Adam Silver’s recent assertion that the NBA is “very much a highlights-based sport” did not go over well with devoted basketball fans.
Widely received as a glib rebuttal to concerns about the rising cost of watching games, the commissioner’s quote will undoubtedly linger in the NBA discourse as a new season begins. A new media rights deal goes into effect for the league in 2025-26, with national television networks sharing the live broadcast space with multiple streaming services. Watching your favorite team is about to get more complicated and more expensive.
Long story short: Subscriptions galore.
If you want to watch all 82 regular-season Nuggets games, you’ll need a minimum of three subscriptions: one to Peacock (the NBC-affiliated streaming app), one to Amazon Prime Video, and one to a TV provider that includes access to NBC, ABC, ESPN and the team-owned regional sports network Altitude Sports.
Alternatively, you could go the streaming-only route with four subscriptions instead of three: ESPN Unlimited, Peacock, Prime Video and Altitude Plus, the streaming platform that Kroenke Sports and Entertainment debuted last year.
Either option is costly. But how much, exactly?
Start with the league’s new streaming partners. You can do some cost-cutting with these by not keeping a subscription year-round. For instance, Denver will play nine regular-season games on Peacock. While seven of them are also available on various combinations of NBC, Altitude and local stations KTVD-20 and KUSA-9, two of those games are exclusive to Peacock — Oct. 27 at Minnesota and Jan. 5 at Philadelphia. That makes Peacock Premium a non-negotiable if you want to catch every game. The subscription is $11 per month or $110 for a year.
To reduce expenses, you could choose the monthly rate and cancel after the January game, leaving you with a $33 bill before tax. Of course, that requires canceling and renewing and canceling and renewing as you encounter this issue every year when the NBA releases its schedule. If you want to avoid that hassle, your most cost-effective option is the annual subscription. That gives you a volume discount and allows you to watch a handful of other Peacock-exclusive games throughout the season, though you’ll also be paying for four months without the NBA.
The Nuggets play five games on Amazon Prime Video, four of them exclusive to the streaming platform: Nov. 7 against Golden State (NBA Cup), Nov. 21 at Houston (NBA Cup), March 2 at Utah, and April 10 against Oklahoma City.
If you already pay for Amazon Prime, your subscription fee includes access to Prime Video. But for the sake of this math project, if all you care about is watching the Nuggets, a stand-alone Prime Video subscription costs $9 per month. Your six-month total comes out to $54. Prime also has the exclusive rights to the Play-In Tournament — relevant in April if Denver finishes between seventh and 10th place in the Western Conference standings.
Now that you’ve scraped together a minimum of $87 to watch six games, it’s time to make sure you’re covered for the other 76. The simplest way is to purchase a TV package that carries Altitude in your region and the three national networks with broadcast rights. (Here’s a map of Altitude’s broadcast territory.) Three of the most common options are DirecTV, Xfinity (Comcast) and FuboTV.
DIRECTV Stream: Approx. $104 per month for Choice package including an RSN fee; $589 for six months (with $35 off for the first month).
Comcast Xfinity: Approx. $86 per month for Sports & News package, including More Sports and Entertainment add-on to access Altitude; $516 for six months (or a higher monthly rate for non-subscribers to Xfinity internet).
Fubo TV: Approx. $101 per month for Pro package including RSN fee; $576 for six months (at $30 off for the first month).
The rough average here is $560 for six months. Throw in streaming — let’s assume you’re sticking to a tight budget by canceling Peacock after the January game — and the cost of getting through the regular season ends up in the ballpark of $650.
If you want to avoid the typical TV providers, you can use Peacock to gain access to all of Denver’s NBC games (but you won’t want to cancel in January) and the new ESPN direct-to-consumer service to cover the remaining national broadcasts. The Nuggets play six games exclusive to ABC and/or ESPN.
Amazon Prime Video: $9 per month; $54 for six months.
Peacock: $11 per month; $66 for six months.
Altitude Plus: $20 per month; $120 for six months.
ESPN Unlimited: $30 per month; $180 for six months.
That gets you down to a thrifty $420 — if you’re cancelling all four subscriptions at the end of the regular season.
Keep in mind, though, none of these numbers even account for the playoffs. Denver is a team with high expectations, and if you care enough to watch the first 82 games, that means you’ll probably want to budget for another month or two of high-stakes basketball.
When it’s all said and done, you’re almost guaranteed to have spent more than $500 on watching the 2025-26 Nuggets, no matter which combination of companies you pay.
Then you can cancel for the summer and cross your fingers that monthly prices don’t increase before next season.