the ability to watch multiple games simultaneously through NBA League Pass. Will Amazon Prime Video do that? I would argue that if the “really elevated experience” Kaiser mentioned doesn’t at least include that, the NBA has already lost.

Amazon Prime is also an entirely different service from YouTube TV, Fubo, and others. Its main draw is for online shoppers, not sports or entertainment enthusiasts writ large. I wouldn’t be surprised if a healthy percentage of Prime subscribers don’t even know or care that Prime Video is included in their membership. It’s just not immediately clear to me whether an NBA fan who’s grown accustomed to other platforms would be excited about League Pass moving to a service like that.

And not for nothing: You can’t ignore the people out there who dislike Amazon as a company and would feel upset that they’d essentially be forced to use it just so they can watch more of their favorite NBA team.

The biggest issue I see is the NBA is adding an extra step to an NBA fan’s viewing flow chart. With the other services, fans could watch national TV games without having to switch to a different app. But with League Pass only being on Amazon Prime Video—digitally, anyway—you would still have to navigate to another service to watch those games. And I think it’s safe to say that most fans aren’t paying for that many services.

All in all, the move is great for the league and great for Amazon. I’m just not sure those two entities truly had the fans in mind when making this move.