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Watching the NBA is no longer as simple and straightforward as it used to be. We’re in the first year of the NBA’s new media deal, which sees games appear on various networks and streaming services this season and in the playoffs. With some games airing on Prime Video and Peacock and others airing on ABC, NBC, and ESPN, it’s no longer as easy as jumping between two channels to find a game.
For example, if you turn on your TV this week to watch tournament play, you won’t find any of the games on your regular cable, satellite, or Live TV streaming service. Instead, you needed to know how to navigate your way to Prime Video, which displays every game being played.
Xfinity is trying to make NBA basketball viewing feel less fragmented and has hired NBA All-Star Tyrese Maxey as an Xfinity NBA ambassador in that effort.
I interviewed Maxi about working with Xfinity, growing up in Dallas and the sports he follows besides basketball. I also spoke with Vito Forlenza, vice president of sports entertainment at Comcast, about what Xfinity is doing to make it less of a hassle for fans to watch the game. 2026 NBA Playoffs.
Xfinity Sports Zone puts the NBA in one place
Comcast wants its Xfinity platform to be a sports hub for its subscribers. Similar to what it did for the Winter Olympics earlier this year, it has created an Xfinity Sports Zone that brings together in one place all the live and upcoming games for each day of the NBA Playoffs. But while Comcast has the exclusive rights to the Olympics on NBC and Peacock, it shares the NBA rights with Disney (ABC/ESPN) and Amazon (Prime Video). In Xfinity’s Sports Zone, you’ll not only find NBA playoff games broadcast on NBC and Peacock, but you’ll also watch games shown on ABC, ESPN and Prime Video.
However, you’ll need a separate subscription from Xfinity to watch the games on Prime Video, but Xfinity shows the day’s full lineup, regardless of channel or streaming service.
“The sports landscape is so fragmented, and the NBA with this new deal takes that to another level,” Forlenza told me. “How do we make sure that if you’re an NBA fan, this isn’t for you?”
With Xfinity’s NBA Sports Zone, fans will be able to see games on any platforms and can customize their view by selecting their favorite team. In addition to live and upcoming games, the Xfinity Center will feature full game highlights and NBA podcasts as well as documentaries, shows, clips and other NBA content on ESPN, NBA TV and elsewhere.
Xfinity’s NBA Sports Zone puts everything related to professional basketball in one place.
Fan display and multi display
Once you start watching a game on Xfinity, there is a panel called Fan View that allows you to monitor scores from around the league and check stats for the game you’re watching. Fan View is also useful for Xfinity because it makes you stare at the TV screen instead of your phone to check scores and stats, so you don’t end up scrolling through Instagram and TikTok instead of watching the game.
Fan View displays live scores, stats, standings and side odds, allowing you to continue watching the match. The panel slides out from the right side of the TV screen and allows you to navigate up, down, left and right using the remote control. “We took the patterns on the mobile phone that everyone knows and put them on the receiver,” Forlenza said.
Xfinity’s Fan View panel lets you peek at scores, stats, standings and customize your four-man multi-view box.
Fan View also allows you to set up your own custom multi-view. Many streaming services offer a customizable multi-view that lets you watch up to four games simultaneously in a dual grid, but Xfinity’s multi-view offers both a quad grid, which it calls a Tile view, and a Spotlight view that prioritizes one of the four windows. In Spotlight, you can place the game you’re most interested in in a larger window on the left, with three smaller windows stacked on the right. Even in Spotlight view, you can stream audio to any of the four games.
Maxey was impressed by the ease of multi-viewing at Xfinity, telling me, “They bring everything in one place and make it very easy. You can watch multiple (games) in the four boxes.”
Multiview lets you choose games from any channel in your Xfinity lineup, but it won’t let you include games on Peacock or Prime Video.
In Spotlight View, Xfinity’s multiplayer view lets you prioritize one game above the other three.
What’s in Tyrese Maxey’s multiplayer?
When he’s off the court, “I watch basketball all day, every day,” Maxey said. Outside of basketball, he is a huge fan of sports in general and uses multiple views to watch everything from golf to boxing. However, baseball rarely makes it to the net, as it prefers to go to the ballpark and enjoy the national pastime in person. I agree with this opinion. There are few things in life more relaxing and enjoyable than spending a summer night at a baseball game.
The Dallas native didn’t grow up a fan of the hometown Mavericks but has gravitated toward some of the players, starting with Dwyane Wade and another Hall of Fame guard in Allen Iverson. After Iverson retired, Maxey became a fan of Kyrie Irving and now plays against the nine-time All-Star.
Multiview is useful during the NBA Playoffs, so you can watch the NBA Playoffs this spring along with the NHL Playoffs, French Open, PGA Championship, WNBA and other sports action. It will also come in handy for the World Cup this summer, but it’s really worth saving for Sundays during the NFL season when there are a lot of games going on at once.
In the fall, Maxie loves watching football, and you can bet the Dallas Cowboys are prominent in his many views. “I’m a Cowboys fan by default,” Maxey said. “If you’re from Dallas, you’ve got to be a Cowboys fan.”