Warner Bros. Discovery filed a lawsuit Friday against the NBA over the new media rights deal that excludes the league’s longtime TV partner, Turner Sports.
The lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court claims the NBA violated its current agreement by allegedly refusing to honor Turner’s rights to match an offer from Amazon in the new contract that pays the league $77 billion over 11 years, starting in the 2025-26 season.
Amazon won rights to stream NBA games in the deal, which also awarded packages to NBCUniversal, owned by Comcast Corp., and longtime TV partner ESPN. Amazon is believed to be paying about $1.8 billion a year under its deal, which Turner believed it had the right to match.
The lawsuit alleges that Turner’s rights deal with the NBA covers “non-broadcast television,” which includes any video distribution method other than broadcast TV. The contractual definition includes internet distribution, which Turner believes gives him the right to match Amazon’s offer.
Turner said it submitted a matching offer agreeing to pay the same fees for the same number of games as Amazon’s offer. The deal would put NBA games on Turner’s TNT channel and Warner Bros.’ Max streaming service.
The NBA told Turner it could not match the Amazon deal because the tech giant’s proposal only included the Prime Video streaming platform, according to the lawsuit. But Turner claims its offer to put games on TNT and Max was comparable.
See more information: Warner Bros. Discovery vows to ‘take appropriate action’ after NBA rejects offer
“[Turner] timely exercised these matching rights by accepting an offer from a third party on the same material terms and conditions that the NBA was willing to accept from Amazon,” the lawsuit said. “The NBA, however, violated the agreement and deliberately refused to honor [Turner’s] rights.”
“Warner Bros.’ allegations Discovery are without merit and our lawyers will address them,” the NBA said in a statement.
Turner’s cable channels TNT and TBS have broadcast the NBA since the 1980s, and TNT is known for its highly regarded studio show “Inside the NBA.” But parent company Warner Bros. Discovery did not renew its package during an exclusive negotiation period, allowing the league to place it on the open market.
The chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav said publicly that the company did not need the NBA, suggesting that the company would not overpay in the new deal.
After the NBA reached new agreements, Turner tried to match Amazon’s offer.
When the deal was announced on Wednesday, the NBA indicated that the addition of a streaming service as one of its media partners was done to “maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for fans.”
“Our new agreement with Amazon supports this goal, complementing the broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal agreements,” the league said. “All three partners have also committed to substantial services to promote the league and enhance the fan experience.”
This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.
