Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of TNT Sports, has filed a lawsuit against the NBA, alleging that the league is in breach of contract after it refused to recognize TNT’s right to match Amazon’s offer for NBA broadcast rights, reports Baxter Holmes of ESPN.
The lawsuit was filed in New York Supreme Court. Daniel Wallach of The Athletic shares a copy of the summons, which states that the NBA has 20 days to respond.
TNT Sports issued a statement confirming it has taken legal action against the NBA, via Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com:
“Given the NBA’s unjustified rejection of our matching of a third-party offer, we have taken legal action to enforce our rights. We strongly believe this is not just our contractual right, but also in the best interest of fans who want to keep watching our industry-leading NBA content with the choice and flexibility we offer them through our widely distributed WBD video-first distribution platforms – including TNT and Max.”
According to Holmes, NBA spokesperson Mike Bass responded to the suit by stating, “Warner Bros. Discovery’s claims are without merit and our lawyers will address them.”
A longtime broadcasting partner of the NBA, TNT Sports was given some form of matching rights in their current deal with the league. However, we don’t know the exact terms of those rights or how they’d apply in this case, given that Amazon’s agreement with the league will feature different methods of distribution and a different set of games than TNT’s previous deal. The lawsuit could lead to a settlement between Warner Bros. Discovery and the league, either in the form of other NBA rights or financial compensation.
Meanwhile, Charles Barkley — an analyst on TNT’s popular “Inside The NBA” studio show — issued a statement calling into question whether the NBA was ever negotiating with the network in good faith, via Bleacher Report.
“Clearly the NBA has wanted to break up with us from the beginning. I’m not sure TNT ever had a chance,” Barkley said. “TNT matched the money, but the league knows Amazon and these tech companies are the only ones willing to pay for the rights when they double in the future. The NBA didn’t want to p-ss them off. It’s a sad day when owners and commissioners choose money over the fans. It just sucks.”
While Barkley has previously stated that he intends to retire as a broadcaster when TNT’s deal expires after the 2024-25 season, he’s drawing serious interest from the NBA’s other media partners — ESPN/ABC, NBC and Amazon — according to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports, who says that both ESPN and Amazon Prime Video are eyeing the entire Inside the NBA panel (Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal).
Speaking on Friday to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic and Dan Patrick of “The Dan Patrick Show,” Barkley confirmed that he’s been open to pitches from other networks, saying he’d be “stupid” not to listen, especially if TNT doesn’t fully pay out the rest of his 10-year, $210M contract with the network. However, he said his plan for now is still to retire.
While Marchand’s sources say that one of the league’s other TV/streaming partners could obtain the rights to the Inside the NBA studio show and simply let them continue working out of their current Atlanta studio, Barkley doesn’t believe that Johnson would leave TNT. He said he hasn’t spoken to Smith or O’Neal about the possibility of extending the show beyond 2025 on a new network, telling Marchand that the plan is to “go out with a bang” next season.
Barkley added that he’s not optimistic anything will come of TNT’s lawsuit.
“The NBA clearly wanted to break up with us,” he told Marchand. “I don’t want to be in a relationship where I have to sue somebody to be in it. That makes zero sense. If you have to sue somebody to stay in a relationship, do you think that is a healthy relationship?”