New NBA Media Deal: 11 years, $77B with Disney (ABC/ESPN), Comcast (NBC/Peacock), and Amazon. ESPN to license Inside the NBA

[Rell84shots]

So is peacock any good? What’s on that joint?

I got it because of the WWE, but it's got some really good shows on there and it's cheap. They need to stop acting like bytches though and put the Cosby Show on there.

 

[FakeNews]

Sources: WBD could try to match Amazon's $1.8B NBA media-rights bid, not NBC's offer​

Although Warner Bros. Discovery has not officially perused the NBA’s impending media rights deals — and likely won’t gain access until next Wednesday — sources indicated today that the company will zero in on potentially matching Amazon’s $1.8B annual bid, which it believes is the most fiscally responsible package of all.

In particular, sources said WBD has decided NBCUniversal’s simultaneous $2.5B annual bid — which reportedly contains a Sunday night basketball game of the week after the NFL season, a Tuesday night national game, Monday night games streamed on Peacock, Sunday games and the NBA All-Star Weekend — is an overpay and does not intend to match it.

“Financially, WBD thinks NBC is going to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in that deal,’’ an industry source said.

Instead, WBD prefers Amazon’s proposed “C’’ package, which contains a conference final every other year, a weekly game broadcast on either Friday or Saturday nights, Thursday night games following the NFL season, the Emirates NBA Cup, an early round playoff package akin to NBA TV’s current deal, and international rights.

But the “gray area,’’ as one source described it, is that the NBA does not believe a mostly linear broadcast network such as Turner’s TNT can match a streaming entity such as Amazon Prime Video. Conversely, those familiar with WBD’s stance said that WBD contends it can match any portion of Amazon’s package that has been taken directly from its current deal — Thursday night games and a conference final, to name two — and, if not, is contemplating a match of Amazon’s bid in its entirety.

Those sources said WBD — even though it has recently landed media rights deals for the French Open, College Football Playoffs, Big East and Mountain West — has made it clear it still has money in its budget to match Amazon’s package or carve out a smaller fourth package with the NBA, something NBA Commissioner Adam Silver remains generally against, according to sources.

The NBA’s next move will be to present the overall $76B, 11-year deal to its Board of Governors on Tuesday in Las Vegas, where it is expected to be ratified. Many of the league’s owners are facing dwindling local broadcast rights fees, largely due to Diamond Sports Group’s bankruptcy proceedings, and the $76B figure — basically tripling the last media rights deal — will ease some of that burden. Sources also said the league refutes that NBC, Amazon and ESPN (which bid roughly $2.6B annually for the “A” package) overpaid. According to sources, Silver sees NBA rights as a “growth stock.''

MORE: How the NBA's media rights are broken down

Once the BOG approve the deal, the league is expected to formally deliver the official packages to incumbent partner WBD on Wednesday, who will then have five days to match or try to match.

WBD’s key matching argument, sources said, may be that it has its own streaming outlet in Max, even though Max does not have the 200 million worldwide ad-supported reach that Amazon Prime Video does. But WBD is available in more than 220 countries/territories and in 50 languages, which WBD believes makes it comparable enough to match Amazon. However, in the U.S. alone, the most recent data from Nielsen in May showed that Prime Video accounted for 3% of how Americans watch TV (among all platforms), while Max was just 1.2%. The NBA and Silver do not agree with WBD’s contention, which is why an WBD attempt to match Amazon has clear legal ramifications.

“Adam 100% believes he’s getting sued,’’ one source close to negotiations told SBJ Wednesday. “Everybody [in the NBA] is preparing for a lawsuit.’’

Silver has made it clear in past interviews that streaming is a major emphasis of the league’s broadcast future, with a clear preference for the customization and mobility that it brings — especially to a younger demographic. Industry leaders, in fact, applauded the NBA today for turning a streamer such as Amazon into a partner when the next media deal begins in 2025-26.

“I think it's the idea of reach,’’ said Craig Sloan, president of Playfly Sports. “I think it's the idea of where the next generation — my kids, my kids' kids — are someday going to be. They are already conditioned to engage with video through platforms like Amazon Prime. They go into Amazon Prime all the time or Netflix or whoever. So I'm a believer that you have to have a foot in that world as a sports entity.’’

