TNT and the NBA may be on the brink of a legal battle.
TNT, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery, announced its intentions Monday to continue broadcasting the league in a deal that will match the NBA’s broadcast rights deal.
ESPN has retained the NBA Finals in the NBA’s next rights package, while NBC and Amazon have emerged as new partners.
TNT’s statement did not say which bid it was matched against, but sources confirmed to The Washington Post that TNT had matched Amazon’s rights package.
“Through our 40-year partnership with the NBA, we are proud to serve basketball fans by providing best-in-class broadcasts. To continue our longstanding partnership, we acted in good faith during the exclusive and non-exclusive negotiation periods and presented a strong bid that was fair to both parties,” TNT’s statement said.
“Unfortunately, the league has notified us of its intention to accept other offers for the games included in the current rights package and will proceed pursuant to the matching rights clauses that are an integral part of the current agreement and the rights paid for thereunder.”
TNT has aired the NBA since 1989, and fans were disappointed at the potential loss of “Inside the NBA,” a studio show featuring Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith.
“We have reviewed the proposals and matched one of them,” the TNT statement continued.
“This will ensure that fans will continue to enjoy our unparalleled coverage, including the industry’s best live game production and iconic studio programming and talent, while strengthening our proven 40-year commitment for many more years. We filed the relevant paperwork with the league today and look forward to the NBA executing on the new agreement.”
The Washington Post reached out to the NBA for its reaction to TNT’s statement.
For weeks, there has been speculation in the media world that TNT would seek to rival Amazon.
The NBA’s interpretation of a “matching rights” clause in the companies’ previous contract has been that TNT does not necessarily have rights matching Amazon, because Amazon’s Prime Video has roughly twice as many global subscribers as WBD’s Max platform.
What could make this situation tricky is that even if TNT doesn’t prevail in future lawsuits regarding these matching rights, time will be of the essence.
If Amazon were to broadcast the NBA, it would have to get the talent, production, graphics and other elements right.
Every day that rights are hindered by potential litigation is time lost to implementing those efforts.
That has multiple sources wondering whether the NBA having four rights partners — ESPN/ABC, NBC, Amazon and TNT — would be a convenient solution.
This would require a rollback of inventory in rights agreements, which NBC and Amazon would likely be reluctant to give up, but could be a way to split up this contractual conundrum.
