Warner Bros. Discovery has reportedly reached the day in which it needs to officially signal its intent as to if it will match media rights bids to broadcast NBA games from Amazon’s Prime Video or NBCUniversal.
Last week, the NBA Board of Governors officially approved the new media rights package with The Walt Disney Company’s ESPN and the aforementioned companies for a reported $75.9 billion over 11 years. While reports had indicated that Warner Bros. Discovery would match Amazon’s bid of $1.95 billion that reportedly includes six conference finals, the In-Season Tournament, the WNBA and exclusive game broadcasts on the streaming platform throughout the week, that plan could be made more complicated by a new wrinkle in the Amazon deal.
Bill Simmons of The Ringer recently divulged that Amazon has guaranteed a three-year upfront payment as a part of its deal said to be worth $5.85 billion. The rights payment would be put in escrow with the knowledge of Warner Bros. Discovery being “cash poor,” presumably rendering it difficult for the company to match that aspect of the deal.
Warner Bros. Discovery ended Q1 with $390 million in free cash flow and $43.2 billion in gross debt, and it currently has a market capitalization of $20.48 billion. Simmons previously stated that Amazon made the most sense as the future home of Inside the NBA, although longtime studio analyst Charles Barkley stated that he will retire after next season no matter what happens.
Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal cited sources in a recent report believing there could be other elements within the Amazon media rights deal to ward off a potential match from Warner Bros. Discovery. The company could explore a settlement with the NBA in which it could produce games for Amazon as a vendor or continue to operate NBA TV. There remains the potential that the company could decide to sue the league and match a rights package as well. In fact, the report cites that the company could reconsider trying to match the $2.5 billion annual bid proffered by NBCUniversal, which is looking to broadcast NBA games for the first time since 2002.
The new media rights agreements with The Walt Disney Company (ESPN/ABC), NBCUniversal and Amazon’s Prime Video will not include matching rights provisions, according to a report from Mike Vorkunov and Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed receipt of the media rights contracts last week and conveyed that it was in the process of reviewing the terms. Entities currently owned by the company have been broadcasting NBA games since the 1984 campaign when the league was first televised on TBS. The current NBA on TNT broadcast property has been on the air since 1989, and its existing media rights agreement runs through the conclusion of next season.
