Warner Bros. Discovery vows to ‘take appropriate action’ after NBA rejects offer
The NBA has completed an 11-year, $76-billion media rights pact that will change the lineup of partners after next season, ending its decades-long relationship with cable network TNT and entering a new partnership with Amazon.
The league issued a statement Wednesday saying TNT parent Warner Bros. Discovery did not match the terms offered by Amazon, which will reportedly pay about $1.8 billion annually for the rights to stream NBA games on Prime Video. NBCUniversal and Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN will be the television outlets for the NBA.
The statement noted that the league sought a streaming partner to “maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for fans.” Streaming has become the platform of choice for young viewers who are bypassing traditional pay-TV services.
Turner Sports said it has reviewed the offers the NBA has received for its new media rights deal and is willing to match one of them.
“Our new arrangement with Amazon supports this goal by complementing broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal arrangements,” the league said. “All three partners have also committed to substantial services to promote the league and enhance the fan experience.”
TNT indicated it will not go away quietly. “We think [the NBA has] grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights with respect to the 2025-26 season and beyond, and we will take appropriate action,” the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned unit said in a statement.
The deal makes Amazon’s Prime Video a bigger powerhouse in the TV sports business thanks to its deep pockets. Amazon is already a player in the live sports streaming arena because of its Thursday Night Football package with the NFL.
The NBA more than doubled the rights fees of its current package, in another example of how live sports leagues have seen their value escalate in the media landscape disrupted by streaming video.
Live sports are must-have properties for traditional TV networks, which are no longer the first stop for scripted dramas and comedies. But tech companies getting into the video business also want sports to create greater scale for their streaming businesses. Leagues realize that streamers are the go-to source for younger fans.
Prime Video will carry 66 regular season games and the NBA Cup, a mid-season tournament launched last year. The streaming service will also get the NBA’s play-in tournament, in which the teams ranked between seventh and 10th over the regular season face off for the final two playoff seeds in their conferences.
Amazon Prime Video will also carry 30 WNBA games per season.
As the universe of cable homes gets smaller, teams are turning back to broadcast channels to reach more fans.
Comcast will pay $2.5 billion for its package, which includes 100 regular season games. The deal features 50 games for its streaming platform Peacock, a boost for the service with 30 million subscribers, which is lagging behind such competitors as Netflix, Max and Paramount+.
NBC will have a national game on Sunday nights — following the NFL playoffs — and regional coverage on Tuesday nights. It will also have exclusive rights to the first round of the NBA playoffs and will have the Conference Finals every other year starting with the 2025-26 season.
NBC will also take over the NBA All-Star Game from TNT. The network will bring back John Tesh’s “Roundball Rock” theme used the last time it had the rights to the league. NBCUniversal is also getting 50 WNBA games that will be presented across NBC, cable network USA and Peacock.
Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN remains the home of the NBA Finals, which will continue to air on broadcast network ABC as it has since 2003. ESPN will carry 80 regular season games, with more than 20 appearing on ABC. Disney will pay $2.6 billion per year, up from $1.4 billion in the current deal.
Disney will also have the rights to 18 games in the early rounds of the playoffs and one of the two Conference Finals in 10 out of 11 years of the deal. ESPN and ABC will continue to carry WNBA games and have exclusive rights to the WNBA Finals for five out of the 11 years.
The NBA’s departure from TNT will be the most significant loss of a TV sports property since CBS was outbid by Fox for the NFL’s National Football Conference package in 1993.
The new NBA deal spells the end of “Inside the NBA,” TNT’s highly regarded studio show with Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson.
Turner still has the NHL, Major League Baseball, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and other events. But the NBA was a significant piece of its offering to pay-TV customers.
Losing the NBA could have long-term ramifications for Warner Bros. Discovery’s carriage arrangements with cable and satellite operators, which pay fees to carry its channels. The company would have to negotiate its next round of deals without offering the NBA at a time when such talks are increasingly contentious. Pay-TV operators are battling to keep costs down as their customer base continues to shrink every year.
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