Warner Bros. Discovery sues to keep NBA on TNT after league strikes deal with Amazon

MANHATTAN (CN) — Warner Bros. Discovery isn’t letting the NBA go without a fight. 

The media giant behind TNT Sports — a longtime broadcast partner of the NBA — filed a lawsuit against the league on Friday, claiming it breached its contract when it awarded live broadcasting rights to Amazon.

The suit comes two days after the NBA announced that it had signed a new 11-year broadcast deal with Disney, NBC and Amazon worth around $77 billion, which ended the nearly 40-year partnership between Warner Bros. and the NBA.

Warner Bros. previously stated that it had matched one of the offers, which sources familiar with the matter reportedly identified as the $1.8 billion package of live games set aside for Amazon. But the NBA ultimately went with Amazon instead, which Warner Bros. — and its subsidiary TBS — claims is a direct violation of its contract with the league. 

“Notwithstanding the clear contractual mandate triggered by TBS’s match, the NBA has informed TBS that it will not honor TBS’s match and instead has licensed the rights to Amazon,” Warner Bros. claimed in the 29-page suit, filed in New York State Supreme Court. “But the NBA cannot do that since it has already granted those rights to TBS.”

Warner Bros. cited its 2014 contract with the league, which stated that the NBA may “not enter into an agreement or agreements with any third party or parties” relating to future telecast rights “without first giving” Warner Bros. a chance to accept it.

If Warner Bros. does accept it, it says in the complaint, then it “shall have the right and obligation” to exercise the NBA distribution rights, not the third party — Amazon, in this case.

That contract is slated to expire after next NBA season. After that, if Warner Bros. is unsuccessful in this legal challenge, it will lose its rights to broadcast live games.

It would be no small loss, as Warner Bros. acknowledges in its Friday claim. The company called NBA telecast rights a “unique asset that cannot be replaced,” and a significant driver of viewership and ratings on the TNT network.

“It also provides a halo effect that is used to promote other content and drive attention and viewership to other TBS and WBD channels, networks and properties,” Warner Bros. argues. 

Warner Bros. also noted that it has invested “hundreds of millions of dollars” in production and talent to further its coverage of the league. It specifically makes a reference to its flagship program “Inside the NBA,” which is on the chopping block if the network loses its broadcasting rights.

Charles Barkley, former NBA star and one of the show’s hosts, condemned the NBA’s choice of Amazon over TNT in a Friday statement.

“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 piss them off. It's a sad day when owners and commissioners choose money over the fans. It just sucks."

The lawsuit comes as no surprise. After the NBA announced its decision to partner with Amazon on Wednesday, Warner Bros. claimed that the NBA had “grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights” and vowed to take “appropriate action.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday that Amazon’s digital opportunities “align perfectly with the global interest in the NBA,” and sees Prime Video as an opportunity to “dramatically expand our ability to reach our fans.”

Warner Bros. has a different view.

“Given the NBA’s unjustified rejection of our matching of a third-party offer, we have taken legal action to enforce our rights,” TNT Sports said in a statement Friday. “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 of flexibility we offer them through our widely distributed WBD video-first distribution platforms — including TNT and Max.”

League spokesperson Mike Bass called the suit “without merit” in a statement Friday.

Warner Bros. is seeking to keep the NBA from awarding its broadcast rights to Amazon and for the court to force the league to honor its matching offer. The company is also seeking monetary damages, should that injunctive and equitable relief not be granted.

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