Warner Bros. Discovery\u00a0is considering matching an offer for the media rights to a package of National Basketball Association games as the league looks to finalize terms \u2014 but its focus could be on a potential\u00a0Amazon\u00a0package rather than games slated for\u00a0Comcast\u2019s\u00a0NBCUniversal, according to people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the latest turn in what\u2019s been a relatively messy renegotiation for Warner Bros. Discovery, one of two incumbent holders of NBA rights, along with\u00a0Disney.\u00a0Warner\u2019s Turner Sports has carried NBA games for nearly 40 years.<\/p>\n
Warner Bros. Discovery\u00a0continues to consider ways\u00a0to partner with the NBA to broadcast a package of games as the league plans its next media partners, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.<\/p>\n
The league is close to signing agreements with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon for three different packages of games, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. If that happens without a side agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery, its CEO, David Zaslav, will have a chance to leverage matching rights that were secured \u2014 and paid for \u2014 as part of its previous deal with the league.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
David Zaslav at the premiere of Warner Bros. \u2018The Flash\u2019 on June 12, 2023 in Hollywood, CA.<\/span>Axelle\/Bauer-Griffin \/ Getty Images file<\/span><\/p>\n Under the terms of that agreement, which runs out after the 2024-25 season, Warner Bros. Discovery can match a competing bid for the games it currently licenses from the NBA. Warner Bros. Discovery hasn\u2019t yet seen the three potential packages because the league hasn\u2019t officially signed agreements with any of its potential media partners. It also hasn\u2019t communicated any plans on matching or not matching with the league, said the people.<\/p>\n Still, the company has been working with its lawyers to determine how matching would work if the league carves up Warner Bros. Discovery\u2019s current package into deals for both NBCUniversal and Amazon.<\/p>\n Amazon has\u00a0reportedly offered $1.8 billion a year\u00a0for a slate of games, while NBCUniversal has offered about $2.5 billion per year, according to people familiar with the matter. The league has set up frameworks for both deals but hasn\u2019t yet signed paperwork formalizing the bids. When it does, Warner Bros. Discovery will have five days to match, according to a person familiar with the language of the contracts.<\/p>\n It\u2019s possible Warner Bros. Discovery chooses not to match any of the packages, or it may push to strike a side deal with the league for either a settlement or a smaller, fourth package of games. It\u2019s unclear whether the NBA would be amenable to either of those solutions.<\/p>\n Spokespeople for the NBA, Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal declined to comment. Representatives from Amazon didn\u2019t immediately return request for comment.<\/p>\n If the current slate of NBA games aired on TNT is split into two or more packages, Warner Bros. Discovery believes it has the right to match any of those offerings, or at least the parts of them that include the current TNT games, according to people familiar with the company\u2019s thinking.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of time to prepare for this negotiation, and we have strategies in place for the various potential outcomes,\u201d Zaslav said earlier this month during Warner Bros. Discovery\u2019s\u00a0quarterly earnings conference call.\u00a0\u201cWe have matching rights that allow us to match third-party offers before the NBA enters into an agreement with them.\u201d<\/p>\n That could gum up an NBA deal with either NBCUniversal or Amazon or potentially lead to a lawsuit between Warner Bros. Discovery and the league. It\u2019s unclear if the league can reject Warner Bros. Discovery\u2019s matching rights if it chooses a different partner.<\/p>\n Warner Bros. Discovery is interested in a more affordable package of games given its gross debt of about $42 billion \u2014 more than doubles its current market capitalization of about $20 billion \u2014 making the package that\u2019s likely earmarked for Amazon appealing. That package tentatively includes All-Star games and conference finals games, which have aired on TNT, according to a person familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n The NBA wants a robust streaming offering as a third package to extend the reach of its product beyond cable TV. Warner Bros. Discovery owns both cable network TNT and its flagship streaming service, Max, which\u00a0is expanding internationally. The company announced on Wednesday it had\u00a0struck a deal with ESPN\u00a0to sublicense College Football Playoff games for five years \u2014 with the games to be aired on TNT and streamed on Max.<\/p>\n Still, unlike Amazon\u2019s Prime Video streaming service, Max plans to\u00a0tier its sports offerings to customers, forcing them to pay more and potentially diminishing reach, which the NBA may not prefer.<\/p>\n It\u2019s possible Zaslav\u2019s focus on Amazon may be a strategic move to get a settlement from the league by focusing on a package specifically designed for a big tech streamer.<\/p>\n The College Football Playoffs deal and the company\u2019s recent rights agreement for a package of NASCAR races beginning in 2025 has put Zaslav in a place where he\u2019s content to lose the NBA if Warner Bros. Discovery management decides the cost is too much, according to people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n Zaslav has told colleagues he believes NBCUniversal is overspending for the NBA, based on his company\u2019s research into ratings and potential subscriber value for a subscription streaming service, according to a person familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n An offer of $2.5 billion or more would more than double the NBA\u2019s previous asking price of $1.2 billion, and the new package would contain fewer games because of the introduction of a third media partner.<\/p>\n Warner Bros. Discovery could use the money saved from not spending on the NBA for other sports, including UFC, which will likely sign a new rights deal next year.<\/p>\n Zaslav views NBCUniversal as a direct competitor in a fight for survival among legacy media companies, according to people familiar with his thinking. If NBCUniversal ends up paying too much for the NBA, he views that as a competitive advantage for Warner Bros. Discovery, they said.<\/p>\n If Warner Bros. Discovery chooses to match a potential Amazon package or stand down completely, it would clear the way for the NBA to get back in business with NBCUniversal, which lost league rights in 2002.<\/p>\n A member of NBCUniversal\u2019s music licensing team recently reached out to John Tesh,\u00a0the owner of \u201cRoundball Rock,\u201d\u00a0the old \u201cNBA on NBC\u201d theme song, to express interest in bringing the jingle back to NBC if the company gets the media rights, according to a person familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n Like Disney, which owns ABC, NBCUniversal has a broadcast network in NBC that is free over-the-air and can expand ratings for games. Neither Amazon nor Warner Bros. Discovery owns a broadcast network.<\/p>\n NBCUniversal also owns Peacock, its domestic-only streaming service, which could also become a platform for NBA games.<\/p>\n Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Warner Bros. Discovery\u00a0is considering matching an offer for the media rights to a package of National Basketball Association games as the league looks to finalize terms \u2014 but its focus could be on a potential\u00a0Amazon\u00a0package rather than games slated for\u00a0Comcast\u2019s\u00a0NBCUniversal, according to people familiar with the matter. It\u2019s the latest turn in what\u2019s been a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}