The National Basketball Association (NBA) has decided not to honor Warner Bros. Discovery’s matching rights and will proceed with Amazon as a media partner instead. This decision was made because Warner Bros. Discovery’s proposal did not match the terms of Amazon’s offer. The NBA’s goal in these negotiations was to maximize the reach and accessibility of its games for fans, and the new arrangement with Amazon supports this objective.
Warner Bros. Discovery had matched one of the NBA’s media rights packages, which was identified as the $1.93 billion per-year deal designated for Amazon Prime Video. Disney and Comcast’s NBCUniversal secured deals for the other two packages as part of the league’s $77 billion media rights renewal over 11 years.
Warner Bros. Discovery expressed disappointment in the NBA’s decision to accept other offers for the games in their current rights package, noting that they have a 40-year commitment to quality sports coverage. The company’s Turner Sports network has been carrying live NBA games for nearly four decades.
The future of popular NBA studio show “Inside the NBA” on TNT is uncertain without a deal between the NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery. The NBA does not believe Warner Bros. Discovery’s rights extend to an all-streaming package like Amazon’s, which may have influenced the league’s decision. Amazon Prime Video’s global customer base of over 200 million is more than double that of Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max streaming service.
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