Warner Bros. Discovery is in danger of losing its rights to the air the NBA. But it does still have a few options.
Comcast's (CMCSA) NBC has come over the top of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and reportedly offered a bid to the NBA worth about $2.5 billion per year, which is more than double of the yearly amount WBD had been paying since 2016.
Front Office Sports reported that both ESPN and WBD had the ability to match any bids made for their rights packages. ESPN has already come to an agreement with the NBA, according to a report by Puck, but WBD could still exercise its match option in order to keep the rights.
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However, a report from Sports Business Journal on Thursday morning indicates that in order for WBD to outbid Comcast, it would need to cough up about $2.8 billion per year — and potentially even more than that. The reason is that Comcast has can air the game on its over-the-air network, NBC, an option which WBD does not have. Ratings on cable channels like WBD's TNT inherently attract fewer viewers due to the ubiquity of free television.
WBD has been in a tough financial spot as of late, and the company's Q1 earnings report on Thursday was no different as the company saw a 7% revenue decrease versus Q1 2023.
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But if WBD cannot cough up the $2.8 billion per year to match NBC, WBD's chief executive officer David Zaslav revealed one other move the network could still do.
Zaslav said in the earnings call that the company also had the right to match third-party offers. Like ESPN, Amazon (AMZN) has also agreed to a framework deal with the NBA, according to a report by The Athletic. The deal would be a different package from the current one the network has with league. The Wall Street Journal reported soon after that the deal was worth $1.8 billion.
More NBA media rights:
- Warner Bros. Discovery is in trouble after Comcast offers NBA a massive deal
- Charles Barkley could wind up on ESPN or Amazon in the near future
- NBA looks poised to come to streaming after reported framework deal with Amazon
Amazon would be able to bring the NBA to an established exclusive streamer in Prime Video, though WBD does have Max to carry games on streaming should it decide to match the deal. What is unclear at this point is whether matching the Amazon offer means a deal the $1.8 billion annual number or a number that is a tad higher.
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