Like an NBA team deciding how to defend an unstoppable opponent, a popular narrative has emerged that Warner Bros. Discovery is in a pick-your-poison scenario, whereby it either has to overpay to match Comcast NBCUniversal’s rival $2.5 billion-a-season bid for NBA rights or face a bleak future in which its TNT loses one of the most vital live sports packages.
But reading between the tea leaves Thursday during WBD’s first-quarter earnings call with investors, a third option may have emerged: Warner and TNT Sports could merely match the $1.8 billion bid put forth by Amazon.
