Warner Bros Discovery secures NBA rights extension after dispute
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Warner Bros Discovery filed a lawsuit in July over the NBA’s rejection of its matching bid for media rights.
PHOTO: AFP
NEW YORK – Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) said on Nov 18 that it would have access to coveted National Basketball Association (NBA) content for 11 more years under a legal settlement with the league, sending shares of the media company more than 5 per cent higher.
The new agreement includes rights to use NBA content for the company’s TNT Sports, Bleacher Report and House of Highlights assets, as well as rights to broadcast live games in Nordic countries, Poland and Latin America, excluding Brazil and Mexico.
But it does not include live games rights in the crucial United States market, meaning TNT’s more than 40-year run of airing the league live would come to an end after the current season.
Warner Bros Discovery filed a lawsuit in July over the NBA’s rejection of its matching bid for media rights, after the league announced a US$77 billion (S$103.18 billion) deal with Walt Disney’s ESPN, Comcast-owned NBCUniversal and Amazon.com.
“The settlement is a reasonable compromise that most NBA fans will welcome. WBD’s lawsuit had tenuous odds, this concession is better than nothing,” said Emarketer senior analyst Ross Benes.
Rights to the widely watched professional basketball league are a prized possession for media companies, as sports content has retained a reliable and loyal audience even as traditional TV businesses lose millions of subscribers to cord-cutting.
Warner Bros Discovery has also entered a separate agreement to license the popular, Emmy Award-winning show Inside the NBA to sports network ESPN.
Doubts had risen about the future of the show, whose hosts include Charles Barkley and four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal, after the company lost rights to the league.
ESPN would not have to pay Warner Bros for the show, according to a person familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified discussing private information.
As part of the deal with ESPN, TNT Sports will televise 13 Big 12 American football and 15 men’s basketball games, starting with the 2025 season.
Barkley will continue to be one of the hosts of Inside the NBA, while O’Neal’s status has not been reported. The former basketball star turned analyst extended his contract with Warner Bros in August, despite heavily criticising the company’s leadership for mismanaging the NBA negotiations.
Meanwhile, WBD chief executive David Zaslav said in a statement that the moves have “solidified long-term rights and revenue for WBD”. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
