Warner Bros. Sues NBA For Not Accepting Its Matching Offer

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has sued the NBA after the league did not accept the company’s matching offer for one of the packages in its upcoming 11-year media rights deal.

The switch to Amazon means that widely popular shows like "Inside the NBA" could get canned. I Photo: Warner Bros. Discovery 

The lawsuit was filed late last week in a New York state court in Manhattan, Joe Reedy reported for the Associated Press (AP).

WBD, the parent company of TNT Sports, is seeking a judgment that it matched Amazon Prime Video’s offer and an order seeking to delay the new media rights deal from taking effect beginning with the 2025-2026 season.

The NBA signed its deals with Disney, NBCUniversal, and Amazon Prime Video on Wednesday after saying it was not accepting Warner Bros. Discovery’s $1.8 billion per year offer.

The deals will bring the league around $76 billion over 11 years.

“Given the NBA’s unjustified rejection of our matching of a third-party offer, we have taken legal action to enforce our rights,” TNT Sports said in a statement.

“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.”