TNT Sports, which has hosted NBA games on its airwaves for 35 years, is seeking to continue its partnership with the league.
The broadcaster’s owner, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), said in a statement on Monday that it intends to match one of the offers the NBA has received from other companies in a bid to secure a share of the league’s media rights.
“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,” the statement read.
“We have reviewed the offers and matched one of them,” it continued. “Our matching paperwork was submitted to the league today. We look forward to the NBA executing our new contract.”
WBD acquired matching rights as part of its previous deal with the league, which expires at the end of next season. Those rights allow the company to match any offer that would see them displaced.
During a July 16 meeting in Las Vegas, the NBA’s Board of Governors approved the league’s 11-year media rights deals with Disney, Comcast, and Amazon Prime Video.
Specifically, Disney will remain the NBA’s partner for the “A” package, retaining exclusive rights to the NBA Finals for ABC. Comcast will get the “B” package for about $2.5 billion per year, allowing playoff and regular season games to appear on NBC and its streaming platform, Peacock.
Amazon, meanwhile, will get the “C” package for about $1.8 billion per year, which includes Thursday night game following the NFL season, Friday or Saturday night games, early round playoff games and alternating conference finals.
While WBD’s statement didn’t specify which package it offers to match, it is widely understood that the company is targeting the smallest of the three, Amazon’s $1.8 billion-per-year deal.
“We’ve received WBD’s proposal and are in the process of reviewing it,” the NBA said in a statement. Amazon didn’t respond to a request for comment.
It is not immediately clear if the NBA will actually allow WBD to match the Amazon deal, which is a streaming-only package. WBD, meanwhile, airs the games on TNT and also streams them on the Max platform. Amazon’s Prime Video also has about twice as many global subscribers as Max.
It is also unclear what would happen if the NBA rejects WBD’s right to equal Amazon’s bid. It’s possible the company could resolve the issue with the league through a lawsuit or a settlement.
A settlement could see the two parties agree to a cash payment or other offer from the league to WBD. Though unlikely, NBA might put together a fourth package, which would involve the other three partners to give away what’s already in their deals.
Meanwhile, a suit from WBD would have a judge determine what qualifies as a match in rights.
TNT has been airing the NBA since 1989. Its “Inside the NBA” studio show, featuring Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kenny Smith, is widely popular and hailed as one of the best of its kind.
