How to Watch NBA Finals 2026 and the 2026-27 Season in the UK

Watching the NBA from Britain is an act of consensual sleep deprivation. The Finals Game 1 in two days' time tips off at 8:30 p.m. ET on the East Coast, which is 1:30 a.m. in London. A British NBA fan has, in effect, signed up to be selectively nocturnal from October to June. The compensation is that the league is genuinely on the up in the UK — viewership of the Finals has roughly doubled since 2020, and the London game each January at the O2 has gone from curio to fixture. The 2026 NBA Finals begin on Thursday 4 June, with Game 1 tipping off at 1:30 a.m. UK time on Friday 5 June. The series runs through mid-to-late June. The 2026-27 regular season then begins in late October and runs through April, with the playoffs starting in mid-April. This guide walks through the Sky Sports and Amazon Prime Video rights setup — note that TNT Sports has lost the NBA in the UK as of the 2025-26 season, so older guides that name it are out of date — the NBA League Pass standalone, what free options exist, and the cheapest workable subscription combination for the full season.

The NBA in the UK now sits with Sky Sports and Amazon Prime Video. Sky Sports is the new long-term UK home of the league, having signed a multi-year deal (reported as an 11-year agreement) that begins with the 2025-26 season — it carries the bulk of the live NBA, including the marquee national-TV games, the All-Star weekend and the playoffs and Finals, on Sky Sports Arena, Sky Sports Mix and the wider Sky Sports lineup. Amazon Prime Video holds the other UK package, streaming a slate of regular-season games plus playoff coverage to Prime members. TNT Sports, which carried the NBA in earlier seasons, has LOST the rights for 2025-26 — it no longer shows the NBA in the UK at all, so any guide still naming it is out of date. Sky Sports is available via Sky Stream or Sky Q, or streamed without a contract through NOW with a NOW Sports Membership — the streaming-only version of Sky Sports, cancellable any time. Amazon Prime Video is included with a Prime membership (which also covers the wider Prime catalogue and delivery benefits). Check Sky/NOW and Amazon for their current monthly prices at sign-up. The Sky (or NOW) plus Prime Video combination is the route to every NBA game broadcast in the UK.

NBA League Pass — the league's own streaming service — is available in the UK at around £14.99/month or £119.99 for the full season; check the NBA's site for the current price. It carries every regular-season game, the In-Season Tournament group stage, the All-Star Saturday night, the play-in tournament and the entire playoffs and Finals. The catch: League Pass in the UK is subject to UK-only blackouts on the games Sky Sports or Amazon Prime Video carry exclusively. In practice this means the marquee fixtures — the Christmas Day games, primetime national TV matchups, the Finals — are blacked out on League Pass and must be watched on Sky or Prime Video. League Pass still works for the night-in-night-out 7 p.m. ET tip-offs (midnight UK time) that Sky and Prime don't carry exclusively, which is most of the regular season. For a UK fan whose primary interest is following a single team (whether the Celtics, Warriors, Lakers, Knicks or any other), League Pass for the season is the better-value pick. For a fan who wants the marquee national TV games and the Finals broadcast without blackouts, Sky Sports (or NOW) plus Amazon Prime Video is the answer.

There is no free-to-air live NBA coverage on BBC, ITV, Channel 4 or Channel 5 in the UK. The BBC Sport website carries written match reports and occasional highlight clips, but the live rights are entirely behind the Sky Sports and Amazon Prime Video paywalls. The NBA's official YouTube channel posts free highlight packages — typically two-to-three minute condensed games — within an hour or two of the final buzzer, available worldwide including the UK. The full library of NBA TV documentary content, classic games, and the popular "Inside the NBA" studio-show clips also stream free on the NBA app and on YouTube. The London Game each January — usually a regular-season matchup played at the O2 Arena — has historically had limited free coverage, with the BBC running highlight packages but no live free TV. The 2027 London Game (date and teams confirmed in late summer 2026) is expected to follow the same model: Sky Sports and Amazon Prime Video live, BBC for short post-game highlights.

