Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is making a final push to secure the next round of NBA rights and maintain its position as the primary broadcaster of the league’s games.
in statement On Monday, WBD-owned Turner Sports said the NBA “has notified us of its intention to accept other offers for the games included in the current rights package, and therefore we are proceeding pursuant to the matching rights clause, which is an integral part of our current agreement and the rights paid for thereunder.”
“We have reviewed the offers and have matched one of them,” the company said. “Match paperwork was submitted to the league today.”
The company did not provide further details about the proposal it submitted.
The news comes as the NBA is reportedly close to reaching 11-year deals with Disney, NBC and Amazon Prime Video for game broadcasting rights worth roughly $76 billion.
“I won’t get into the specifics of the deal, but philosophically, we had certain goals in these negotiations, some of which were financial and some of which were tied to how we can best serve our fans going forward,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this month.
“One of the goals is to increase broadcast exposure, and hopefully we’ll achieve that. Another goal is to increase streaming connections with fans, because while traditional TV is still important, a large portion of our fan base doesn’t subscribe to those services anymore.”
Live sports continues to be the biggest audience driver for major media companies like WBD. Intensify Questions are being raised about the company’s finances and business strategy as more consumers cut their cable TV subscriptions and the industry grapples with a shrinking market for linear TV advertising.
The Associated Press contributed.
