Warner Bros. Discovery, parent of TNT Sports, matches Amazon’s bid for NBA rights

NEW YORK – TNT Sports may not be out of the National Basketball Association (NBA) broadcast game yet.

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), the parent company of TNT, announced on July 22 that it had matched one of the offers from the latest round of NBA television rights negotiations.

It is a move aimed at allowing the company to keep the lucrative broadcast rights it has held for decades.

Several reports indicated that TNT matched the bid of newcomer Amazon, estimated to be 11 years for US$1.8 billion (S$2.4 billion) per annum.

WBD is currently paying US$1.4 billion per season on a nine-year deal that expires after the 2024-25 season.

The NBA received proposals from NBC and Amazon earlier in July.

ABC/ESPN, owned by Disney, would retain the “A package”, which includes the NBA Finals. The “B package” would go to NBC and Amazon planned to have the “C package” stream on Prime Video. The NBA board of governors approved the deals, worth a combined US$76 billion, last week.

But TNT, a longtime NBA partner known for the studio show Inside The NBA, is now trying to get back in on the action.

“In an effort to continue our long-standing partnership, during both exclusive and non-exclusive negotiation periods, we acted in good faith to present strong bids that were fair to both parties,” it said in a statement.

“Regrettably, the league notified us of its intention to accept other offers for the games in our current rights package, leaving us to proceed under the matching rights provision, which is an integral part of our current agreement and the rights we have paid for under it.

“We have reviewed the offers and matched one of them. This will allow fans to keep enjoying our unparalleled coverage, including the best live game productions in the industry and our iconic studio shows and talent, while building on our proven 40-year commitment for many more years.”

The statement finished by leaving the ball in the league’s court, saying that “our matching paperwork was submitted to the league today. We look forward to the NBA executing our new contract”.

An NBA spokesperson said in response: “We’ve received WBD’s proposal and are in the process of reviewing it.”

If the NBA declines to accept WBD’s matching efforts, the two sides will continue conversations, and WBD could pursue legal action, according to one of the people familiar with the discussions.

REUTERS, NYTIMES