For NBA Finals 2026 only: a NOW Sports Day Membership (a 24-hour pass, around £14.99) is the lightest-touch option — buy a day pass for each of the Finals games (typically four-to-seven games over two-to-three weeks). Or take a single NOW Sports Monthly Membership to cover the full Finals series for one month; the monthly route works out cheaper once the Finals goes to four-plus games. Check NOW for the current day and monthly prices. For the full 2026-27 regular season: NBA League Pass for the entire season is the best value pick for fans willing to live with blackouts on the marquee games Sky or Amazon carry exclusively. For full UK access without blackouts you need Sky Sports (or NOW) for the bulk of the marquee slate plus Amazon Prime Video for its package of games — check each provider for current pricing across the active NBA months (October through June). For the cheapest workable approach to following the NBA in the UK: take League Pass for the regular season, then a single month of NOW Sports to cover the playoffs and Finals in May and June. That keeps the full-season outlay low while still getting the Finals live.

NBA games tip off in the evening on the US East Coast — typically 7 p.m., 7:30 p.m. or 8 p.m. ET, with some 10 p.m. ET West Coast late games. UK time runs five hours ahead of ET in winter and four hours ahead during US daylight saving (March to November). The standard ET game schedule translates to UK time as: 7:00 p.m. ET = midnight or 1:00 a.m. UK. 8:00 p.m. ET = 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. UK. 10:00 p.m. ET West Coast late games = 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. UK. The NBA Finals 2026 Game 1 on Thursday 4 June tips at 8:30 p.m. ET = 1:30 a.m. UK time Friday 5 June. Subsequent games follow similar Eastern primetime slots, typically 8:00 or 8:30 p.m. ET. The Saturday and Sunday games are the more workable slots for UK viewers — Saturday 8:00 p.m. ET = 1:00 a.m. Sunday UK; the kids can sleep, the work week is over, the fixture is at least somewhat civil. Most dedicated UK NBA fans operate on a hybrid schedule: live for the Saturday late and the marquee weekday games, recorded-and-watched-over-breakfast for the weeknight 7 p.m. ET tip-offs. Sky Sports and NOW Sports both support cloud DVR and on-demand replays, with games typically available to stream from 5 a.m. UK time the morning after.

The Sky Sports and Amazon Prime Video NBA packages between them cover every major in-season event. The NBA Cup (formerly the In-Season Tournament) group stage and knockout rounds are carried across the two broadcasters. The All-Star Weekend in February — the All-Star Game itself, Saturday night's Skills Challenge, Three-Point Contest and Slam Dunk Contest — airs in full on Sky Sports. The play-in tournament in mid-April airs in full. The conference quarter-finals, semi-finals, conference finals and the Finals all air live and without UK blackout on Sky Sports, which holds the bulk of the marquee slate as the new long-term UK home of the league. NBA League Pass is the gap: the In-Season Tournament knockouts and the Finals are blacked out in the UK on League Pass and require a Sky Sports (or NOW) or Amazon Prime Video subscription instead. The regular-season slate of 1,230 games is the part League Pass UK can serve without blackout in full.

Sky Sports streams natively via the Sky Stream box and the Sky Q box. NOW Sports streams via the NOW app on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Vizio and Hisense, the Xbox and PlayStation, and the web. Amazon Prime Video streams via the Prime Video app on the same broad device range — Fire TV, smart TVs, Apple TV, Roku, consoles, phones, tablets and the web. NBA League Pass streams via the NBA app on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, smart TVs and the web. For pub viewing, the long-established London pubs that show NBA include the Sports Bar & Grill chain (Marylebone, Old Street, Victoria branches), Belushi's in Bayswater and Borough, and the various Doghouse and Pitcher & Piano venues across the city. Manchester's Lass O'Gowrie and Bristol's Smoke & Mirrors are among the regional venues running NBA viewing nights for the playoffs and Finals. Most of these venues open until 3 a.m. or later for the big NBA Finals matches. If you are travelling outside the UK and want to maintain access to your Sky Sports or NOW Sports subscription, geo-restrictions apply on Sky and NOW outside the UK and Ireland. Within the EU, EU portability rules allow temporary access for active subscribers using their UK accounts.