NBA approves new media deals with Disney (ABC/ESPN), Comcast (NBC), and Amazon for 11 years, $77 billion. Update: NBA REJECTS WBD's (TNT Sports) deal

[GoldenGlove]

Are you on drugs? Any game that's on TNT can be streamed on Max in 4K/HDR.

Damn

I been sleep. I just run it on YoutubeTV. Definitely going to try this shyt out

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

Damn

I been sleep. I just run it on YoutubeTV. Definitely going to try this shyt out

You can throw on Oilers/Stars tonight to check it out for a minute. I'll be watching C's/Pacers though, sadly on ESPN...

 

[NYC Rebel]

I don’t know why this shyt so funny every time he’s referenced as this

It’s crazy how Shaq can come in and use himself to resurrect and clean up a pizza brand owned by a vocal racist but dumb out and not care enough to study players in a league he’s paid to talk about.

 

[GoldenGlove]

Adam Silver has said that the discourse about the game is basic or gossipy in most cases. He said the NFL does a better job at breaking down the game, instead of always being surface level.

Then he also said that he thinks Inside the NBA should be everywhere and that it could be even bigger than it is now.

Going off of his actions, it looks like he wants more focused discussion on the game and players. I wonder what his thoughts were when he heard Shaq tell Jokic that he's not the MVP immediately after getting the award.

It's stuff like that I could see him not being down for. Just like the reports on Van Gundy being tossed in the bushes for shytting on the officials too much. Looks like Silver is trying to change the narrative.

 

[EzekelRAGE]

if the plan for WBD is to keep NBA by matching one of the steep package prices, why would the waste money on going after CFB games that couldve went towards that? That makes no sense with how cheap Zaslav/WBD are.

 

[the elastic]

When regular QBs get paid folks just say "its the market" and KIM.

That's cause NFL media is way more policed on their narratives. Charles Barkley type dudes could never rock in football commentary.

 

[Nero Christ]

That's cause NFL media is way more policed on their narratives. Charles Barkley type dudes could never rock in football commentary.

NFL operates like a police union

 

[firemanBk]

Adam Silver has said that the discourse about the game is basic or gossipy in most cases. He said the NFL does a better job at breaking down the game, instead of always being surface level.

Then he also said that he thinks Inside the NBA should be everywhere and that it could be even bigger than it is now.

Going off of his actions, it looks like he wants more focused discussion on the game and players. I wonder what his thoughts were when he heard Shaq tell Jokic that he's not the MVP immediately after getting the award.

It's stuff like that I could see him not being down for. Just like the reports on Van Gundy being tossed in the bushes for shytting on the officials too much. Looks like Silver is trying to change the narrative.

Yeah he said all that shyt and then has the NBA on ESPN which has terrible discourse on the NBA
Tim Legler has his own podcast just to get his actual non-hot takes off

 

[GoldenGlove]

Yeah he said all that shyt and then has the NBA on ESPN which has terrible discourse on the NBA
Tim Legler has his own podcast just to get his actual non-hot takes off

You're right. Actions speak louder than words

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

if the plan for WBD is to keep NBA by matching one of the steep package prices, why would the waste money on going after CFB games that couldve went towards that? That makes no sense with how cheap Zaslav/WBD are.

It's clear to me they are going after the cheaper Amazon package which they could maybe afford and also have some college football playoffs

 

[K-Apps]

 

[FAH1223]

Kevin has been at TNT since 1996 even when he was calling Timberwolves games.

 

[K-Apps]

A $200 million dispute may cost David Zaslav the NBA​

Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. is on the verge of losing the rights to the National Basketball Association, ending a 35-year relationship between its Turner Sports subsidiary and the popular basketball league.

The NBA is finalizing agreements with Walt Disney Co., Comcast Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. that will pay the league an average of about $7 billion annually over the next 11 years, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations. (We break down the economics here.) Disney is in line for the biggest package, which includes the NBA Finals, while all three would split the other playoffs and regular season.

When the NBA actually signs those deals, Warner Bros. will have the right to match them. The agreements are structured in a way that will make it hard to do so.

Comcast is going to put games on NBC, a broadcast network. Warner Bros. doesn’t own one of those, though it could bid jointly with a broadcaster like Fox or even Disney. The Comcast deal also involves a minimum number of advertising impressions — essentially a viewership guarantee. These targets are easier for a broadcast network like NBC, which reaches an average of 5 million people a night in prime time, than Turner, which has a considerably smaller audience.

The Amazon agreement is for streaming, and there’s no way Warner Bros. is going to do a deal exclusively for its Max streaming service. Management can still fight for this, but it would be a bit like threatening to sue someone if they don’t marry you. That’s not a great relationship.
That’s not to say Warner Bros. is out of the picture entirely. It may still figure out a way to match one of these deals, or it could work out an arrangement for a smaller, fourth package to keep some of the NBA.

There is little question that Warner Bros. Chief David Zaslav has bungled these negotiations thus far. TNT star Charles Barkley thinks so. Remember when Zaslav said his company didn’t need the NBA? That was a bit of public negotiating that he probably wishes he could take back.

But Warner Bros. was in trouble as soon as Amazon and Comcast expressed interest. NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s job is to maximize the audience for his sport — and the income of his team owners. Most of his games currently air on cable, a business in decline. He wants to shift as many of them to broadcast TV, which can still deliver huge scale, and streaming, which is the future.

Comcast and Amazon are also wealthier, more stable partners than Turner, which has changed owners twice in the last decade and is subject to near-constant deal speculation.

The league’s proposed agreement with Comcast is worth about $2.5 billion a year, more than double what Warner Bros. pays under its current deal. Comcast generates three times as much revenue as Warner Bros., and has billions more in cash on its balance sheet.

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

Adam Silver has said that the discourse about the game is basic or gossipy in most cases. He said the NFL does a better job at breaking down the game, instead of always being surface level.

Then he also said that he thinks Inside the NBA should be everywhere and that it could be even bigger than it is now.

Going off of his actions, it looks like he wants more focused discussion on the game and players. I wonder what his thoughts were when he heard Shaq tell Jokic that he's not the MVP immediately after getting the award.

It's stuff like that I could see him not being down for. Just like the reports on Van Gundy being tossed in the bushes for shytting on the officials too much. Looks like Silver is trying to change the narrative.

Silver and the NBA deserve some blame for that as they should have nipped that shyt in the bud from the jump like Goodell and the NFL did with ESPN.

He's had quite a few chances to do so, but didn't put his foot in ESPN's neck like he should have.

 

[K-Apps]

Part 2

Out of Its League?​

Warner Bros. is dwarfed by others bidding for NBA TV rights
Source: Bloomberg data
Despite all of this, there is still a world in which Zaslav could have held onto the rights without a major bidding war. The current broadcast partners, Disney and Warner Bros., had an exclusive window in which to negotiate a contract renewal. Disney got a handshake agreement done. Warner Bros. didn’t.

The NBA entered talks with Warner Bros. asking for $2.3 billion a year. Zaslav topped out around $2.1 billion. The league got up from the table and walked right into the arms of Comcast and Amazon.
The loss of the NBA would be a blow to Warner Bros., which is working on two sports-related streaming properties. It’s about to introduce ajoint venture with Disney and Fox. It’s also working on a paid sports tier for Max. The NBA is its most valuable sports property, at least in the US.

TNT, the Warner Bros.-owned cable network that airs the NBA, generates about $2.5 billion in fees from pay-TV operators and $700 million or so in advertising sales — most of it from the league. “For TNT, the NBA is a vital programming element,” Bloomberg Intelligence’s Geetha Ranganathan wrote in a note this week. “Renewing the deal is critical.”

Ad Revenue Up for Grabs​

The NBA accounts for most of TNT's annual advertising revenue
Sources: iSpot.tv, SNL Kagan, Kantar, Bloomberg Intelligence
Those numbers help explain why Comcast and Amazon want the NBA, even at its new, higher cost. Comcast can generate advertising sales on NBC and its cable networks. It can use the NBA to boost Peacock, its small but growing streaming service.

Comcast’s sports media business is run by Mark Lazarus, who was fired from a similar post at Turner Sports. Lazarus can get some revenge, not only by taking back game rights but also potentially Inside the NBA, TNT’s award-winning studio show. The stars of that show, including Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal, may leave if TNT loses the NBA. Barkley said he might reboot the show using his own production company.


In taking the NBA away from Warner Bros., Comcast can also save some money. Warner Bros. charges Comcast lots of money to carry TNT (about $3 a month per customer) because it has the NBA. If TNT doesn’t have the NBA, it becomes less valuable. While Warner Bros. could save money by not doing this deal, Warner Bros. will have to replace the NBA with other sports -- or charge pay-TV distributors like Comcast less.
Zaslav has set aside $2 billion for the NBA, and that’s money he’s going to want to spend on other sports rights. He’s already made one move, snatching up some college football games from ESPN.

There are also deals coming up for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Major League Baseball and tennis. ESPN’s deal with UFC ends next year. It can also opt out of Major League Baseball after the next season, and it is expected to do so in order to lower its bill. NBC’s contract for the French Open is also expiring.

None of those sports has the same value as the NBA. Could Zaslav still carve out a fourth, smaller package of NBA rights? You can’t rule it out. He is at his heart a dealmaker.

Of late he has proven adept at cutting again and again. Now we’ll see how willing he is to spend.