Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of TNT Sports, has filed a lawsuit against the NBA, alleging that the league is in breach of contract after it refused to recognize TNT’s right to match Amazon’s offer for NBA broadcast rights, reports Baxter Holmes of ESPN.
The lawsuit was filed in New York Supreme Court. Daniel Wallach of The Athletic (Twitter link) shares a copy of the summons, which states that the NBA has 20 days to respond.
TNT Sports issued a statement confirming it has taken legal action against the NBA (Twitter link via Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com):
“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.”
According to Holmes, NBA spokesperson Mike Bass responded to the suit by stating, “Warner Bros. Discovery’s claims are without merit and our lawyers will address them.”
[RELATED: NBA Announces Details Of Media Deals With Disney, NBC, Amazon]
A longtime broadcasting partner of the NBA, TNT Sports was given some form of matching rights in their current deal with the league. However, we don’t know the exact terms of those rights or how they’d apply in this case, given that Amazon’s agreement with the league will feature different methods of distribution and a different set of games than TNT’s previous deal. The lawsuit could lead to a settlement between Warner Bros. Discovery and the league, either in the form of other NBA rights or financial compensation.
Meanwhile, Charles Barkley – an analyst on TNT’s popular Inside The NBA studio show – issued a statement calling into question whether the NBA was ever negotiating with the network in good faith (Twitter link via Bleacher Report).
“Clearly the NBA has wanted to break up with us from the beginning. I’m not sure TNT ever had a chance,” Barkley said. “TNT matched the money, but the league knows Amazon and these tech companies are the only ones willing to pay for the rights when they double in the future. The NBA didn’t want to piss them off. It’s a sad day when owners and commissioners choose money over the fans. It just sucks.”
While Barkley has previously stated that he intends to retire as a broadcaster when TNT’s deal expires after the 2024/25 season, he’s drawing serious interest from the NBA’s other media partners – ESPN/ABC, NBC, and Amazon – according to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports, who says that both ESPN and Amazon Prime Video are eyeing the entire Inside the NBA panel (Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal).
Speaking on Friday to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic and Dan Patrick of The Dan Patrick Show (Twitter video link), Barkley confirmed that he’s been open to pitches from other networks, saying he’d be “stupid” not to listen, especially if TNT doesn’t fully pay out the rest of his 10-year, $210MM contract with the network. However, he said his plan for now is still to retire.
While Marchand’s sources say that one of the league’s other TV/streaming partners could obtain the rights to the Inside the NBA studio show and simply let them continue working out of their current Atlanta studio, Barkley doesn’t believe that Johnson would leave TNT. He said he hasn’t spoken to Smith or O’Neal about the possibility of extending the show beyond 2025 on a new network, telling Marchand that the plan is to “go out with a bang” next season.
Barkley added that he’s not optimistic anything will come of TNT’s lawsuit.
“The NBA clearly wanted to break up with us,” he told Marchand. “I don’t want to be in a relationship where I have to sue somebody to be in it. That makes zero sense. If you have to sue somebody to stay in a relationship, do you think that is a healthy relationship?”
Can’t wait to pay more for a worse product! Late-stage capitalism, here we come!
It’s not late stage capitalism, you Marxist puke. It’s socialist infested capitalism. The left has only 1 goal, monopolize industries, then nationalize them. Wake up and smell the corruption. It’s not capitalism, it’s anti-capitalism that’s ruining everything
Dude, if you think that socialism is what’s ruining the US right now, or in any way impacting this specific situation, then I would highly recommend you go and re-learn what Capitalism and Socialism actually are. You will be better for it.
“The left has only 1 goal, monopolize industries, then nationalize them.”
In Texas, the state runs the electric grid. Are you trying to tell me that Texas is a “left” “socialist infested” state?
Any person who brings up the “left” or the “right” out of nowhere is usually a crazy person.
It’s crazy how for a Basketball website/app the amount of people on here that know next to nothing about ball and will talk about anything but besides it.
Like who cares about your ideas of Socialism and Capitalism. I bet half the audience here wouldn’t even know what SLOB is.
Is that you Josh Giddey?
This started when the industrial age ended… No amount of rebrands can save capitalism from failing humanity…
The working class is just waiting to be replaced by AI and robots now… They won’t have the same salary demands, because they won’t have any..
We need something new… Not another rebrand of the same failing ideals…
Its a fun show. They can operate in podcast form and still be great.
Barkley out there showing how unaware of the nature of the state is…
You live in a capitalist society and have to follow those rules…
Money always wins…
Byt Barkely wouldnt think about the fans if a team offered him more money during his play days huh? Makes you think
I thought barkley was gonna retire
Reading is fundamental…he still says he likely will but willing to listen to the other companies.
Inside the NBA is not like Inside the NFL which was on HBO, Showtime, Paramount, now CW. I think the NBA is strictly TNT, even if it did jump to another service the show wouldn’t go unless Ernie allowed.
FUBAR as expected