The Dream Of Keeping Inside The NBA On TV Is Still Alive With Warner Bros Reportedly Ready To Match The $1.8B Price Being Paid By Amazon

Mike Kirschbaum. Getty Images.

CNBC - With National Basketball Association media rights approaching final form, Warner Bros. Discovery is about to make its play. The league has sent official terms of its proposed new media rights contacts to Warner Bros. Discovery, starting a five-day period where the media company can choose to match a package of broadcasting rights.

A TNT spokesperson confirmed the receipt of the documents and acknowledged the company is currently reviewing the terms. Warner Bros. Discovery received the contract framework on Wednesday night, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the details are private.

The media rights deal, as currently constructed, includes deals with Disney, Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Amazon for three different packages of games, totaling $76 billion over 11 years, beginning with the 2025-26 season. It also includes WNBA games, which is worth $2.2 billion of the total sum.

Warner Bros. Discovery intends to match a package of games that has been slotted for Amazon, as CNBC first reported in May, which includes both playoff games and the in-season tournament, according to the people familiar. Amazon signed a deal with the NBA to pay $1.8 billion per year for its package, they said.

Live look at Inside The NBA??

Well...maybe. The story on CNBC goes on to explain that just because Warner Bros is willing to match the $1.8B that Amazon agreed to in this new $76B TV deal, that doesn't guarantee that the NBA will award it to them. It's still very unclear what capabilities the NBA has in terms of accepting or rejecting this matching offer, which as you can imagine is going to open up another whole can of worms that I'm sure has corporate lawyers foaming at the mouth just thinking about. It all stems from the fact that in the current TV deal, it's set up that Warner Bros has the right to match any offer. What that means in terms of the new deal and the whole streaming vs cable angle is what's still up in the air and has to be sorted out.

Last week once the NBA finalized this new package I blogged about at the end of the day it was really just the latest example of why watching sports in 2024 is so annoying at times

and now that we're learning Warner Bros is trying to keep their rights which will in turn make it easier for me as the consumer to watch the NBA product, I have to say Amazon can get bent. Save that money and just buy the Celtics instead so Brad Stevens can have access to that Jeff Bezos money once the $400M+ tax bill starts to hit in the next few seasons. 

But more than convenience, this of course means our dream of still having Inside The NBA in our lives is still alive. I know people have suggested they just do the show on another network, but Ernie Johnson has already made it clear he's not leaving TNT, and you can't have Inside The NBA without Ernie. Even if you get Chuck, Shaq, and Kenny to agree to do it somewhere else, it won't be the same. If that's the only way to keep it fine, but if Warner Bros is willing to put up the money then Adam Silver needs to not be an asshole and just keep it there in addition to NBC/Peacock/ESPN/ABC. Sure Amazon may have a bigger streaming audience than Max or whatever, but I don't care about any of that. I care about this still being in my life every week for 8+ months

At least Warner Bros doesn't appear to be poor and is willing to cut the check. That was always going to be Step 1. Now we just need Adam Silver to not cave to the Amazon overlords and let us keep Inside The NBA alive. At the end of the day, that's really the only thing any fan cares about when it comes to this TV deal bullshit.