I like and respect all of my colleagues here at Barrett Media. Sometimes though, I think they dance around saying what they mean. Maybe it’s just a difference in how we communicate, but reading recent columns from Dave Greene and Mark Kreidler, I couldn’t help but wonder why they wouldn’t just say what we all know to be true – David Zaslav screwed Warner Bros. Discovery from day 1 of negotiations with the NBA and he should be fired for it.
It’s not hard to recognize. Why is it hard to say out loud?
TNT and the NBA were a match made in heaven. It was more than just Inside the NBA, the network had a long history of sitting atop the minds of basketball fans. Remember the “Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday” jingle?
Cable television networks have never experienced a moment like this. They offer little value to their owners in the streaming era. The business model seems to be either load up on live sports or just throw on a bunch of edited Adam Sandler movies and NCIS reruns and hope you can make enough money from Flex Seal ads. Neither is a surefire path to profitability, but one gives you a fighting chance.
Not that long ago, it seemed like Warner Bros. Discovery was serious about making TNT a formidable sports brand. Adding the NHL to the NBA and NCAA Tournament made it a winter destination for sports fans. AEW gave wrestling fans a reason to check out the network each week. The addition of College Football Playoff games seemed like an unequivocal win.
Without the NBA though, it’s all a house of cards. All of those other properties are great, but the NBA is the foundation of TNT Sports. No matter what else the company added, its identity was wrapped up in the NBA, and that’s gone now.
Someone has to be held responsible. Why shouldn’t we go straight to the top? After all, David Zaslav is the one that began these negotiations in November of 2022 saying that his company didn’t need the NBA. Two weeks later, Lenny Daniels announced he was leaving his role as the president of Warner Bros. Discovery’s sports division. It’s not hard to connect those dots.
Let’s move the discussion beyond sports though. Warner Bros. Discovery is a mess and drowning in debt. Max is miles behind Netflix, Amazon and Disney in the streaming wars. Cable news is a business dominated by three names and CNN routinely comes in third. When superheroes couldn’t miss at the box office, DC was releasing misfire after misfire and Zaslav was making the argument that a slew of completed films set to be released in the coming year were more valuable as tax write-offs that would never see the light of day. Zaslav owns all of it.
No one thinks he is personally making every decision for each division of Warner Bros. Discovery, but we judge CEOs by their company’s performance. WBD’s performance has been pretty bad and starting a negotiation with its most valuable sports partner with a pissing contest only to sue over being left out of the NBA’s new media rights deals is beyond embarrassing.
Even victories for the company come with asterisks. Warner Bros. films Dune 2 and Godzilla x Kong are two of the five highest-grossing movies of 2024, but 2024 is one of the worst years in box office history. CNN saw huge audience gains in primetime during the Republican National Convention but still trailed FOX and MSNBC in the ratings.
All of that has to be taken into account when you read that Zaslav was at the Sun Valley Conference earlier this month saying that what the media business really needs is more mergers and acquisitions. It sure sounds like he sees eliminating competition is the only way he can see Warner Bros. Discovery surviving, but his history suggests that what is really happening is he is openly begging for someone to take this problem off of his hands.
David Zaslav had his run atop Warner Bros. Discovery and the bad far overshadowed the good. Losing the NBA isn’t the reason he has to go. There’s a long list of reasons that anyone can find, but these negotiations were important. TNT’s history with the league is the reason Warner Bros. Discovery was taken seriously when it expressed interest in the NHL in 2021 and why CBS viewed the Turner networks as viable partners for NCAA Tournament coverage more than a decade ago. The way he handled these negotiations and talked about them in public with such flippancy should be the last straw.
Going to court is a bold move, and honestly, one that seems destined to end in even more embarrassment for Zaslav and WBD. Maybe David Farber of CNBC is right and there is a paper trail showing all of the reasonable proposals WBD made to the NBA to counter Amazon’s bid, but at the end of the day, I have a feeling it will be pretty simple.
I expect the judge will look at the $1.7 billion Warner Bros. Discovery offered and say that it does not match the $1.93 billion that Amazon offered and that will be that for this case. That should be that for Zaslav too, and my God, how appropriate would it be for him to die on a hill of 1.7 being the same as 1.93? It would be his entire tenure summed up perfectly.
Demetri Ravanos is a columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. He is also the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host on the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
