Warner Bros. Discovery will stay on the court with the NBA in a new settlement that gives the media company a new chance to keep professional basketball in its overall lineup, even as it cedes U.S.
rights to traditional TV games to rivals. The media company and the basketball league have devised a new pact that will give Warner Bros. Discovery rights to show NBA content on its Bleacher Report and House of Highlights outlets and to distribute games overseas in places such as Northern Europe and parts of Latin America, excluding Brazil and Mexico, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The new pact, which comes with an 11-year term, ends a Warner suit against the NBA that started after the league elected to cut Warner out of the structure of its next TV deal, which it has set with Disney’s ESPN as well as Amazon and NBCUniversal. The NBA did not respond immediately to a query seeking comment and Warner Bros. Discovery declined to make executives available for comment.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported the new agreement. Warner Bros. Discovery, in a separate deal, will make its flagship “ Inside the NBA ” studio show available to Disney’s ESPN at key moments of the NBA season, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Under terms of that pact, Warner Bros. Discovery will gain some rights to show Big 12 football and men’s basketball, one of these people said. Warner Bros.
Discovery will continue to produce the popular “Inside the NBA,” whi.