Turner Sports intends to continue its longtime relationship with the NBA.
Warner Bros. Discovery informed the league Monday that it will match the $1.8 billion per year offer by Amazon Prime Video. Turner has had an NBA package since 1984 and games have been on TNT since the network launched in 1988.
“We have reviewed the offers and matched one of them. This will allow fans to keep enjoying our unparalleled coverage, including the best live game productions in the industry and our iconic studio shows and talent, while building on our proven 40-year commitment for many more years,” Warner Bros. Discovery said in a statement. “Our matching paperwork was submitted to the league today. We look forward to the NBA executing our new contract.”
The NBA’s Board of Governors approved the league’s 11-year media rights deals with Disney, NBC and Amazon Prime Video at its meeting in Las Vegas last Tuesday. WBD received all three contracts Wednesday, which started the five-day clock for whether it wanted to match.
The new deals — collectively worth $76 billion — will begin with the 2025-26 season, and include a game being aired or streamed nationally every night during the second half of the season.
The Prime Video offer has games on Thursday night after it is done carrying NFL games. Its other nights are Friday and Saturday.
Amazon Prime Video did not comment on WBD’s intention to match.
An NBA spokesperson said the league is reviewing the matching offer.
If the NBA accepts the matching offer, TNT would likely carry games on Thursday with the other nights being streamed on Max.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav sounded an ominous note when he said during an RBC Investor Conference in November 2022 that Turner and WBD “don’t have to have the NBA.”
Warner Bros. Discovery and the league were unable to reach a deal during the exclusive negotiating period, which expired in April. Zaslav and TNT Sports Chairman/CEO Luis Silberwasser have said during the past couple months, though, that it intended to match one of the deals.
“We’re proud of how we have delivered for basketball fans by providing best-in-class coverage throughout our four-decade partnership with the NBA. In an effort to continue our long-standing partnership, during both exclusive and non-exclusive negotiation periods, we acted in good faith to present strong bids that were fair to both parties,” WBD said in…