Warner Bros. Discovery's (WBD) TNT network said Monday that it has matched a media rights bid to continue airing NBA games amid investor concern it would lose key sports content for viewers.
The company has aired a portion of games through its TNT network since 1989. It reportedly shells out $1.2 billion annually for the rights, which expire at the end of next season. According to various media reports, the company has been set to lose them to newcomers Amazon (AMZN) and Comcast (CMCSA).
"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. We have reviewed the offers and matched one of them," TNT said in a statement sent to Yahoo Finance Monday afternoon. "Our matching paperwork was submitted to the league today. We look forward to the NBA executing our new contract.”
It's not clear that the NBA will allow WBD to match the offer. In a statement to Yahoo Finance, the league simply said: “We just received WBD’s proposal and are in the process of reviewing it.”
"At the last possible moment, WBD played its matching rights hand," Emarketer senior analyst Ross Benes wrote in reaction to the development. "It's a risky move that could anger the NBA and sour WBD's reputation among other sports leagues that it may be interested in doing business with. However, the NBA is so valuable to the company that desperate measures may be warranted."
The league has previously expressed interest in having a presence on streaming.
Although the company did not name which package it has matched, multiple reports say the company has matched Amazon's offer after the tech giant struck a deal with the NBA for a streaming rights package that will be offered through its Prime Video service for a reported $1.8 billion.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the package includes both regular season and playoff games, plus the play-in tournament and a share of conference finals, which would rotate among the media partners.
Amazon and Warner Bros. did not immediately respond to Yahoo Finance's request for comment.
"Relying entirely on linear TV audiences would be a death knell for modern sports leagues. The NBA realizes young people prefer streaming. Partnering with Amazon will modernize NBA distribution and pull in cord-cutters," Benes said.
Warner Bros. Discovery stock, which traded flat on the news after hours, has been under pressure as analysts and investors debate the future of the media giant without the NBA.
Comcast's NBCUniversal (CMCSA) submitted a reported bid worth $2.5 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. The network will reportedly show about 100 games per season, with half airing exclusively on its streaming service Peacock.
Meanwhile, Disney (DIS), the NBA's other major broadcast partner, is expected to retain its share of the league's media rights after reportedly agreeing to increase its payment of $1.5 billion a year to $2.6 billion, per the Journal. The company will carry fewer games than in its current package, although it will be able to stream games on its upcoming ESPN streaming platform, set to launch in fall 2025.
In total, the NBA has reportedly secured a media rights package worth around $76 billion over 11 years — a bullish sign when it comes to the importance of sports to both streamers and traditional broadcast and cable providers.
"Ultimately, this NBA renewal is just another example of the growing importance — and thus ever inflating costs — of sports rights," MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman wrote in a recent note.
Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at [email protected].
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