Warner Bros. Discovery sues NBA for not accepting its matching offer
Warner Bros
Warner Bros. Discovery has sued the NBA after the league did not accept the company's matching offer for one of the packages in its upcoming 11-year media rights deal.
The lawsuit was filed on Friday in New York state court in Manhattan.
WBD, the parent company of TNT Sports, is seeking a judgement that it matched Amazon Prime Video's offer and an order seeking to delay the new media rights deal from taking effect beginning with the 2025-26 season.
The NBA signed its deals with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video on Wednesday after saying it was not accepting Warner Bros. Discovery’s $1.8 billion per year offer. The deals will bring the league around $76 billion over 11 years.
“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.”
NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement that “Warner Bros. Discovery’s claims are without merit and our lawyers will address them.”
WBD says in the lawsuit that “TBS properly matched the Amazon Offer by agreeing to telecast the games on both TNT and Max. The Amazon Offer provides for Cable Rights, including TNT Rights, because the offer is for games that TBS currently has the right to distribute on TNT via Non-Broadcast Television, which includes both cable and Internet distribution.”
WBD also claims under its contract it „has the right to ‘Match a Third Party Offer that
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