There's a New Twist in the Battle for NBA Broadcast Rights

What will watching the NBA look like two years from now? Following along as emerging and established media companies battle over the rights to broadcast the sport is turning into a pastime nearly as exciting as watching basketball itself. The question over which deep-pocketed empire will spend billions of dollars for the league’s broadcast rights has already taken some unexpected turns, including Charles Barkley announcing his forthcoming retirement from commentary.

This week, things took a new turn, with The Hollywood Reporter‘s Alex Weprin writing that Warner Bros. Discovery has matched a bid from Amazon for NBA broadcast rights. The goal there would be to keep the NBA on TNT, where it has been for 35 years, to the tune of around $1.8 billion per season.

TNT Sports issued a statement clarifying Warner Bros. Discovery’s thinking in matching the bid. “[T]he league notified us of its intention to accept other offers for the games in our current rights package, leaving us to proceed under the matching rights provision, which is an integral part of our current agreement and the rights we have paid for under it,” the statement said.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the NBA confirmed that it received the bid and was “in the process of reviewing it.”

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Last week at Puck, John Ourand explored some of the possible scenarios for the NBA’s new broadcast deal, including the idea that YouTube might be a part of the Warner Bros. Discovery bid. That doesn’t seem to have materialized; last week, Ourand wrote that Warner Bros. Discovery “appears certain to use its matching rights on Amazon’s bid, but sources said it’s expected to go it alone.”

As plenty of coverage of the bidding has pointed out, Warner Bros. Discovery does have the right to match an existing offer for the NBA rights. As Tania Ganguli reported at The New York Times, the NBA could refuse the Warner Bros. Discovery offer, which could lead to legal action being taken in response. Given the rise in behind-the-scenes basketball stories airing on screens small and large — Clipped, Air and Winning Time all come to mind — it wouldn’t be shocking to see this saga dramatized before too long, either.