Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) settled its legal dispute with the National Basketball Association, and according to the agreement, the company can access the NBA’s content for at least 10 more years despite ceding US TV broadcast rights to competitors. Separately, Warner will license TNT’s Inside the NBA to Disney’s ESPN, according to the Wall Street Journal.
TNT parent WBD will lose its NBA broadcasting rights after this season, and the show’s unknown future was making many people jittery. But the new agreement solves that problem.
The backstory
In July, Amazon, NBCUniversal and ESPN signed deals worth $77 billion with the NBA. However, WBD, which holds the league’s broadcasting rights through 2025, filed a lawsuit alleging that the new deals breached its contract by giving games to Amazon.
The two sides reached an agreement. Under the new 11-year deal, Warner will continue to feature NBA content through Bleacher Report and House of Highlights while gaining rights to distribute games in Northern Europe and parts of Latin America, excluding Mexico and Brazil.
It also provided WBD with opportunities to produce new NBA shows.
The deal would help Warner offset revenue losses as TNT’s role as a home for NBA games diminishes next season. The agreement highlights Warner’s efforts to retain a stake in live sports content amid challenges to its cable operations.