After seemingly losing broadcast rights for the NBA for the first time in up to 40 years, Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has confirmed a matching bid to Amazon’s package.
Amazon Prime Video recently gained NBA media rights as part of an 11-year, $76bn deal alongside ESPN, ABC and NBC, with WBD’s TNT Sports missing out after failing to agree terms with the league during the exclusivity window in April.
However, after learning that the NBA gave WBD a five-day window to match the bid of any of the three incoming broadcast partners, the company decided to match the $1.8bn-a-season offer from Amazon.
A WBD statement read. “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.
“Our matching paperwork was submitted to the league today. We look forward to the NBA executing our new contract.”
Amazon Prime’s deal as part of the new broadcast deal – set to commence for the 2025/26 season – includes a selection of regular season and playoff games, as well as games shared with NBC on a Conference Finals.
More pertinently, Amazon also gained exclusive rights to showcase the NBA’s In-Season Tournament that began last season. Prime Video’s regular season games would be hosted on Friday and Saturday nights due to its NFL Thursday Night Football (TNF) coverage, but then reverting to Thursday nights once the NFL season is over in February.
The decision will now fall upon the NBA Board of Governors on which broadcaster it will opt for, considering the two qualities both bring to the table.
On Amazon’s behalf, the streaming site represents the NBA’s first broadcast streaming partner and is representative of the league moving forward into the future with streaming services now becoming the predominant mode of viewership.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has also praised Amazon’s NFL TNF coverage in the past as a future home for NBA games.
On the WBD and TNT Sports side, they would gain huge fan support if the popular ‘Inside The NBA’ show remained on their TVs. There was public outcry from fans at the thought of losing the show once WBD’s current deal with the NBA expires at the end of the 2024/25 season.
WBD also houses its own streaming platform, MAX, that can serve as a streaming service for the league, although it will not be the outright service that Prime Video is.
It is also unclear if WBD and Amazon could share the package and split games between them. The NBA will be expected to give more insight in the coming days.
