Warner Bros. Discovery filed documents Monday to negotiate the NBA’s rights.
The move comes after the league sent its finalized 11-year contracts with Amazon, NBC and Disney/ESPN, worth an estimated $76 billion, to the media giant for review on Thursday, creating a five-day window to determine whether or not it’s appropriate. .
“We are proud of what we have done for basketball enthusiasts by delivering the most productive media policy during our four-decade partnership with the NBA. In an effort to continue our long-standing partnership, during the periods of exclusive and non-exclusive negotiation, “I acted with smart faith in submitting strong and fair offers for either component,” TNT Sports said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the league has informed us of its goal to accept additional offers for games in our existing rights package, leaving us to continue under the applicable rights provision, which is an integral component of our existing agreement and the rights we have paid under this provision. “
TNT said it “reviewed the bids and matched one of them,” a user familiar with the matter told TheWrap that it would target Amazon’s $1. 8 billion-a-year package, which would bring NBA games to the tech giant’s Prime Video streaming service.
The network said the move “will allow enthusiasts to continue to enjoy our unprecedented coverage, adding the industry’s live game productions and our iconic in-studio exhibits and talent, while building on our proven 40-year commitment for many years to come. “”
“We look forward to the NBA executing our new contract,” the company added.
It’s still unclear if the NBA will allow Warner to fit into Amazon’s package. An NBA spokesperson told TheWrap that he won and that he is “reviewing” WBD’s proposal.
Sports commentator Bill Simmons told Puck that designing Amazon’s deal with the NBA would require the tech giant to pay the league 3 years of upfront rights payments, totaling about $5. 4 billion to maintain, a move that could potentially cripple WBD play.
The user familiar with WBD’s decision-making process further noted that the company had received a letter of credit that would cover this payment.
In addition to Amazon’s $1. 8 billion year-consistent package, NBCUniversal is expected to pay the NBA an average of $2. 5 billion consistent with the year to stream about a hundred season-consistent games, part of which would stream exclusively on Peacock, a user familiar with the terms in the past showed LeWrap. The games would air on NBC on Tuesdays and Sundays to avoid any conflict with the network’s “Sunday Night Football. “
Meanwhile, Disney is expected to pay about $2. 6 billion a year to continue broadcasting the NBA Finals, up from $1. 5 billion currently, and the company will get fewer games than its current deal and ESPN’s game streaming on its upcoming direct-to-consumer service. It is scheduled to launch in 2025, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The agreements would be finalized after the 2024-25 season. Amazon representatives declined to comment.