NBA picks Amazon for media rights over Warner Bros. Discovery

The National Basketball Association has rebuffed longtime media partner Warner Bros. Discovery‘s bid to keep airing games after next season.

The NBA told the media company it doesn’t believe it holds legal matching rights for the league’s new media deal. It instead plans to move ahead with Amazon as its third partner, along with ESPN and NBCUniversal, in its 11-year deal worth about $77 billion.

 “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 NBA said in a statement Wednesday.

Warner Bros. Discovery acquired matching rights as part of its current media rights deal with the league, which expires at the end of next season. That provision allows the company to match payment for any of the games that air on TNT.

The NBA doesn’t believe Warner Bros. Discovery’s rights extend to an all-streaming package, which was carved out for Amazon. Warner Bros. Discovery also owns a streaming service, Max, which it could use to air games, but the company has told the NBA it plans to simulcast TNT games on Max rather than only putting them on Max.

The NBA sent a letter Wednesday to Warner Bros. Discovery explaining why it can’t match Amazon’s package, citing language from the original matching provision, according to people familiar with the matter. CNBC obtained a portion of that letter, addressed to Luis Silberwasser, chairman and CEO of TNT Sports.

The NBA cited a provision that says the existing media partner can exercise matching rights “only via the specific form of combined audio and video distribution (e.g. if the specific form of combined audio and video distribution is internet distribution, a matching incumbent may not exercise such games rights via television distribution).”

In its statement, the NBA said that “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,” the league added. “We are grateful to Turner Sports for its award-winning coverage of the NBA and look forward to another season of the NBA on TNT.”

Warner Bros. Discovery said Monday it matched one of the NBA’s three media rights packages, which people familiar with the matter identified as the $1.93 billion per-year deal earmarked for Amazon Prime Video. Disney and Comcast‘s NBCUniversal signed deals for the other two packages, part of the league’s $77 billion media rights renewal over 11 years.

“In an effort to continue our long-standing partnership, during both exclusive and non-exclusive negotiation periods, we acted in good faith to present strong bids that were fair to both parties. Regrettably, the league notified us of its intention to accept other offers for the games in our current rights package, leaving us to proceed under the matching rights provision, which is an integral part of our current agreement and the rights we have paid for under it,” Warner Bros. Discovery said in a statement on Monday.  ”This will allow fans to keep enjoying our unparalleled coverage, including the best live game productions in the industry and our iconic studio shows and talent, while building on our proven 40-year commitment for many more years.”

Warner Bros. Discovery’s Turner Sports has carried live NBA games for nearly 40 years. The cable network TNT is home to “Inside the NBA,” the popular studio show starring Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal. The future of the show is in doubt if the NBA doesn’t strike a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery.

The league also wants its streaming partner to have maximum reach. Amazon Prime Video has more than twice as many global customers — more than 200 million to Max’s roughly 100 million — which may make the service a more appealing platform for the league. The streaming rights are global, even though Warner Bros. Discovery is only bidding on U.S. rights, according to people familiar with the language in the contract.

Warner Bros. Discovery may need to sue the NBA to claim its matching rights. Lawyers for the company and the NBA have been poring over contractual language for the past several months, according to people familiar with the matter.

Disney is paying $2.62 billion per year for its package of games and NBCUniversal is paying $2.45 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The new rights deal begins with the 2025-26 season and runs through the 2035-36 season.

The NBA application will be a central portal for games, directing consumers to each national game, whether it is on broadcast, cable TV or a streaming service. Approximately 75 regular-season games will be on broadcast TV each season, up from 15 games in the current rights deal. The league will have two broadcast stations as partners — Disney’s ABC and NBCUniversal’s NBC.

“Our new global media agreements with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon will maximize the reach and accessibility of NBA games for fans in the United States and around the world,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “These partners will distribute our content across a wide range of platforms and help transform the fan experience over the next decade.”

Disney will distribute 80 NBA regular-season games per season, including more than 20 games on ABC and up to 60 games on ESPN. ABC and ESPN will have one of the two conference finals series in 10 of the 11 years of the agreement. ABC will remain the exclusive home of the NBA Finals, which it has broadcast since 2003.

NBCUniversal will return as a league broadcasting partner after losing NBA rights in 2002. NBCUniversal will air 100 NBA games each regular season, including about 50 that will be exclusive to its streaming platform Peacock, according to CEO Mike Cavanagh.

“We are proud to once again partner with the NBA and WNBA, two iconic brands and the home of the best basketball in the world,” Cavanagh in a statement. “We look forward to presenting our best-in-class coverage of both leagues with our innovative programming and distribution plan across NBC and Peacock to entertain fans and help grow the game.”

WNBA games are also a part of all three packages. The partners will distribute more than 125 regular-season games and playoff games nationally each season. Disney will air a minimum of 25 regular-season games, NBCUniversal will carry 50 regular-season and playoff games on its platforms, and Prime Video will get 30 regular-season games, assuming Warner Bros. Discovery can’t match Amazon’s package.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.