TV deal?

The quality will no doubt be better but it puts the sport behind a huge paywall. When IMO the more that can see it for free the better. Build interest. No doubt people that already have sky sports have purchased it for an alternative sport and therefore will be un phased by the bbl addition and those that don’t have it, presumably don’t want it/can’t justify it and are unlikely to pay out because of the addition of bbl.

That is true also. I mean any exposure is good exposure I guess. To maximise the benefit, the BBL will certainly need to consider smart scheduling. That’s true regardless of a sky deal though

Tonyleopard has hit the nail on the head and something I’ve been saying for years.

Extra exposure is good yes, but if it only reaches the people who are already looking for it then there is no growth of interest to be had.

I made reference to this in the bailout thread a few days ago - I’ve heard Sky will show a weekly headline game along with a roundup of all the games weekly.

Many years ago Sky showed live games with great production on a Sunday evening, preview show on Sky News on Saturday lunchtime & results on Sky Sports News. BBC Grandstand once a year showed a week old highlight of National Cup Final. Guess which channel had 10 times as many viewers and was watched by non basketball folk.

I found games unwatchable on Youtube.  Those automated cameras were absilutely dire.

Let's not get too excited, the MVP articles says "It is thought the BBL will aim to finalise a TV deal to complement the streaming services offered by each individual club with Sky Sports believed to be the front runner."

'It is thought', 'will aim to', 'believed to be' (all in the same sentence!) are phrases we've heard many times before in regards to BBL television coverage, far from definitive language. 
And it's an article by Mark Woods who, although sometimes writes excellent articles, also brought us the exclusive that the All-Stars Championship had been dropped by Sky Sports... just a few weeks before it actually was broadcast on Sky Sports. He also wrote just before last season that Channel 4 were close to finalising a deal with the BBL.
I'm not knocking the guy, just saying he's been wrong before, especially around television coverage of the league.

Anyway, the best possible situation in the current climate would be a BBL subscription streaming service (giving existing fans access to behind closed doors games, without having to fork out for an expensive Sky Sports subscription) alongside a weekly Sky Sports deal (for better visibility and promotion of the league).

Of course better than that would be all games free on YouTube and a weekly ITV4 deal. But I think that's expecting too much right now. 

Speculating to accumulate?

I'm not aware of many (any?) instances of Sky actually charging a sport for broadcast on their channels, but I am aware of numerous instances where Sky pay nothing for the coverage they broadcast - which means the sport has to cover the production costs themselves. It's the 'speculate to accumulate' theory that's already been mentioned. Of course even then you need a little money to invest in the hope of greater returns, which the BBL really doesn't have right now.

I'm still doubtful of any Sky deal this season. And right now it feels like a subscription streaming service is the right way to go, all things considered.

The closest the BBL has got to that right now is the British Basketball All Stars Championship - an annual event, in front of thousands at the Copper Box arena, broadcast live on Sky Sports for FIVE hours. It looks great on screen. Shame it's 'circus basketball', but beggars can't be choosers, and the format does showcase a large number of teams. I should also point out that the whole production is essentially managed by Matchroom Sport, and not the BBL.

What you're suggesting would be great, but it comes down to the fact that Sky would expect the BBL to cover all costs associated to the coverage - which would be tens of thousands of pounds for the quality coverage they'd insist upon (and understandably so). And the BBL doesn't have that kind of money right now.

And personally, I think the BBL building upon their existing relationship with the BBC would be better for the league than trying to establish a new one with Sky.

I'm not sure if you're aware, but that's exactly what we did have for 2 seasons a couple of seasons ago - a weekly BBL game live on the BBC Red Button, BBC Sport App and BBC Sport Website. 

But the coverage was provided by the BBL for broadcast on the BBC. In other words, the BBL paid for the production costs and simply provided it free of charge to the BBC for broadcast on their platforms. It was a win/win... the BBC got to boast it was providing diversity in it's sports coverage (at no extra cost to them) and the BBL got some excellent exposure - for example BBC Sport tweeted about every game to it's almost 9 million followers, plus however many million must look at the BBC Sport website each week.

But again the problem was the cost. For the first season the BBL provided premium coverage - multi-camera set up, replays, on screen presentation team with interviews etc. For the second season the BBL provided single camera coverage, saving them some money, but not impressing the BBC too much. 

For the last season or two only the Cup, Trophy and Play-Off Finals have been broadcast by the BBC, still with the BBL providing the coverage (of the original premium level).