Warner Bros. Discovery’s legal battle with the NBA over the loss of its long-standing rights package has ended, and the resolution is as complicated as you’d expect.
Per the Wall Street Journal, WBD settled its breach of contract lawsuit with an agreement that will keep it in business with the NBA for the next decade, with the ability to develop new shows with NBA content and international NBA rights in northern Europe and Latin America countries, except for Mexico and Brazil.
The deal does not, however, keep NBA games on TNT, which will officially lose the rights it has held since 1989 after this season.
The legal fight began when TNT Sports moved to match the 11-year, $1.8 billion deal the NBA struck with Amazon, which was part of the league’s plan to move into a streaming space where the NFL and MLB already reside. However, the NBA proceeded to announce TNT had not matched the agreement.
TNT Sports responded by insisting it really did match Amazon’s deal, claiming the league had “grossly misinterpreted” its contractural rights. A lawsuit followed, which threatened to throw a large wrench in the NBA’s media plans past this season.
The settlement will reportedly see WBD retain access to NBA content for its digital platforms at Bleacher Report and House of Highlights while also continuing to run the NBA’s digital operations, including NBA TV.
‘Inside the NBA’ moving to ESPN and ABC
The most interesting quirk of the settlement is a separate deal in which WBD will reportedly license its flagship “Inside the NBA” show to ESPN and ABC starting next season. The fate of the Emmy-winning show featuring Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson was one of the situation’s biggest subplots, and it appears the show will survive with a new home.
Barkley went as far as announcing his retirement from broadcasting in June, but reversed course two months later.
The deal will also reportedly see ESPN sublicense Big 12 college football and basketball games to WBD to air on TNT and the Max streaming service.
The stakes of WBD’s fight with the NBA were high, as live sports remain one of the only ways left to draw a large audience in a cord-cutting world. TNT Sports at least managed to get something out of its split from the NBA, but the end result will still be an enormous change for the network.
