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The future of the award-winning, 40-year relationship between the NBA and TNT Sports could soon gain some clarity after months of uncertainty.
Rumors began circulating late Wednesday that the feuding media partners are in settlement talks. A resolution would end the lawsuit filed against the NBA by TNT parent Warner Bros Discovery after WBD did not get a slice of the new NBA rights package that starts in 2025.
“I know [both sides] want to solve this,” says one source. “It has to be soon. They don’t want to let it drag on,” adds another source.
Settlements are generally financial. However, one intriguing option could involve the league awarding TNT a smaller, but face-saving, fourth rights package that could ensure the future of legendary studio show Inside the NBA and its superstar host, Charles Barkley. Back in June, before the new rights deal was announced, FOS had heard from sources this was a possibility.
Representatives from the NBA and TNT Sports did not provide comment when reached by FOS.
A settlement that precludes a lengthy and expensive trial in 2025 makes sense for the NBA as well as TNT, said other sources. Both companies would prefer that confidential, and possibly embarrassing, contractual details be shielded from public view.
The NBA is eager to embark on its 11-year $77 billion deal with incumbent Disney and new partners NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video. TNT, meanwhile, has lined up new sports properties, signing rights deals with the new Unrivaled 3-on-3 women’s basketball league and sublicensing College Football Playoff games from ESPN, among other recent deals.
TNT Sports and parent company Warner Bros. Discovery filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against the NBA in July that accused the league of “carefully and meticulously crafting the Amazon offer” to thwart TNT Sports’ attempt to retain a piece of the new NBA broadcast rights that begin next season. Beyond the lawsuit that seeks unspecified monetary damages, WBD also sought an injunction as part of the litigation filed in a New York court.
TNT, which has broadcasted NBA games since 1989, argued in court filings that it matched Amazon’s offer. The NBA countered that TNT Sports’ attempt to match Amazon’s offer was actually a counteroffer. Amazon is paying an estimated $1.8 billion per year for the NBA’s “C” package. Disney (A package, $2.6 billion per year) and NBCUniversal (B package, $2.45 billion per year) are slated to be the league’s other broadcast partners starting in 2025-26.
“Under New York law, ‘every competitor has a right to attempt to win a contract by offering terms which its competitors can’t meet,’ and the seller is ‘free to seek and accept such terms as were consistent with its legitimate business interests,’” lawyers representing the NBA wrote in an October filing.
A motions hearing is scheduled for Nov. 22, in which Supreme Court of the State of New York Judge Joel M. Cohen will hear arguments on whether to keep some of the filings under seal. Another hearing is scheduled for Dec. 17, when Cohen would take up the NBA’s motion to dismiss the case.