Sources: WBD could try to match Amazon's $1.8B NBA media-rights bid, not NBC's offer

Sources say Warner Bros. Discovery could try and match Amazon's NBA media-rights bid that comes in at around $1.8B.

www.sportsbusinessjournal.com

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

People like fakkit ass Bill Simmons who wants this to be "over" need to shut the fukk up and wait because if WBD wants to match and their lawyers think they can match and the NBA wants to tell them they can't....... that's absolutely a valid reason to go to court.

Simmons tried calling WBD "sore losers"....lol. What does that even mean? They are exercising their rights.

 

[K-Apps]

Breakups are always hard. Sometimes they wind up in court.

As Sportico detailed Wednesday, the NBA could soon part ways with TNT as part of a new alignment of TV deals. The league is finalizing a move to grant broadcasting rights to NBC, Amazon Prime Video and ABC/ESPN from the 2025-26 through 2035-36 NBA seasons. In exchange, the NBA would receive about $76 billion, on average around $7 billion a year.

The NBA’s board of governors still must approve the necessary transactions. If that happens, Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT’s parent) would have five days to match one of the non-Disney packages. If WBD, which reportedly clashed with the NBA over price, declines to match, NBA games would no longer appear on TNT after 2024-25 (given no other dealmaking occurs before then).




The prospect of WBD losing NBA games has sparked debate among league fans, many of whom like TNT’s coverage. It has also, more conjecturally, fueled speculation the company might sue the NBA and/or the league’s would-be new partners. There is no shortage of articles theorizing about problematic, even contentious, negotiations between WBD chief executive officer David Zaslav and NBA commissioner Adam Silver in recent months.

The loss of the NBA, an elite pro sports league with a global brand, would diminish TNT’s stature in the broadcasting world. It would also prove costly: According to Bloomberg, most of TNT’s $2.5 billion in fees from pay-tv operators and $700 million in advertising sales stem from its NBA deal.

WBD has economic reasons to legally contest losing the NBA, but whether there are viable legal grounds is another matter. A lawsuit that amounts to disappointment or anger over losing a prized asset, without accompanying assertions that logically explain how a law was broken, wouldn’t go far.

One immediate hurdle for WBD is that, contractually, the company—not the NBA and not a rival broadcasting company—controls its fate. So long as the NBA honors the contractual right of WBD to match, the NBA can argue it has followed procedures the parties accepted.

Another hurdle: There’s no law blocking the NBA from pursuing what Silver and owners deem the optimal deal. To the contrary, Silver has a fiduciary duty as commissioner to maximize his employer’s interests.

Under Article 24 of the NBA constitution, the commissioner is charged with supervising and directing “all business and affairs of the League.” Silver is thus expected to prioritize the NBA’s financial standing in his actions, including with respect to the group of people that hired him—franchise owners—and NBA players, who share in about 50% of TV money through basketball related income as negotiated in Article VII of the CBA. Unless the NBA is contractually required to work with a business partner, the league has no obligation to do so.




Still another hurdle is whether the NBA’s deal with WBD contains language that compels the parties to mediate and/or arbitrate disputes before either can seek redress in the courts. If such language exists, a judge would be inclined to dismiss a lawsuit until the parties have exhausted their dispute resolution procedures. Given that both the NBA, as a closely watched pro sports league, and WBD, as a publicly traded company, have incentives to avoid litigation and the accompanying risk that pretrial discovery could trigger sensitive disclosures, it wouldn’t be surprising if they agreed to not sue one another in the event of disagreement.

Is WBD simply out of luck? Not necessarily. There are a variety of legal claims that could potentially apply.

There are reports suggesting that WBD wouldn’t be capable of matching due to specifics related to the NBC and Amazon platforms and how they deliver content. If that is accurate, WBD might argue the right to match has not been credibly honored, and the NBA is thus in breach of contract. A right to match that is impossible to invoke could be portrayed by WBD as form over substance.

