A lot of people came out on social media and celebrated the fact TNT matched Amazon’s bid for NBA streaming and broadcast rights. But those people apparently shouldn’t get their hopes up.
Instead, TNT and parent company Warner Bros. Discovery seem to have little chance of keeping NBA media rights, per Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports.
The NBA recently finalized a new media rights deal with ESPN/ABC and newcomers NBC and Amazon — leaving TNT and its popular “Inside the NBA” studio show in the dust.
TNT then matched Amazon’s offer, as was its right to do. But it seems to be more of just a PR stunt to show that at least the network tried. In reality, the league seems very ready to move on.
“The league is considering TNT’s counteroffer and could respond by the end of this week, I hear,” McCarthy wrote. “The problem for TNT is the league still prefers Prime’s bid, according to my sources. If the NBA rejects TNT’s match, the network may have no choice but to sue, possibly arguing the league negotiated in bad faith.”
So yeah, it could get messy. But Amazon is now the host to NFL and MLB games. The NBA wants in on it and that makes sense. All good things must come to an end and that seems to be where we are with the NBA on TNT — no matter how the league gets there.
McCarthy provided great detail about that theory, reporting that one industry source believes TNT only has a “slim” chance of keeping its share of the league’s media rights.
“He regarded it as a Hail Mary attempt to drum up public sympathy. But it probably can’t hurt,” McCarthy wrote. “WBD CEO David Zaslav doesn’t want to go down in sports media history as the suit who ‘lost’ the NBA. Whatever the NBA decides, Zaslav can argue his cash-strapped company fought to keep rights, rather than meekly laying down to Amazon.”
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