The NBA is in the final stretch of finalizing their new media rights deal, which will start in 2025-26 and last for 11 years with partners Disney, NBC Universal, and Amazon. TNT lost out on the rights but can match either the $2.2 billion deal with NBCU or the $1.8 billion streaming-only deal with Amazon.
“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.”
It is unclear if the NBA has the right to decline a matched offer from TNT, with additional complications arising from their first streaming-only deal with Amazon. TNT could match the Amazon deal to keep the NBA on their programming but will be restricted to making it available on streaming only, possibly bringing the NBA to their Max streaming service.
Max and Amazon are direct competitors in the streaming space, which would make this challenging. Even if TNT matches the dollar value of the deal, the NBA could argue it’s not truly a matched offer because Amazon Prime Video boasts nearly double the subscribers of Max.
The NBA has reportedly been prepping with their lawyers for TNT to possibly complicate the situation by trying to block their new media rights deal, so everyone should keep a close eye on how the situation develops until Monday.
TNT Could Lose $600 Million If NBA Media Rights Go Elsewhere
There is a legitimate financial incentive for Warner Brothers and TNT to keep the NBA in their broadcast portfolio, given the popularity of the league and the ability to further license their rights to smaller stakeholders. Wolfe Research media and entertainment analyst Peter Supino commented on the same, noting how nothing can replace the ad revenue that TNT gets from the NBA.
“If Turner doesn’t license the NBA, their costs will fall immediately, but soon after that, the revenue they get from cable and satellite distributors will fall. And the ad revenue they got from putting the NBA on the air will not nearly be replaced by the ad revenue that they get for whatever they put in the NBA’s place.”
Supino estimates that TNT could lose $600 million in profit annually if the NBA rights go elsewhere.
“The question for the financial forecast, after all this is said and done, is what fell more, the cost or the revenue? And our estimate is there’s about $600 million of profit [yearly] that’s going to go away, because the revenue will fall more than the cost.”
This is a major problem for TNT, which explains why the NBA is trying to prepare for legal action if TNT tries to match. Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav will regret making an enemy out of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, as comments about the NBA media rights being overvalued have led him to this situation after being a rights-holder for the NBA for over 25 years.
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