This type of claim would be vulnerable to counterarguments. If WBD can’t deliver content in a way that would-be rightsholders can, that is arguably not a legal problem but rather a technological or business one. Also, unless the right to match explicitly guarantees WBD be able to perform new terms, the NBA is under no obligation to only seek deals that a current rightsholder has the wherewithal to match.

WBD could also explore claims stemming from the negotiation process. The company might assert the bidding process was unfair as a result of purposeful deception, a type of argument captured in a fraudulent misrepresentation claim. A related claim is tortious interference, which might apply if the would-be rightsholders mischaracterized WBD during negotiations with the NBA to unfairly procure an advantage. There is also a favorite sports law argument: antitrust. The would-be rightsholders, which are competitors, could be depicted as conspiring with the NBA to exclude WBD in a way that harms consumers—more specifically, NBA fans.

Those types of claims are vulnerable to rebuttals. Even if the negotiations have been intense and acrimonious, that’s not, in and of itself, evidence of unlawful conduct. This is not a situation of unequal bargaining power or commercial exploitation. All the businesses involved are powerful, sophisticated and affluent. They hire teams of seasoned, high-priced attorneys to negotiate. At the end of the day, there will be winners and losers—and they all know that going into the negotiations. The NBA can also insist that it would only pursue deals that it believes its fans would like. It would be irrational for the league to conspire with other businesses to irritate the very consumers whom the NBA needs.

Other scenarios could complicate the analysis.

One that’s net speculation involves WBD matching and the NBA then rejecting the match, perhaps because it doesn’t believe WBD has the capacity to offer the same services (or offer them as well) as a would-be rightsholder. In that situation, WBD could insist the NBA is in breach of contract, specifically the match provision. The NBA would maintain there is no breach but rather a business judgment regarding WBD’s ability to satisfy a future (not current) contract. WBD in that scenario might expand the litigation to include antitrust and interference claims against other would-be rights holders, but as detailed above, those claims would encounter heavy return fire.

As they say in the TV industry, stay tuned

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

These articles don't amount to much. They don't have the language of the contract in front of them so they are speculating and even if they did have the language, it doesn't mean that the courts will see it the same way.

I think it's early to talk about a lawsuit, however. We have to see if WBD wants to match that Amazon package first..

 

[Left.A1]

 

[FAH1223]

 

[daboywonder2002]

I got it because of the WWE, but it's got some really good shows on there and it's cheap. They need to stop acting like bytches though and put the Cosby Show on there.

Bel air taking forever

 

[Jplaya2023]

Fukk peacock and amazon give them the league pass leftovers and give actual channels NBA games

Monday - ESPN (MNF is on ABC only) and after MNF put the NBA on ABC)
Tuesday - TNT
Wed - TNT
Thur - TNT

Friday - ESPN
Saturday - NBC
Sunday - NBC

Amazon and Peacock can stream league pass games and NBA TV leftovers

 

[Jplaya2023]

I wonder will tnt match

 

[In The Zone '98]

I wonder will tnt match

They can barely keep the lights on.

It's been two months and no leaked quote of we intend to match, that is our right

 

[tremonthustler1]

Fukk peacock and amazon give them the league pass leftovers and give actual channels NBA games

Monday - ESPN (MNF is on ABC only) and after MNF put the NBA on ABC)
Tuesday - TNT
Wed - TNT
Thur - TNT

Friday - ESPN
Saturday - NBC
Sunday - NBC

Amazon and Peacock can stream league pass games and NBA TV leftovers

Even as someone who hates streaming services,

They can barely keep the lights on.

It's been two months and no leaked quote of we intend to match, that is our right

while jplaya is praying for the late 90s again, Turner is basically turning TruTV into their sports-ish channel

 

[ball15life]

There's some truth in what Chuck said but it's kind of wild he said this as someone who has made a ton of money from people having to pay a cable company to watch the TNT crew

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

Didn't someone just post an article saying TNT is "interested" in matching the Amazon package? I think some of you just read what you want to read and ignore everything else...

We don't know what's going on inside Turner's offices and I doubt these writers do either... or it's just bits and pieces. These writers, some of them, were already wrong on the "matching rights" issue.

 

[tremonthustler1]

wasn't the point of streaming originally to make things cheaper for the regular man?