The NBA said Wednesday that it is not accepting Warner Bros. Discovery’s $1.8 billion per year offer to continue its longtime relationship with the league and therefore has entered into a deal with Amazon Prime Video, a move that would mean this coming season would end a nearly four-decade run of games being on TNT.
That would also suggest the series of media rights deals approved by the league’s Board of Governors last week with Disney, NBC and Amazon Prime Video — 11-year agreements that will be worth about $76 billion — are on the cusp of being finalized, at least from the NBA’s perspective.
WBD had five days to match a part of those deals and said it was exercising its right to do so, but its offer was not considered a true match by the NBA.
“Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent proposal did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer and, therefore, we have entered into a long-term arrangement with Amazon,” the league said Wednesday. ““Throughout these negotiations, our primary objective has been to maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for our fans. Our new arrangement with Amazon supports this goal by complementing the broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal arrangements. All three partners have also committed substantial resources to promote the league and enhance the fan experience.”
