The NBA TV rights saga continues. A quick look back. The NBA has formalized a new broadcasting deal for the 2025-2036 period, with ESPN/ABC, NBC and Amazon, for a total of $76 billion. Except that Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of TNT, does not agree.
Why? Because the group had the opportunity to match Amazon's offer to keep one of the three lots offered by the NBA. The latter refused. As a result, a complaint was filed.
“In light of the NBA's unjustified rejection of a partner's offer, we have initiated legal action to assert our rights,” TNT Sports said in July. “We have matched Amazon's offer, as we had the contractual right to do, and we believe the NBA cannot reject it. In doing so, they are rejecting the many fans who continue to show their unwavering support for our best-in-class coverage, delivered across the combined reach of WBD's video distribution platforms.”
The NBA, for its part, had judged “Warner Bros. Discovery's allegations are baseless” and announced that “the lawyers would answer it”. It is done since the site Variety We learn that the league will simply ask the courts to invalidate Warner Bros. Discovery's complaint over the loss of its TV rights.
Warner Bros. Discovery persists and signs
In documents filed with the New York State Supreme Court, the NBA states that Warner Bros. Discovery failed to match Amazon's terms. The NBA explains in a letter how its former partner tried to match the offer through an alternative agreement but failed.
To demonstrate this, the league will probably highlight the fact that Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming service, Max, does not reach as many people as Amazon's, Prime Video. But also the fact that Jeff Bezos' company had committed to paying a large portion of the contract up front, into an escrow account. Warner Bros. Discovery had assured that, despite its debt, it could do the same.
“We maintain our position that the NBA's actions are unjustified and we firmly believe that we have fulfilled our contractual right to match a third-party offer.”Warner Bros. Discovery insisted in a statement.
Who is right, who is wrong? The hearing will take place on October 4 in New York.
