Warner Bros. Discovery sues NBA over game rights

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Warner Bros. Discovery's (WBD) filed a lawsuit against the NBA after it rejected the media giant's matching offer to maintain the rights to broadcast and stream games after next season. Sportsimpacts CEO Patrick Rishe joins Asking for a Trend to break down the news and how it will impact the media giant.

"I suspect that ultimately one of two things will happen: Either the NBA will win this case and Discovery and Turner will no longer cover NBA games after this season Or, there could be some compromise and maybe a fourth tier of games is packaged to allow them to come back in and still be part of the equation," Rishe explains. He calls WBD passing on making a bid in the first place a "calculated risk" — especially as the NBA "recognizes that streaming is the future in bringing in younger fans." With this emphasis on streaming, Rishe suspects that it was the primary motivation for going with the Amazon (AMZN) bid.

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This post was written by Melanie Riehl