On media: Breaking down the Big 12 basketball broadcast plan

Whether the Big 12 stands as the strongest basketball conference is an issue for another month — for March, actually.

But with the 2025-26 season underway this week, the Big 12 is alone at the top in one regard: No conference will have wider media distribution throughout the non-conference portion of the season and during league play.

The expansion of partnerships and platforms coincides with the start of a new media rights contract cycle. (The six-year deal was announced in the fall of 2022.)

In addition to ESPN and CBS, the Big 12 has added TNT, Fox and NBC to its basketball broadcast lineup. Those five media partners will show 298 games controlled by the conference (i.e., home games) across 11 networks.

The network breakdown is the following:

ESPN: ABC (broadcast), ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN+

Fox: Fox (broadcast) and FS1

CBS: CBS (broadcast) and CBS Sports Network

NBC: Peacock

Turner: TNT

The array of networks, combined with 298 Big 12-controlled games, could make it challenging for fans to find their preferred game on a given day. It would be easier if Tuesday games were exclusively on TNT, for example, and Sunday matchups were only on CBS, but the contracts aren’t structured in that manner.

To a degree, we can simplify the situation. Half of the 298 games will be distributed on either of two streaming platforms: ESPN+ (128 games) and Peacock (20 games).

That leaves 150 for the Big 12’s linear network partners (broadcast or cable):

— ESPN is the main distributor and will show 75 matchups across its platforms. At least 66 will air on ESPN or ESPN2, while ABC will have two. As many as seven could air on ESPNU.

— The Fox networks will show 34 games, with the broadcast network airing at least 11 and FS1 showing at least 22.

As the Big 12’s primary media partners until 2031 — for football as well as basketball — ESPN and Fox have sub-licensed basketball games to TNT, CBS, CBS Sports Network and Peacock.

— CBS will show six games; TNT will air 15; and CBS Sports Network will show 20. (All TNT games will be simulcast on truTV, according to the Big 12.) And Peacock has its allotment of 20 for streaming.

Conference play begins Jan. 2 and runs through March 7.

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