Many observers, both in the industry and outside of it, are trying to make sense of the future of sports at Warner Bros. Discovery.
On the one hand, the company told the teams whose media rights it holds that they are done with the RSN business. On the other, reports say the company is dedicated to retaining broadcast rights for the NBA despite CEO David Zaslav saying the company could live without it.
Later this month, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament begins. Games will be seen on TNT, TBS, and TruTV for the 13th year. It is a contract that pre-dates Warner Bros. Discovery taking over the networks, so it is fair to ask how much the company values the event.
“Very committed, I mean very committed,” Luis Silberwasser, the company’s chairman of sports and CEO, said when asked on a media conference call on Tuesday. “We have a very longstanding partnership since 2011. We have a deal with the NCAA and with CBS that goes for many more years. It is one of our premiere events. Our strategy on sports may be slightly different, we don’t have a sports network, per se, so we need to be disciplined and very choiceful about the things that we agree to do and want to do. But once we do, once that becomes part of our portfolio, we go all in.”
The stories of Warner Bros. Discovery trying to manage its tremendous debt are well-known. It has included shelving movies already completed to take tax write-offs, eliminating several positions, and more.
Silberwasser says those issues will not affect the way the company covers the NCAA Tournament.
“It is something that we value tremendously. It is part of our premiere and premium sports rights portfolio, and we see it as one of the best things we have. We look forward to our partnership, and we’re super invested, and we’re all in.”
Sean McManus was also on the call. The CBS Sports Chairman noted that the partnership between the cable networks and CBS was made before Warner Media merged with Discovery. Still, he sees stability. He expects the opening round play-in games to remain on TruTV, with the channel, TNT, and TBS continuing to air games in the first and second rounds, TBS to carry Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games, and every other year, for the network to have the Final Four.
“We’ve had some discussion about possibly altering that so we get the championship game every year and Turner gets the Final Four every year or vice versa, but those discussions have never come to fruition and they’ve never been all that serious,” he said. “I think the pattern that is in place works really well for the partnership. And I don’t see it changing in the future.”
