Warner Bros Discovery may have been late to the game, but the TNT owner isn’t about to let Amazon Prime Video snatch its NBA ball without a fight. “We have matched the Amazon offer, as we have a contractual right to do, and do not believe the NBA can reject it,” TNT said in a statement Wednesday after the Adam Silver-led league decided in favor of Amazon Prime Video as one of the three main rights holders for NBA games starting with the upcoming season. The NBA and the WNBA now have 11-year long deals with Disney a.
k.a. ESPN and ABC, Prime Video and NBCUniversal starting with the 2024-2025 season.
Reflecting economic and industry shifts, the new agreements effectively end TNT’s nearly 40 year long partnership with the NBA. The new 11-year deals total around $76 billion to the NBA and WNBA. Related Stories Sports NBA Rejects Warner Bros Discovery Bid For Amazon; WNBA Renews Disney, Prime Video Deals & Links Up With NBCU - Update News 'Inside Out 2' Becomes Highest-Grossing Animated Film Of All Time Worldwide As It Skates Past 'Frozen II' With $1.
462B+ Which may have been a bit too rich for WBD’s wallet. “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,” said the NBA in a statement today laying out its call on WBD.
Still, after CEO David Zaslav ‘s apparently cavalier attitude to the new NBA talks left a stain on TNT’s long relationsh.