TNT Files Lawsuit Against NBA After League Rejects Media Rights Bid

Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of TNT, has filed a lawsuit against the NBA for rejecting its bid to match Amazon Prime’s $1.8 billion portion of the league’s new media rights deal.

The NBA announced it has reached a new deal with ESPN/ABC, newcomer NBC and Amazon, rejecting TNT’s right to match along the way. TNT is considered an incumbent media-rights holder and was given the right to match as part of its existing contract.

The NBA’s new deal is reportedly for 11 years and reportedly worth $76 billion in all. The new media rights holders will begin carrying NBA games in the fall of 2025.

“Given the NBA’s unjustified rejection of our matching of a third-party offer, we have taken legal action to enforce our rights,” WBD said in a statement, via RealGM. “We strongly believe this is not just our contractual right, but also in the best interest of fans who want to keep watching our industry-leading NBA content with the choice and flexibility we offer them through our widely distributed WBD video-first distribution platforms — including TNT and Max.”

Meanwhile, the NBA has said that TNT didn’t actually match Amazon’s bid.

The @NBA is coming to Prime Video in 2025!

BRING IT ON 🙌🏀 pic.twitter.com/jG9bVRNfLe

— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) July 25, 2024

“Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent proposal did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer and, therefore, we have entered into a long-term arrangement with Amazon,” the league said in a statement.

“Throughout these negotiations, our primary objective has been to maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for our fans. Our new arrangement with Amazon supports this goal by complementing the broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal arrangements. All three partners have also committed substantial resources to promote the league and enhance the fan experience.

“We are grateful to Turner Sports for its award-winning coverage of the NBA and look forward to another season of the NBA on TNT.”

Per RealGM: “WBD contends they had the contractual right to match either NBC or Amazon’s deal with the company choosing to match the ‘C’ package that the NBA contends is for streaming only and that was not technically matched.”