Warner Bros. Discovery is taking a remaining shot at NBA media rights.
Prime line
Earlier this month, The Athletic reported that the NBA had agreed to a media rights take care of NBCU, Amazon and ESPN price roughly $76 billion over 11 years.
Now, Warner Bros. Discovery is exercising its matching rights provision to match a competitor’s provide and maintain the NBA in its portfolio and on TNT.
Between the traces
In the present day, Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports activities launched an announcement noting its four-decade partnership with the NBA and including that, although the league was trying to settle for gives from rivals within the upcoming rights deal, it wasn’t going quietly.
“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,” the assertion reads.
The corporate stated it had reviewed the gives and matched one in all them, which is reportedly Amazon’s portion, with a yearly price ticket of round $1.8 billion.
“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 assertion continued.
The corporate stated it despatched its paperwork to the NBA to evaluate and appears ahead to the NBA executing the brand new contract.
Backside line
Although Warner Bros. Discovery has stated it’s matched a deal, it’s unclear how the NBA will proceed. In spite of everything, streaming TV was the star of the NBA rights deal, and Amazon’s contributions had been a big a part of that.
Bob Lynch, founder and CEO of SponsorUnited, beforehand informed ADWEEK that Amazon, which already companions with the NBA for WNBA video games, introduced a novel alternative to the league.
