Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of TNT, is suing the NBA over a matching rights clause in their previous television contract.
This comes as the league indicated they would end their decades-long partnership with the television company in favor of a new rights deal with Amazon, NBC, and ESPN.
‘Given the NBA’s unjustified rejection of our matching of a third-party offer, we have taken legal action to enforce our rights,’ TNT Sports said in a statement.
‘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.’
The NBA countered: ‘Warner Bros. Discovery’s claims are without merit and our lawyers will address them.’
Warner Brothers Discovery is suing the NBA over their right to match Amazon’s TV deal
WBD argues that they have the right to match the deal that Amazon has offered to the league
Earlier in the week, the NBA announced it would remain with ESPN/ABC and would enter into a new deal with Amazon and with NBC beginning in late 2025.
At the center of the dispute is ‘back-end rights’ – a common clause in television rights deals, where a current rightsholder gets the chance to match any competing bids at the end of a deal.
Despite the lawsuit being mostly under seal, WBD believes TNT is legally able to match Amazon’s rights package.
Meanwhile, the NBA argues that WBD isn’t able to match Amazon – in part because WBD’s Max streaming platform has about half the global reach of Amazon’s Prime Video.
Other points the NBA is arguing include that Amazon’s rights package is labeled as streaming exclusive – while the WBD deal would include the right to broadcast games on both Max and TNT.
There is also some disagreement about whether Amazon (worth nearly $2trillion) can provide more money up front than WBD (worth about $20billion).
‘Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent proposal did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer and, therefore, we have entered into a long-term arrangement with Amazon,’ the NBA said in a statement earlier this week.
The NBA described the lawsuit as ‘without merit and our lawyers will address them’
‘Throughout these negotiations, our primary objective has been to maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for our fans.
‘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.
‘All three partners have also committed substantial resources to promote the league and enhance the fan experience.’
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