The NBA preseason doesn’t begin till October, however followers have already got court-side seats to its authorized wrangling with Warner Bros. Discovery over the league’s media rights deal.
As we speak, in response to the NBA denying Warner Bros. Discovery’s try and match Amazon’s deal for rights, WBD introduced it was taking the NBA to court docket as a result of league’s “unjustified rejection of our matching of a third-party offer.”
“We have taken legal action to enforce our rights,” the assertion continued. “We strongly believe this is not just our contractual right, but also in the best interest of fans who want to keep watching our industry-leading NBA content with the choice and flexibility we offer them through our widely distributed WBD video-first distribution platforms—including TNT and Max.”
Now, the NBA has responded.
In a press release to ADWEEK, NBA spokesman Mike Bass stated, “Warner Bros. Discovery’s claims are without merit and our lawyers will address them.”
Thus, it seems that the league and WBD—regardless of remaining in a partnership for an additional yr of NBA video games on WBD properties—have a protracted authorized battle forward.
How we received right here
Earlier this month, The Athletic reported that the NBA had agreed to a media rights take care of NBCU, Amazon and ESPN value roughly $76 billion over 11 years. This week, the NBA formally introduced the phrases, signaling the top of prolonged hypothesis and, seemingly, an almost four-decade relationship with WBD’s TNT Sports activities.
Since then, WBD and the NBA have gone forwards and backwards, sparring within the media, as WBD claimed it had matched Amazon’s portion of that deal, value roughly $1.8 billion per yr, based on the matching rights provision in its contract. Nevertheless, the NBA refutes that assertion.
In a press release on the league’s new partnerships, the NBA famous that its major goal in offers was to maximise attain and accessibility.
“Our new arrangement with Amazon supports this goal by complementing the broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal arrangements,” the assertion learn.
Full-court press
Regardless of the final result of the authorized battle, WBD’s curiosity within the NBA is simple to know.
