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Warner Bros. Discovery And TBS File Lawsuit Against The NBA

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Warner Bros. Discovery and Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) have officially filed a lawsuit against the NBA over its recent TV broadcasting rights deals. Specifically, the rejection of Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports proposal in favor of a deal with Amazon Prime Video, Disney and NBCUniversal.

Soon after the Prime Video deal was announced, TNT Sports released a strongly-worded statement stating the NBA had “grossly misinterpreted” its contractual rights. The statement also explained TNT was willing to take “appropriate action” over the matter.

It now looks as though that ‘appropriate action‘ has come in the form of a lawsuit, as spotted by The Athletic’s Daniel Wallach. Filed yesterday in the New York County Supreme Court, Warner Bros. Discovery and Turner Broadcasting Systems are suing the National Basketball Association, NBA Media Ventures and NBA Properties.

While the specifics of the lawsuit remain unknown, Warner Bros. Discovery previously confirmed that it matched the proposal by Amazon. The suggestion being that the NBA failed to honor Warner Bros. Discovery’s contractual right to match any offer. A sentiment which was reiterated in a new statement today.

TNT Sports statement in full:

Given the NBA’s unjustified rejection of our matching of a third-party offer, we have taken legal action to enforce our rights. We strongly believe this is not just our contractual right, but also in the best interest of fans who want to keep watching our industry-leading NBA content with the choice and flexibility we offer them through our widely distributed WBD video-first distribution platforms — including TNT and Max.”

In its own statement earlier this week, the NBA stated Warner Bros. Discovery’s proposal “did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer.” Based on this statement, it would seem that the NBA believes there are enough differences between the two deals to justify entering into a new long-term agreement with Amazon.

Presumably, whether that is actually the case will now be decided in court.

In the meantime, the existing TNT deal doesn’t actually end until next year, with the 2024-25 season still scheduled to be shown on the Warner Bros. Discovery network.

John Finn

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