The NBL has finally secured television coverage for its upcoming season, although basketball fans may have to wait nearly a month into the competition to watch games live on Fox Sports.

With the struggling national competition to tip off on September 13, the NBL yesterday said they had reached agreement on a one-year deal with the pay-TV broadcaster to cover at least one live game a week starting in October, as well as all games of the 2009 finals series.

Fox Sports has telecast NBL games for 15 years.

But with the league falling on hard times following the demise of three teams the Sydney Kings, Brisbane Bullets and Singapore Slingers and uncertainty surrounding the continued involvement of naming rights sponsor Hummer, Fox and the NBL had taken some time to agree on a short-term deal to replace the five-year contract that expired at the end of last season.

The agreement, though, will no doubt come as great relief to the NBL after fears the league may struggle to keep the broadcaster.

And with the game's television future secured, both parties were confident the one-year extension would lead to a longer-term agreement with the NBL set to undergo a major revamp for 2009-10.

''We have entered into a one-year deal, which is by mutual agreement given the blueprint for the new NBL in season 2009-10 and beyond remains to be finalised,'' interim chief executive of the merged Basketball Australia and the NBL, Scott Derwin said.

''Both Fox Sports and the league see this agreement as a stepping stone to a longer-term deal and we are grateful for Fox Sports continued support of basketball while we undertake the major restructure of the NBL.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

''Basketball as a sport has made the difficult choice of undergoing some short-term pain for the long-term benefit of the sport as part of their commercial review, and we're excited about the future direction that has been mapped out,'' Fox Sports chief executive David Malone said. AAP