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NBA’s Deals with Amazon, ESPN, NBC Leave WBD’s Future Uncertain

Photo from Markus Spiske via Unsplash

NBA’s Deals with Amazon, ESPN, NBC Leave WBD’s Future Uncertain

By Movieguide® Contributor  

Amazon, ABC/ESPN and NBC have signed massive new media rights deals with the NBA, and Warner Bros. Discovery has five days to match or sue. 

The next 11 seasons of the NBA will now be shown across ABC/ESPN, NBC and newcomer Amazon, as new deals were worked out with each respective network. Pending approval from the NBA board of governors, all the deals will then be sent to Warner Bros. Discovery. WBD has five days to match any offers or potentially sue.  

“The CEO of TNT Sports’ parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, has publicly stated he may attempt to use language in the current contract to remain involved with the NBA,” the Athletic reported. “If Zaslav goes through with that, he is expected to target Amazon’s package.”

Coming in at around $76 billion, these new deals continue to enforce how sought out the NBA is in the sports media realm. With a strong fanbase and continual global expansion via international games, the NBA continues to grow.  

The upcoming games will now be streamed across a plethora of platforms, with the NBA Finals remaining on ABC, but games will now stream exclusively on Peacock as well as Amazon Prime.   

The new deals bring some stability in a tumultuous time of uncertainty for future streaming, with the networks that currently have deals squared away. It remains to be seen what action WBD will now take.  

Movieguide® previously reported on concerns surrounding Disney/ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery’s new sports streaming venture: 

“As programmers, your companies exert tremendous influence over pricing across the live sports TV ecosystem,” Nadler and Castro wrote in a letter. “Upstream, programmers negotiate content licensing deals with sports leagues like the National Football League and the National Basketball Association for the media rights to their sports events. Downstream, programmers determine the terms on which video distributors may license programmers’ sports channels.” 

“Without more complete information about the pricing, intent, and organization of this new venture, we are concerned that this consolidation will result in higher prices for consumers and less fair licensing terms for upstream sports leagues and downstream video distributors,” the letter continued. 

The two representatives included 19 questions about the joint venture and asked for the “answers to the following questions by April 30, 2024.” 


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