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With National Basketball Association media rights approaching final form, Warner Bros. Discovery is about to make its play.
The league has sent official terms of its proposed new media rights contacts to Warner Bros. Discovery, starting a five-day period where the media company can choose to match a package of broadcasting rights.
A TNT spokesperson confirmed the receipt of the documents and acknowledged the company is currently reviewing the terms. Warner Bros. Discovery received the contract framework on Wednesday night, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the details are private.
The media rights deal, as currently constructed, includes deals with Disney, Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Amazon for three different packages of games, totaling $76 billion over 11 years, beginning with the 2025-26 season. It also includes WNBA games, which is worth $2.1 billion of the total sum.
Warner Bros. Discovery intends to match a package of games that has been slotted for Amazon, as CNBC first reported in May, which includes both playoff games and the the in-season tournament, according to the people familiar. Amazon signed a deal with the NBA to pay $1.8 billion per year for its package, they said.
Next steps unclear
When Warner Bros. Discovery formally announces its intention to match, it’s unclear what will happen next. The NBA may or may not have the right to reject Warner Bros. Discovery’s matching rights, and the league has been working with its lawyers for months in preparation of a potential lawsuit, according to people familiar with the matter.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s Turner Sports has been a broadcast partner of the NBA for almost 40 years. The company plans to argue that its matching rights — a holdover from its current media rights deal — applies to Amazon’s package of games, even though that package has been earmarked for a streaming-only service. Along with its cable network TNT, Warner Bros. Discovery owns Max, a competitor to Amazon’s Prime Video.
Still, Max has fewer subscribers than Prime Video, at about 100 million versus Prime’s more than 200 million monthly global subscribers. The NBA rights are U.S.-only.
TNT is also the home to “Inside the NBA,” the popular NBA studio show featuring Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal. Barkley has already said he plans to retire from the show after next season no matter the outcome of the media rights deal.
“I don’t know yet,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver earlier this week at a press conference when asked what may or may not happen with regard to Warner Bros. Discovery or the NBA’s own network, NBA TV, which is operated by TNT Sports. “We’ll see.”
Losing the NBA would be a blow for Warner Bros. Discovery, which could lose about $600 million in profit from advertising and a potential decrease in cable affiliate fees if it loses the NBA, Wolfe Research media and entertainment analyst Peter Supino told MarketWatch earlier this week.
Warner Bros. Discovery shares have fallen 23% this year.
“I apologize that this has been a prolonged process, because I know they’re committed to their jobs,” Silver said last month of Warner Bros. Discovery employees who work on NBA programming. “I know people who work in this industry, it’s a large part of their identity and their family’s identity, and no one likes this uncertainty. I think it’s on the league office to bring these negotiations to a head and conclude them as quickly as we can.”
Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.