The NBA ought to contemplate lawyering as much as put together for what might be a messy divorce with TNT.
On Wednesday, the Sports activities Enterprise Journal’s Tom Pal reported that the NBA is finalizing its media rights offers with ESPN, Amazon, and NBC, leaving longtime companion TNT out. Nevertheless, Warner Bros. Discovery — TNT’s guardian firm — might take authorized motion.
“Sources say the NBA is prepping its legal professionals for a potential inquisition or lawsuit,” Pal wrote.
WBD CEO David Zaslav not too long ago instructed The Wall Road Journal’s Joe Flint it has matching rights for third-party provides for carrying the NBA. Final week, CNBC’s Alex Sherman famous either side are figuring out whether or not the league can reject a possible match.
“The contractual wording is obscure, and it is unclear if the NBA has full discretion to stroll away from Warner Bros. Discovery if it matches the bid,” wrote Sherman. “If Warner Bros. Discovery decides to match, and the NBA strikes to decide on NBCUniversal’s provide, the edges could also be headed for a lawsuit. Warner Bros. Discovery believes it is pretty properly protected by the contractual language, one in all [Sherman’s sources] mentioned.”
Pal identified that WBD could must pay over $2.6B to match NBC’s bid, and it is not able to try this. It is reportedly over $40B in debt.
WBD might nonetheless take the league to court docket over the definition of matching rights. Do not be shocked if it does.
TNT has a 40-year relationship with the league and boasts the favored studio present “Contained in the NBA,” which options Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal.